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All about Mrs. Kelley

I feel so happy to say I have loved my last 39 years of teaching! Each grade level I've taught in the past (1st-5th) has been filled with wonderful experiences and happy memories, but I have to admit I have been over the moon loving Transitional Kindergarten! This will by my eleventh year working with TKers. Their enthusiasm for life, as well as their eagerness to soak up all the new things around them, make them a joy to be with each day! I am one very lucky teacher!

A little about myself:
After teaching a few years out of state, I moved to California in 1989, and besides two years teaching in Indonesia, I've been so happy to call Grass Valley home. Education is a family thing, because my husband, Tom, was a high school counselor for many years (he just retired last June). I have three grown children (Brian, Kyle and Kaity) who have fond memories of the years they spent at Alta Sierra School!  We love the mountains and being at the ocean as well. Time away from school usually takes us one place or the other. In the winter I love snowboarding, and during the summer time camping and finding trails to walk are some of my favorite things!
 

Posts

TK Week of April 13th-17th

What a great week!
 
Daily Sentence - Our TKers are doing an incredible job with our daily sentence! When it comes time for our Helper to call on a TK friend to tell them the beginning sound of one of the words in their sentence, multiple hands are always up and ready to help. The group can also clap out the syllables of the chosen words like champs, and counting words in a sentence is now a breeze. Wow! They are amazing!
 
Zeek Zebra's Z ("hello smile, across, slide, across") - This would be a great time to begin playing "Show Me a ___!" where you make a big flourish of coming up with a letter (ie. either from your mind or maybe picked from a handful of letter-labled popsicle sticks), and then your TKer gets to show you that letter. Remember there are lots of fun ways to strengthen letter making skills. Crayons, markers, chalk, salt on a plate, or pudding on a counter are extra fun ideas. 
 
Cheetahs - Our Zoologists have been learning a lot about Cheetahs this week. Be sure to ask your cutie their favorite facts about these very cool animals.
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
April 23 - Springtime School Pictures
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo
June 9th - TK-2nd Grade Fun Day
June 10th - Our last day of school

TK Week of April 6th-10th

TK has had another great week!
 
Yancy Yak's Y ("Hello smile, little slide, ribbit, big slide") - This would be a great week to play, "Does it begin with /y/?" If the word you say begins with /y/, have your TKer give you a big thumbs up. If it doesn't begin with /y/, have your TKer give you a thumbs down. 
 
Zoologists - TK is super excited to be zoologist who are getting ready for the zoo on May 21st! This week your TKer started becoming experts on Tigers and Lions. Be sure to see what they can teach you!
 
Substitute Tomorrow - My aunt passed away this week, so I am driving to Utah tomorrow to be there for her funeral on Saturday. Our substitute, Mrs. Quinlin, is wonderful, and I am sure everyone will have a wonderful day. Please tell your cutie that I can't wait to see them on Monday. 
 
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
April 23 - Spring Pictures
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo
 

TK Week of March 22nd-26th

This was a TK week filled with thinking about spring time, being super excited about our TK Easter, and getting a great Friday surprise!
 
Spring Time - As we have been on the hunt for blossoms on the trees, we have also been learning a fun song about 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.' Be sure to ask your cutie if she/he would sing it for you! We also have some adorable spring time art in the room I think you would love to see if you have a chance. 
 
Easter - Thursday was TK Easter. (I want to give a huge thank you to all of you who were able to help us with our supplies!) The day was filled with fun, but if you ask your TKer I'd bet he'll/she'll say the highlights were dying Easter Eggs and going on a playground Easter Egg Hunt! (Big thank you goes to our big fifth grade student council members for being our Easter Bunnies.)
 
Wild Things - Our big surprise was our school Wild Things assembly Friday morning! Ask your cutie it she/he can tell you some cool facts about some favorite animals that were there. It was a perfect way to get us excited about beginning to learn about zoo animals as soon as we get back from Spring Break. 
 
Spring Break - I hope everyone has a wonderful week during our school break from March 30th-April 3rd. Please tell your TKer I will be so excited to see him/her on Monday, April 6th. (We are back to school on Monday - 4/6 - because of the Emergency Day we had to use back in February.)
 
Our Zoo Field Trip - With our field trip scheduled for Thursday, May 21st, permission and added information sheets will be coming home near April 20th. I just wanted to remind everyone of the date, so that, if possible, you can arrange to join us for this fun, memorable day. (There are no limits to the number of  chaperones that can join us.) 
 
PS - I want to let everyone know ahead of time that our TK day to the Sacramento Zoo will be from 7:55am-2:00pm. 
 
