Ahhhh...what a nice break!

Hope you are all enjoying the break. It is always nice to have time to relax and sleep in! I do miss your children though and hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks to all of you who helped with our Christmas Party. It was wild, but really fun! Thanks to Mrs. McCall, Mrs. Oakes, Mrs. Colwell, Mr. Tullous, Kale, Riann and Mrs. Hamilton. We couldn't have done it without you! See you next year!

December 15-19

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Everyone is so excited for Christmas, and we have all been working so hard getting ready for it. Our room is definitely looking a lot like Christmas. We will be talking about some of the famous Christmas stories for reading this week. Monday we will be reading and talking about "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Tuesday and Wednesday we will be learning about "Twas the Night Before Christmas"; and Thursday and Friday we will be reading "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". We will be using common words from these stories as sight words.

Friday will be our Christmas Party at the very end of the day.

We had so much fun last Friday going on our Polar Express field trip. The kids were all so well behaved, and they got to see Santa. It is so fun to see their excitement each day! Thanks for all you do to encourage and help them become wonderful people!
Have a beautiful Christmas!
Mrs. Hamblin

December 8-12

Hi Everyone,
Special thanks to all of you who have donated to our coin drive for Josey's family. Each of the students in our school decorated hearts and butterflies in pink and purple, which were put up at her funeral. It looked beautiful. I'm so proud of the goodness in these small childrens' hearts. They are kind and generous. We will miss little Josey in our class. She was also kind and good.

This week we will be studying another "silly" book entitled "The Foot Book", by Dr. Seuss. There are a lot of left and right concepts that we will be talking about.
We will repeat our sight words this week as many students still haven't mastered last week's. They are:
on
top
of
all
with
when
We will be doing a lot of Christmas activities and will be planning and looking forward to our Christmas Party a week from Friday.
This Friday we will be going to the HS Auditorium to watch the Polar Express with the kindergarten classes. Please remember to send permission forms back so your student may go.
Thanks again for all you do.
Mrs. Hamblin

Josey

Our sweet Josey passed away this morning at about 6:30. We will miss you, sweet girl.

Please spend some time talking to your children about this, they may have several questions.

Our prayers are with her family.

December 1- 5

Hi Everyone,
I sure hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! Thanksgiving is always such a nice holiday (my personal favorite). I love how relaxing it is, and I love spending time with family.
I haven't had any updates on Josey lately, so if anyone out there has any new information we would sure love to hear from you. We are still praying for her well being!
We had a great time at our Thanksgiving Feast, and loved getting ready for it. We learned all about the Pilgrims and why we celebrate Thanksgiving in the first place.
Christmas is always a fun time and we will be doing a lot of writing and creative activities in order to prepare.
This week our reading book will be "On Top of Spaghetti", it is a book about the song. We will learn it on Monday, so be ready to be singing this all week :) Our sight words are:
on
top
of
with
when
all
Monday's homework will be a Christmas addition page. Tuesday will be a "T" book, Wednesday the students will bring home a paper book of "On Top Of Spaghetti", and Thursday will be another "T" book. If you are finding these books too easy for your child, please read a more challenging book with them. Our class is quite varied in skills, so most of our students are finding these books a bit of a challenge.
Thank you for all your snacks and support. I really don't think I could do it without all of you.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Hamblin

Nov. 17-21

Dear Parents,
Thank you for all your support and all your donations regarding Josey. Your money has been put to good use in the form of gift cards (gas, grocery, etc.) to help her family get back and forth from Phoenix. Josey remains the same and we still hope the best for her. She will need a lot of time to recuperate and will need lots of therapy and love in the days to come.

We are looking forward to our Thanksgiving Feast this Thursday and our classroom is busy getting ready for it. We are making the actual food on Wednesday, so if any of you would like to come by for a visit we would love to have your help!

Our sight words will remain the same this week:
out
in
the
hot
brown
desert

Thanks again for your support. Keep reading!
Mrs. Hamblin

Josey

Our prayers are going out to Josey tonight. Get well Josey, we love you and miss you!

Nov. 6-Nov. 14

Sorry this is coming at the end of the week. Not sure what happened to this week! However, I have enjoyed listening to your children and their opinions on the election and our new President Elect. I was surprised by how much they picked up and understood about the whole process of electing a new president.
Next week our Special Person will be Jaden. We will look forward to hearing from him. We have enjoyed hearing from Felicia all this week.
Thank you for all your help with our Halloween Party…We had so much fun, and the kids were sooooo cute! Bella’s mom came and took pictures. Thanks so much Mandy! Also a special thanks to Jackson and Carter’s moms Heather and Kari who organized our party for us. It was so much fun. Jaden’s dad and Ira’s dads even showed up to help. You guys are the best.
Our story for next week will be all about the desert so our sight words will be:
Desert
Out
In
Brown
The
Hot

