Manicure Party

Dehne and 8 of her friends were treated to a manicure party at Garvy. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Schoen for your donation to Garvy School at the Silent Auction! It was a lovely afternoon that started with celebrating Dehne's 6th birthday. Her mom brought an abundance of yummy snacks, cupcakes, and drinks.

Here the birthday girl blows out the candles on her adorable nail polish cupcake-cake.


Manicures are such a fun way to pamper yourself!


Dehne and Julia are enjoying the birthday treats. Mmmmm, cupcakes!


Ms. Jeannie O'Connor is the ultimate nail artist. Her specialities include hearts, stripes, and polka dots.


Fancy girls just want to have fun.


They all look so excited about their nails.

Countdown Days D and E

On Monday we celebrated the end of the year by drawing a picture of a scene from our favorite children's books. Here are a few of the renderings created by the artists in Room 301.



Do you recognize any of the books? What's your favorite children's book?


Today we marked "E" off the calendar by eliminating dress code. Everyone enthusiastically enjoyed!

Career Day

Growing up I wanted to be a grocery checker at Kroger. Every time I went to the store with my mom, I remember being mesmerized by the scanner and was consistently impressed how well the checker and bagger worked together. Luckily, I can now use the "self check" isles at Jewel AND teach Kindergarten. How lucky am I?!

Today the kids dressed up as a career they would like to have when they grow up. We had police officers, teachers, princesses, firemen, athletes, paleontologists, a magician, a face painter, an actress, an artist, and a magician.

These two scientists want to dig for dinosaur bones.

Keeping us safe and enforcing the laws.

Keeping us safe and protecting us from harm.

Being a princess is a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Future educators. These girls make it look so easy.

She's ready for the red carpet.

Houdini better watch out.

Future athletes. Remember your friends at Garvy when we come asking you for tickets to your events fellas.

A career in face painting teams well with a lemonade stand!

What career did you aspire to have when you grew up?

23 days to go in our countdown!

Buddy Reading Day

We had a lovely time reading with our 3rd grade buddies in Mrs. Cullen's class.

Brother and sister!

Alphabet Countdown

Yesterday was the first day of our countdown to the end of the school year. Can you believe that there are only 24 attendance days left until Summer Vacation?! Each day we participate in an activity to acknowledge the end of school.

Art Day

The kids created masterpieces of weaving and their own artistic drawings. Here are some pictures of their lovely finished products.

Letter A Riddle:

A core in the middle and a stem on top. Picked from a tree or bought in a shop. Red, yellow, or green and, oh, so sweet. Crunchy to bite and healthy to eat.

What is it?

Dome Theater

Today the kids had a special treat from the PTA. They were able to see a presentation about the solar system in a planetarium setting. As a class, we went inside a big dome and had a virtual field trip to outer space. Here are some of the facts that our class learned:

* Venus has no air. –Michael E.
* The moon is smaller than the Earth. –Amela
* Venus is hot like the sun. –Brianna
* Some planets are little, some planets are big. –Mark
* When you look at the sun it’s hot and you could hurt your eyes. –Amanda O.
* The sun is the hottest thing in the whole universe. –Mackenzie
* The planets move around the sun. –Edward

Thank you Garvy PTA, Mrs. Mendoza, and Mrs. LaFleur for coordinating and funding this AWESOME experience!

Here is a helpful link if you'd like more information: http://dometheater.net/

Happy Mother's Day Moms!

Last week your child brought home a delicious looking cupcake. If you were thinking, "how did they do that?" here's the secret, shaving foam and glue. First I filled a large bowl with the ladies shaving foam, I prefer the way it smells. Then I added about a 1/2 cup of glue. Next mixed it together and BAM there you have it, a frosting for a cupcake that looks good enough to eat. The kids dug into the big bowl of yummy looking goodness with jumbo craft sticks. Here are a few pictures of the process and finished product.

I hope you had a lovely Sunday with your family and that you were treated like a Queen!

Did you receive any other Mother's Day surprises?