Happy Spring Break to all!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
April 6th - See everyone back at school
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo
 
 

TK Week of March 16th-20th

Happy first day of Spring!
 
St. Patrick's Day - This week has been filled with lots of holiday fun. We arrived Tuesday morning to find out the Leprechaun's had been playing with all of our green toys! To thank us for sharing with them, they surprised us with their favorite treat - Leprechaun dust (pistachio pudding)! We were shocked to find out this magical, delicious white powder turned green when we added our milk!
 
We also went on a rainbow hunt with our rainbow finders, made rainbow patterned Fruit Loop necklaces, graphed our Lucky Charm treats to see what we had most and least of, and tracked & found our dice-rolled numbers on our four leaf clover math mats. Oh, and our green bubble blowing time was extra fun!
 
Willy Weasel's W ("Hello smile, slide down, slide up, slide down, slide up") - This seems to be our trickiest letter to remember what it's name is - it's a long, three clap name - so saying and clapping it together lots throughout the week would be extra helpful. This would be another great weekend to make some fabulous sidewalk chalk W's outside. 
 
TK Easter Celebration - TK gets to have Easter Egg Hunt fun this next Thursday. Thank you so much to those of you who were able to help us with supplies for this fun day. (And thank you for all of the help we've recently had with our Dr. Suess and St. Patrick's Day fun as well!) If you were still wanting to donate anything, our Sign-up Genius still has items available. Thank you for all you do!
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of March 9th-13th

Hello Everyone!
 
My post is early, because I wanted you to know that I will be out tomorrow (Friday), BUT Mrs. Sherman will be with our cuties again. That means they will have a wonderful day!
 
Rainbows - Our TKers have been learning a lot about rainbows! With the help of our classroom prisms, we have been finding lots of rainbows this week. We've noticed they're so beautiful, there's no wonder Leprechauns love them! We've painted them, read about them, and learned a great song to help us remember the order of the rainbow. (Be sure to have your TKer teach it to you!) We even made a rainbow with Skittles and milk today, so be sure to ask your cutie all about it!
 
Vinnie Vampire Bat's V ("Hello smile, slide to the middle, slide up") - TK thinks
/v/ is a very fun sound to make, but we found out it's kind of tricky to think of a lot of words that start with /v/. Count how many words you both can think of together?
 
Scientists - Since VEGETABLES start with /v/, we got to be scientists who made predictions of which vegetables (sweet pepper, carrot, mushroom, tomato, and brussels sprouts) would sink in water and which would float. Boy, were we ever surprised! Be sure to ask your little scientists what they predicted and what they found out.
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, and please tell your TKer that I can't wait to see them on Monday!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of March 2nd-6th

Dr. Suess Week - This week was all about Dr. Suess, so of course it was filled with rhyme, silliness, creativity and lots of smiles! Just some of the fun was painting silly socks, using strong fingers to cut and glue adorable Cat in the Hat hats that we showed off as we paraded around the school, made Wockets for our pockets, graphed our One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish goldfish crackers, and actually ate some delicious green eggs!
 
Nigel Night Owl's N - Our letter of the week was N ("hello smile, big line down, ribbit, slide down, and up") - This might be a good weekend to bring out the pudding to make some delicious N's together. Going on an N hunt (little n too) in a favorite picture book would also be fun to do together!
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of February 23rd-27th

After putting another straw in our Let's Count chart today, I suddenly realized we only have 67 more days of TK! February seems to have flown by! I hope time starts slowing way down, because I love every day I get to spend with our TK cuties, who are growing in wonderful ways each and every day.
 
Missy Mouse's M ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, slide down, slide up, and down") - A fun and helpful activity would be to count how many words you both can come up with together that begin with the /m/ sound. Also, with nicer weather coming our way again, this would be a great weekend to fill the driveway with fabulous sidewalk chalk M's.
 
Adding and Taking Away - We've been using our imagination and having fun with 'spaghetti and meatballs', chocolate and vanilla 'cookies', and 'rocks in the river' to help us learn the idea of adding to get more and taking away to get smaller. 
 
Social Emotional Learning - Dealing with Disappointment - Thank you so much for taking the time to discuss and participate (through the flyers that come home in our Thursday Folders) the lessons we spend time with each week. 
 
This week we talked about disappointment being a strong, uncomfortable feeling (like frustration and anger) in our bodies, and trying to calm our body down first is the best first step to feeling better.
 