Next week we will be learning all about Veterans Day, and we will be doing all sorts of Thanksgiving activities.
We have had several children out sick; hope you all get better soon.
Our snack cupboard is looking pretty bare, if any of you could send in a bag of pretzels, crackers, or anything else, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again for all you do!
Mrs. Hamblin & Mrs. Hamilton

October 27-31

We went to the haunted house today. It was so much fun, and so scary. This week we are having our Halloween Party, on Friday. If you would like to send in a bag of treats to share please do so. Children may dress up, but no masks please. Friday is also early release.
This week we will be reading the book, “My River” . We will also be learning all about the election process and the children will be voting for a President next Monday. Please talk to them about your views and the importance of voting.
Sight words this week are:
Need
It
Here
Do
Was
So
Please help your children talk about these words, spell them and recognize them when they see them.
Ira is our Special Person this week. We look forward to hearing from him!
Thanks for all you do!
Mrs. Hamblin

October 20-October 25

Dear Parents,
Can you believe that we are more than halfway through October already?! Time sure is going fast. Last week I sent home a schedule for your parent teacher conference, if you haven’t done so, please look for your assigned time because I would love to meet with each of you. If you still can’t find it please contact me here at school and I will let you know when I have you scheduled. If you need to change your time let me know and we can sure do that. Call here at school 3-6532, at home 3-5247 or email me at minhamblin@elks.net, or mindyhamster@gmail.com.
This week we are learning all about creepy bugs! Our sight words this week are:
Bugs
That
See
Big
We
Are
Read, spell, use these words as much as possible this week.
Please continue reading with your children daily.
We will be having early release this Thursday and Friday for parent teacher conferences.
I look forward to meeting with each of you!
Mrs. Hamblin

Thank you to all of you who helped make my birthday so nice. I appreciate all the kindness shown. You have all made it one of my most memorable...

October 13-Oct. 17

Hi everyone,
Sorry I didn't post last week. Things were a little hectic. Thanks for your understanding.
We are starting our Speical Student of the Week this week, since we haven't been doing this yet this year. Olivia will start us off. She is very excited to have her special week and has gathered all sorts of fun things to share with us. Can't wait to see what she brings in.
Parent Teacher conferences are coming up on Oct. 22 & 23, please watch backpacks to see when your scheduled time is. I am looking forward to visiting with each of you about your amazing children.
Our new book this week is Pumpkin, Pumpkin. Perfect timing for this time of year :) We will be talking about how pumpkins grow and change. If you have the book "The Chick and the Duckling" at home, please send it back in. Thanks!
Sight words for this week are:
I
in
out
put
six
then
Continue reading with your children. That is the best thing you can do for them.
Thank you to all of you who came on our field trip to Greer. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time!!!!!
See you next week.

Hi everyone,
We are really looking forward to our field trip this Thursday. Thank you for everyone who signed up to be a chaperone. (It's not to late if you would like to go!) Please let us know if your child needs a sack lunch from the cafeteria, and don't forget to send your child with a water bottle and good shoes.
Our sight words this week are:
Is
it
box
full
the
red
The book we will be reading this week is "When This Box Is Full". It is a book about growth and change so we will be talking about growth cycles of all different things. We are also starting a unit on cowboys, so if anyone has any cool cowboy stuff they would like to send in, we would welcome it.
If you have any of our past books at home, please send them back: "Annie, Bea and Chi Chi Delores" , "One Red Rooster", or "My Five Senses".
Just a reminder, I will be out of town Oct 3-8. If you need anything Mrs. Hamilton will be in the classroom and we have a couple of really nice subs all lined up.
Have a great week!
Mrs. Hamblin

Sept 22-26

Hi everyone,
We had such a fun time last week. Hope your children told you all about the counting/color books that we read.
We are starting a new unit on our five senses. You will be seeing the book "My Five Senses" coming home Wednesday. Please look for it and send it back on Thursday. Also, if any of you still have our past books "One Red Rooster" or "Annie, Bea, and Chi Chi Delores" please send them back as we will need them for next year. Thanks!
Our new sight words for this week are:
five mouth smell
eyes taste
see hands
ears feel
hear nose

Book orders are due on the 23rd, so if you would like to order anything please have your orders and money in by tomorrow.
We are looking forward to our field trip to Greer on October 2nd and could use anyone and everyone who could help. Please don't forget to send permission slips back with your children.

I will be going out of town October 3-8th, just to give you a heads up, so you can prepare your children if you need to. Mrs. Hamilton will still be here though.