Teacher for the Day...Miss Ortiz

Today Miss Amanda Ortiz was the teacher of our Kindergarten class. She was a natural, maybe it's because her mom is a teacher too?! At the silent auction last Friday evening, her parents donated $ to Garvy, and with the highest bid won the opportunity to have Amanda lead the class for a day. Here are some pictures of Miss Ortiz throughout the day.

Putting kids homework folders in the mailboxes.

Grading papers, Miss Ortiz was excited to give her peers A+ papers!

Making copies for the afternoon. I told you she is a natural!

Enjoying a special lunch in the classroom. Miss Ortiz decided to invite all the kids to a "lunch bunch."

Here she is reading the story, "I Wish I Were a Pilot" to the class. She did such a great job! Miss Ortiz also made sure the kids were able to earn a gum celebration for being AWESOME kids today.

Happy Belated Earth Day

Before Spring Break the kids reused the paper bags from morning breakfast to make a litter collecting bag. They decorated them in spirit of Earth Day.





Now we're collecting old markers, we'll use the caps to make jump ropes. If you have any at home or work please send them to school for our collection. Thank you!

Making Words

Today the kids did an amazing job making words in Kindergarten! I can't help but keep my love for word games (Scrabble, Boggle, and Bananagrams) out of the curriculum. They were given a sheet with 7 letters to cut out and manipulate. It amazes me that they are spelling consonant-vowel-consonant words without hesitation. Most kids are even putting letters together to form words with long vowels. So proud!

Can you find a word using 5 or 6 letters?

Where Would You Fly?

Today we read a story about a pilot flying an airplane. It sparked a discussion about traveling to a far away place. Here are some of the places kids in our class want to go!

"Madagascar to see animals." -Reed

"Hawaii to hula dance." -Brianna

"Disney World to go on the Buzz Lightyear roller coaster." -Konrad

"Sea World to see the whale Shamu." -Zoe

"Florida to find an apartment." -Daniel



Where would you fly?

Traveling Poem

April is National Poetry Month and we will be hearing a new poem each day in Kindergarten. We're combining poetry with money for our traveling poem. When it comes to your house, read it with your child and then have them explain to you why $1 is more than 5 pennies. The poem is titled "Smart" by Shel Silverstein in Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Poem in Your Pocket

Ms. Panos brought in her class of 7th graders to help the kids write an Acrostic poem about themselves. Tomorrow we will participate in Poem in Your Pocket. Each child at Garvy will have written a poem to keep close (ours are in a pocket necklace). Throughout the day, we will take a minute to share our poems with a friend. Happy Poetry Month!

Kohl Children's Museum

If you haven't been to the Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview, I suggest you take go and visit it ASAP. It is filled with hands on learning experiences and that is part of the reason I continue to take my kindergarten class back there year after year. Today the kids had over an hour to explore the museum in their small groups. Some of the favorite exhibits included; water works, Dominick's grocery store, and the Potbelly. At Garvy, there is very little (if any) time for dramatic play. It was so nice to watch them interact and pretend to go grocery shopping. While talking to Mrs. Beth, our science lesson coordinator, we discussed the real learning that takes place at the museum. Together we decided that it's when the students are discussing their observations and coming up with various rationale on their own.



She couldn't find everything on her shopping list, but she did get the pizza! I like her style.



This is a cool exhibit where the machine records what you say and then will repeat it back to you either fast or slow, it was good for some giggles.



Using her energy to raise the red ball. This is just one of the many fun tools in the water works.

We also had a science lesson all about energy, the kids made wind sculptures to bring home and to further observe the air. Mrs. Beth also complimented us for being one of the most creative and pleasant classes she's ever worked with at the museum. I'm very proud! More pictures to come from Mrs. Schoen soon!

St. Patrick's Day

I had the best 30th birthday imaginable, thank you to my students for sharing the day! It started with reading the Foot Book by Dr. Seuss and then giving each student a pair of tye dyed green socks. Making the socks was a new adventure and something that I would try again.



The best part of my day was having my mom come and spend the day at Garvy. It was her first time driving to Chicago (usually she takes the train), I was a proud daughter and happy that the Garmin worked so she can come visit again soon.



Here is Mrs. Bachman reading Ms. Bachman's favorite childhood story, Go Dog Go!