When we have a strong, uncomfortable feeling we can:
1. Put our hands on our tummy and say, "Stop".
2. Name our feeling.
3. Take belly breaths.
 
Afterwards, talking to a trusted grown-up can really help.
 
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of February 16th-20th

Wow! What a week! Between our Presidents' Day Holiday on Monday and two snow days later in the week, we didn't get to be together as much as we thought we would - BUT the days we were together were still filled with lots of academic and social growth fun. 
 
Our planned social/emotional lesson and letter of the week is going to be saved for next week, but we were able to spend extra time with graphing and  beginning sound fun.
 
For Talking Stick Time today, we were able hear lots of enthusiastic tales of snow day adventures, and with there still being snow on our play structure, our TKers had extra time to plan, create, and cooperate during choice time - which gave them lots to cheer about!
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Please tell your TKer I can't wait for us all to be together on Monday. :)
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
March 19th (NEW DATE) - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of February 2nd-6th

TK has had another wonderful week!
 
Kao Kangaroo' K ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, kick in, slide out") - As grown-ups we forget how tricky it was for our brains to figure out how to make diagonal lines going TWO different directions, but our TKers have been champs at working on doing hard things this week. Practice at home with something fun (like a plate with a little salt on it) would be extra helpful. 
 
Our Helper Sentences - We started our Sentence of the Day, and our TKers are loving it! If your cutie hasn't had a chance yet to lead the class with their sentence, they soon will. These sentences are helping us all think about the direction we read, that groups of letters are a word, and what letter is at the beginning of each word. Amazing!
 
Mrs. Kelley Gone Two Days Next Week - With a cracked root, I needed an implant, and since my brother is in the dental field in Utah, I was able to get quite a discount going there to have the work done last October. Now it's time to have it checked, so I'll be gone this coming Wednesday and Thursday.
 
But, our TKers are going to be super lucky to have Ashley Sherman with them again. (She was with them last October for a day when I was last in Utah.) Ashley was once my classroom aide, and I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather have be with our class. Our TKers will love her!
 
We Got the Spirit Eagle! - Woohoo! Thanks to everyone who wore our school color - blue - to school today, our class gets to have the SPIRIT EAGLE stuffed animal award in our room all week! This is the first time we've earned this fun award. (For all of our new families, every Friday is our 'Wear Blue' day.)
 
Valentines - I wanted to remind everyone that our class will be celebrating Valentines Day on THURSDAY, February 12th. Valentines can begin arriving this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. If you can help your cutie put their Valentines in their friends' bags when you both arrive in the morning, that is great! If not, no worries at all. We can definitely help as well. 
 
Plastic Grocery Bags Needed -  If you have extra plastic grocery bags that you would love to get rid of, TK would love them. Thank you so much!
 
Four Day Weekend - I wanted to remind everyone that we won't be having school this Friday (Feb. 13th) or the following Monday (Feb. 16th) in honor of Presidents' Day.
 
I hope everyone has an extra nice weekend together!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
February 12th - TK's Valentine Celebration
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK has had another fabulous week!
 
Robbie Rabbit's R - R ("Hello smile, ribbit, little curve, slide out") has been our letter of the week. This is our first letter with a diagonal line, and it can be extra challenging, so lots of practice at home would be great. It would also be lots of fun to go on a /r/ hunt together around the house. 
 
Patterns - We got extra tricky this week with patterns. Rather than just AB patterns, we realized we could make ABC patterns. Wow! Some of our friends even found out they could make even more patterns - AABC, AABB, ABCC, ABBC - so many possibilities!
 
With some beans, Cheerios, and chocolate chips (or who knows what else!), you and your cutie could have lots of fun coming up with all sorts of patterns together.
 
Valentine List - Our class Valentine list went home yesterday. If participating, next week would be the perfect time to let your TKer practice signing his/her name on Valentines, so they are ready to begin putting in classmate's decorated bags (we'll be making them at school) the following week beginning on Monday, February 9th.
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
February 12th - TK's Valentine Celebration
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 19th-23rd

I'm so sorry for such a late TK post! I let Friday by 6:00pm get by me, and then I soon got sick after that. I think I'm not alone. We had quite a few absent on Friday, and I'm hoping the weekend was just what was needed for everyone to feel better tomorrow. 
 
Bubba Bear's B ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, little curve, little curve) - We had fun working with the letter B this last week. You'll definitely want to have your TKer show you some fabulous Bs, and then together you could play the game "How many /b/ beginning words can we say together in a minute?"
 
New TK Friend - Now we have 16 TK friends that get to play and learn together! 
 