Thanks again for all you do and for all the support you give your children.
Mrs. Hamblin

Sept 15-19

Hi Everyone,
Hope you all had a really nice weekend and had a chance to make it to the fair to see some of the artwork our class did in the Primary School Display. We did apple stamp patterns. The kids had a blast doing them.
Our reading book for this week is a counting book called "One Red Rooster", so our sight words are:
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
We had a fun week last week learning about the seasons and really enjoyed Dr. Hamblin's visit. He taught us all about how to properly respect our flag and what we should do when we see it go by, like in a parade. Ask your children about it. We also wrote a letter to Mr. Bingham asking him to buy our school a new flag, as the one we are flying out front looks like it is ready to be retired.
I am so proud of the kid's ability and respect they have for the flag when we say the Pledge of Allegience. You have wonderful children.
Thanks to Ms. Burkhard for helping in our classroom this week!!!
Mrs. Hamblin

Week 5

Hi everyone,
So we are starting a new week, but keeping the old sight words. We just didn't get a handle on them last week, so we will work on them again:
she
can
the
big
dog
find
Some students were saying "big" for "dog", and I don't think anyone recognized find. That is just fine. Nothing wrong with trying it till we get it!
We are starting a new reading series. This week I will be sending home a real book which will have your studet's number on it. These books need to come back, as I will use them again next year. The book that will come home this week is called "Annie, Bea, and Chi Chi Dolores".
We are working hard on the alphabet this week. We will also be learning about the different seasons and the flag. On Wednesday we are going to have a special visitor to our class who has been in the Army and will discuss the importance of respecting our flag. Please ask your children all about it.
Have a great week!

4th Week of School

Wow, we are already into our 4th week of school. Can you believe it? Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Summer really seems to be over now doesn't it?!
Our sight words this week are:
she
can
the
big
dog
find
These are the words I want them to be able to read and write without hesitation.
We are still working on our Apples unit. A big thank you to all of you who have contributed apples to us. We are still going to make applesauce this friday, mmmmmm..... Should be so good.
We are using vocabulary words that describe apples this week:
shiny
crispy
crunchy
variety
It is okay if your child can't read or write these words, they should just be able to tell you what they mean.
Ask your children about them, and if they don't remember, just remind them. The bigger their vocabulary, the better they read.
Thanks again for all you do. I tell the kids all the time, they are the best class ever!!!
Mrs. Hamblin

3rd Week of School

Okay, so the note I sent home today said it was the 4th week of school, whoops, sorry. I have been working on lesson plans for next week all weekend and just got a little mixed up.
This week we are starting a new unit on apples so if you would like to send some in we could sure use some extras. If we get brave enough, this Friday we will try to make applesauce.
We will be working on the word family "at", so help your children think of "at" words like cat, rat, mat, etc.
Sight words for this week are:
I
a
the
see
run
cat
And vocabulary words are: blossom, petals, different and favorite. We are using these words to describe apples.
Homework this week will be mostly the paper books we talked about, you can keep these books at home, or a worksheet. Check those agendas daily, your child should have written their homework in them and have it all ready to go. They should also have their day's work in their agendas so you can see what we have been doing.
Again, Thanks for being such great parents. I love your children.
Mrs. Hamblin

Parent's Night

Hi Everyone,
Please don't forget Open House, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 at 6:30 PM in room 132. Babysitting will be provided as well as snacks.
This will be a chance for us to get together and for you to see how our class will be run. You can also ask any questions you might have, offer suggestions, etc.
Hope to see you all there!!!
Vocabulary words for this work are
Mother Father Brother Sister Grandfather Grandmother Aunt Uncle and Cousin
Talk about these with your students. They can tell you all about this!
See you at Open House.

Clearing it all up...

Hi everyone,
So sorry about any confusion I have caused you. Sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day.
I tried to get a note out to explain the bags, books and bookmarks but ran out of time before the bell rang. Thank you so much for reminding me. So here is the deal. I will send home paper books for the kids to read for homework. Please record the book they read on the bookmark. If a paper book isn't sent home you can select a book from home and record it. Reading nightly with your child is the greatest thing you can do to increase their vocabulary.
As far as sight words, we will be working on 5-7 sight words each week. These are words that are used often in the English language. If students know them and can read them without hesitation their reading will improve tremendously. I will post them here, and send home a paper copy each week so you can practice with them. The words for this coming week are:
Must
Over
Seven
The
Upon
Two

Thank you again for all your support. Mrs. Hamilton and I had a blast with your children this past week. They are all darling and we love them already.
Let me know if I can answer any more questions!

Our first day of school! I had so much fun and I hope everyone else did too! These are the best kids. Mrs. Hamilton is a favorite in our classroom and we are so glad she is there to help all of us all day. We couldn't do it without you Mrs. Hamilton!!!

We learned all about our classroom, talked about the importance of the flag, read the book "You Are Special" and "Sneeches". We talked about the letter M, drew the letter M, brainstormed M words and are going to bring in M items for our M board. Please look around your house for things that start with M and send them with your child. Oh, and we made playdough M's. Ask your child all about it.

Your children are so smart! They read the words been, a, five, one, jump, and has without any help! I can't believe how well they can read. Write these words with them as much as possible if you get a chance. For math we counted on a number line to 14, counted to 10 by 2's, and counted to 20 out loud.

I can't wait to see them tomorrow. Thanks for doing such a great job as parents.

School Starts...finally!

Yeah...School has finally started. Summer was good, but this school year is going to be GREAT!!!

We love our flag and will learn all about it and how to properly respect it this year.

We will also learn how special we are and how important it is to feel good about ourselves.

It's going to be a good one.