New Year....what digits do we need for 2010, everyone?

So here we are almost finished with our first day back at school. We had a very good day so far, especially for a group of kids who are new to school and have been away for over two weeks! While no one seemed quite as thrilled as Eden, (she informed me yesterday morning of the exact wardrobe she had picked out for this morning), they all are doing very well and seem glad to be back. Missing one little guy though...pretty sure he has dropped. We will miss you Demetrious!

Burning Broccoli?

In Bible, we are learning about Moses.  We are learning about doing the right thing when it is hard and how God helped Moses, even when Moses was afraid.

Yesterday, we had a snack to help us remember about the burning bush.  I mixed some ranch dressing with yellow and red food coloring to make some orange dip.  Then I gave the students handfuls of broccoli, along with a bowl with some of the colored dip.  We dipped our broccoli to make burning bushes.  It was fun and the kids liked it.  Then we talked about Moses and the burning bush.  The kids seemed to talk more than they usually do when I ask questions in the morning for our Bible lesson. Tamary was the one who remembered that God had spoken from the burning bush.  It is good to know when they are retaining some things!

My wonderful sister!

Thanks to Heather, we will soon have all the books on our class Wish List!!  She is sending a bunch of books, including multiple copies of the Carrot, Miss Bindergarten gets Ready for Kindergarten, and The Snow Bears.  It was a total surprise!!  Isn't she cool?  Sarah did this last year and so we have all the books on the list. 

Thanks Heather!!

I will have to work at posting some more books on the list soon!!!!  ;)

 

Mel

Splatter/Straw Painting

It is amazing how good ideas are so often also versatile ones. When I worked at Help CP Kids, Eniko often did a painting activity with the kids.  She would set up a plinth with paper, puddles of paint and brushes, and then we would help the kids to hold the brushes and spatter the paint onto the paper.  I was reminded of this when I noticed a similar idea in a book and decided to do it with my students.

We also added a new touch.  We used red and yellow (but you could use any two primary colors or more if you wished) and then we blew through straws to make the colors blend and move across the paper.

It worked great; simple and easy, yet the kids really liked it.  This time, we did first and Kindergarten apart, so when I thought of taking pictures, it was only the Kindergarten kids.  I thought of this because their faces while they were blowing were so cute!!  I don't know if the pictures really do it justice, but I will post them anyway.  I had to use Michelle's camera, so it might take a little while to post them, but hope you like them!

Mel

Michelle is Back!!!

For a few days, we had Michelle Tom in our class.  Then she wasn't coming anymore.  Well she is back!!!!  Michelle is Ranson and Lula Tom's granddaughter.  Ranson is the bus mechanic and Lula is the bus driver.  Pictures to come soon!

Eden Sun

This is Eden Sun.  Eden's Mom and Dad are staff at the Mission.  Eden is coming to our class part time.  We love having her on Mondays and Fridays.  Her birthday is December 16 and she will be 5 this year!  We're really excited you are in our class, Eden!

Tamary Begay

Here she is...... Miss Tamary Begay!  Tamary is old hat at Kindergarten and has been a great big help in our class.  She is doing great so far!  She likes all her class mates, but especially her cousin Tia.  Tamary is 6 and will turn 7 on April 27.  Great to have you, Tamary!

Tia Walker

This is Tia Walker. I have not had any of Tia's brothers or sisters but Tia is excited that her cousin, Tamary is also in our class!  Tia is four and will be 5 years old on October 16!  Good to have you in class, Tia!

Melkyrrin Denezpi

This is Melkyrrin Denezpi.  If his face looks slightly familiar, it should!  His brothers Marlin and Myrin were in Kindergarten last year.  He is the spitting image of his brother, Myrin.  Melkyrrin is 5 and he will be 6 on February 24. Welcome to Kindergarten, Kyrrin!

Keelee Pete

This is Keelee Pete.  Her big sister, Cheyanna, was in Kindergarten two years ago.  She is 5 years old and her birthday is April 7th.  Welcome Keelee!!

Our new reading corner

Here are some pictures of our newly arranged reading corner.  I got a canopy of sorts from the first grade room and a papazan chair.  I think it works great!

Crazy Year...And it isn't even April yet!