I hope everyone had a nice weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (no school)
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 12th-16th

I can't believe how fast our TK year is going. We are only a few days away from our school year being half over! It's been so much fun watching the growth each of our TKers have made, and I can't wait to see where the next months will take them.
 
Opposites - We've had lots of fun this week playing with the idea of OPPOSITE. You'll definitely want to play "What's the Opposite of __?" game with your cutie at home. 
 
Peewee Penguin's P - ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, little curve down") Since /p/ is such a fun sound to make, you'll want to see how many P words you both can think of as your TKer shows you how to make the letter P. With the great weather this weekend, maybe making sidewalk chalk P's would be extra fun. 
 
Martin Luther King Jr. - We learned that Martin helped the world realize how important it is to treat everyone fairly, and that what a person does and how they treat others is what's important, not the way they look. 
 
Zoo Trip on May 21st - Hopefully you can mark your calendar, and join us as a chaperone for our TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo in May. (There's no limit to the number of chaperones that can join us.) Life is busy, and if you can't make it we completely understand. There will be plenty of chaperones, but if you can work it out that would be wonderful! (PTC is paying for our TKers' entrance fee - thank you, PTC! - but chaperones will need to pay the special group price of $10.)
 
Saturday's Birthday Party for Nova Reminder: Here's the party info that was given to all her TK friends (in case you misplaced it):
Condon's Minnie Park (known as the fire station or red park by our kiddos)
1-3pm
RSVP - 530-263-0521
 
I hope everyone has a wonderful three day weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (no school)
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
May 14th - Open House Night! Hope to see you there!
May 21st - TK field trip to the Sacramento Zoo

TK Week of January 6th-9th

I hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Break!
 
It was so much fun being back together on Tuesday, and getting back into our TK routine. 
 
Sorting and Attributes - We learned that an attribute is something that tells us what a thing is like. So, an attribute is just a describing word that helps us talk about things—like their color, size, shape, or how they feel. 

For example:

  • An apple can be red 🍎 (that’s a color attribute)

  • A ball can be big or small ⚽

  • A teddy bear can be soft 🧸

It would be fun to pick a few special things at home and together see how many attributes you can describe.
 
DeeDee Dear's D  ("Hello smile, big line down, ribbit, big curve down") - Be sure to have your cutie show you how to make a fabulous D, and together you could hunt for things in the house that begin with /d/.
 
Coats - Mornings down in our little valley are often colder than other parts of Alta Sierra, so our 9:15am recess time and our Friday 8:30am PE time can be COLD! Making sure your TKer comes to school each morning with a warm coat will make play time outside comfortable and fun. 
 
Birthday Party on Saturday, January 17th - A birthday party invitation for every TKer went home today. Just in case it didn't make it to you, Here are the details:
It's Saturday, January 17th from 1-3 pm
Condon's Minnie Park (known as the fire station or red park by our kiddos)
RSVP - 530-263-0521
 
Thank you for all you do, and I hope everyone has a nice weekend!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (no school)
February 13th-16th - Presidents Day Weekend (no school)
February 19th - Family Story Night! Hope to see you there!!
March 30th-April 3rd - Spring Break (no school)
 
 
 

TK Week of December 15th-19th

TK had such a fun week, filled with holiday spirit days, wrapping very special presents for moms and dads, spending a day with our most loved stuffies, and ending it all in pajamas, eating pancakes, and watching a popcorn movie! (Netflix Jr.'s A Trash Truck's Christmas - SO cute!)
 
I hope you all have a wonderful time with family during our two week break, and please let your TKer know I can't wait for all of us to be together again in the New Year! Happy Holidays!
 
DATES TO REMEMBER
December 22nd-January 2nd - Winter Break (No School)
January 5th - Teacher Professional Development Day (No School)
January 6th - (Tuesday) Yay! We're Back in School Together!
January 19th - Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday (No School)
February 13th-16th - Presidents' Day 4-Day Weekend (No School)

Tomorrow is the Day!

Tomorrow is our school-wide Donation Day Parade! In the morning we get to carry down our donated food-items to the multi-purpose room, so it can donated to our local food band to help our community members in need. 
 
If you were planning on having your cutie donate non-perishable food items, but haven't had a chance, no worries at all! You can still send your TKer to school tomorrow morning with your family donation. He'll/She'll be so excited to help fill our box before we each carry some of our food down to the MPR to share with others.
 
Once again, thank you so much for all you do!

Family Time
Family Time!
My husband, Tom
My husband, Tom
Brian
Brian
Kyle
Kyle
Kaity
Kaity