So, as many of you know, this has been a crazy year for me.  The poor Kindergarteners had many subs and so many sub days, all due to my medical situations.  Now for a few weeks, they have a new teacher....my Mom, Margie.  She took over my class after I had surgery and will be staying out here at the mission until the end of April.  Please pray for her.  My kids are just a tad bit wild.  They are beginning to get used to her, and vice versa, but they are still a very active group.

National Children's Book Week

This week is National Children's Book Week. We will do lots of "bookworm" activities this week. I picked four authors to choose between as our favorite author. We LOVE Jan Brett so she is one, then Eric Carle, Laura Numeroff, and A. A. Milne. Tuesday to Friday, we will have an author of the day, and Friday we will pick our very favorite.

We will have guest readers (Uriah, one of the high schoolers, is our only one so far) I invited all the parents to come and read to the class. I might ask some other's too! We will definitely have to read Mouse Paint, a favorite of our class that we did not have. My sister Sarah sent us a copy for our classroom. We will also have a book exchange so each child can go home with a new to them book on Friday.

I will post some pictures from our activities when the week is over. Let me know how you or your kids are celebrating Children's Book Week. I would love more ideas!

I'll take a wack at it!

For Halloween, the High School and Jr. High made Pinatas. They invited our class to come and pick up candy. We even got to break up one of the Pinatas. All the kids got to take a wack at it! And check out all the candy...trick or treating started early this year!

Tag your it!

I have been tagged by my sister Heather, but I will post my tagging on my personal site, www.melzingersmusings.blogspot.com

BTW...I don't know who is it.

Mel

Here are some crazy pictures we took when we took our class picture.

Back row from left to right: Marlin Denezpi, Karl Bigman, Alejadro Xicotencatl, Myrin Denezpi

Front row from left to right: Winona Begay, Cameron Hanley, Tamary Benally, April Scott, Staci Martinez

And that is me in the middle!

Here it is - our class picture. Unfortunately, Jaymeson was absent that day. So when we are all together again, we will take another one.

News and More Prayer Requests

I may have mentioned before that this week we go to Colorado Springs for a teacher's convention. Please pray for a good time and safe travel's.

From the convention, Ruth Bloom will fly to North Carolina to speak, I think at a women's meeting there. Please pray that all goes well for her and that her speaking is encouraging and uplifting for the ladies there.

We will be having a special speaker in a couple of weeks, at Immanuel Navajo Chapel. Andrew Begay has come up here before, and he is an intresting speaker. Andrew is a cousin of Lorena Herbert, one of the Navajo Missionaries that live and serve here at the mission. Andrew's father was a medicine man, and he often speaks on the Navajo and Native American religion's that are common in this area. It is helpful, since we can get an idea of where the people in our community are coming from and have a starting place for presenting the gospel. Please pray that the meetings go well and that many come from the community.

Thanks again for praying

Thank you for praying!!!

Sorry to take so long to write!

April came back the very next day! Her mom, Cassandra, had been sick, and so they had not come. Cassandra comes in each day to help out with the teachers.

Jaymeson was back a couple of days later, but please continue to pray for him. He is out all this week with a bad cut on his hand that has to be checked regularly, and at other times his attendance is very inconsistent. We would definitely like to see him more often!

Next week is the teacher's convention. We go to Colorado Springs this year and stay at Camp Elim at night. It will mean lots of driving. Please pray for safe traveling and that we (the teachers) would benefit from the seminars and conferences we go to.

It has been a good first five weeks. Praise the Lord for safety and a smooth transition back to school.

Up next in Kindergarten....Apples!! We will have a whole unit on Apples (Units usually last a while in my classroom, as we do only a few things at a time. We will have open house soon, and we make lots of Apple things to show mom's and dad's that night. Please pray that we have good attendance to the open house, since this may be the first (and only) time we have contact with some of the parents.

Thanks again!!!

Mel

And This Is....

Here are almost all the kids in the class. I missed Alejandro, but I can't post any more pictures for now. I will get one of him on here soon!

April (You've met before)

Cameron (he's a bit of a ham!)

Jaymeson (you've met him before, too!)

Karl
Marlin

Myrin

Staci

Tamary

Winona

There they are!!