Benson's Buzz

Introducing Ms. Maggie

2010-03-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

Ms. Maggie Manly is a student teacher that has been with us since January. She is a student majoring in education at Dalton State College. The kids love her! She is a wonderful asset to have in the classroom. She is going to make a wonderful teacher. Here she is teaching a reading group on blending words.

Catch Up Time!

2010-03-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry that I am so behind in posting pictures! I have been extremely busy with work and school. As most of you know, I am completing my Educational Specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University and so most of my spare time is spent doing homework. Thankfully, I will be finished at the end of July!

We have been busy learning in Benson's Beehive!! Here are just some of the things we have been up to the past couple of months.

PENGUINS

DENTAL HEALTH

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

MEASUREMENT

PAST GREAT AND FUTURE GREATS...We studied presidents of the past and present. We also wrote about what we would do if we became president.

DR.SEUSS WEEK
Say Cheese...

Silly Picture...

Cat in the Hat

Green Eggs and Ham

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

A Leprechaun destroyed our room! He left us gold and treat bags! We also made a fingerprint rainbow and wrote about it.

Christmas Party

2010-02-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

We had fun celebrating Christmas with parents, cookie cake, and presents! We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

We had yummy cookie cake to eat!

On your mark, get set, GO!!! We had fun opening presents!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Grand and Glorious Christmas Show

2010-02-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

Our Kindergarteners did a wonderful job performing in the Grand and Glorious Christmas Show. Mr. Cox always puts on a wonderful performance every year at Christmas!

Fishing For Numbers

2010-02-01T15:54:00.000-08:00

While learning to recognize and represent numbers 1-20, we went fishing!! The students had fun fishing for numbers, recognizing it, and calling out it's name. The first one to call out the number got a point for their team!

Run, Run As Fast As You Can!

2009-12-13T18:18:00.000-08:00

This past week, we did a book study on the different versions of The Gingerbread Man. We read several versions of The Gingerbread Man and charted the characters, setting, and beginning, middle, and end of the story. These story elements are all in our kindergarten standards and this was a fun way to learn more about them!

On Friday, we decorated our own Gingerbread Boy.

We went to the bathroom to wash our hand to get ready to enjoy our hard work and when we got back to the room...HE WAS GONE!!!!

Where could he be??

He was nice enough to leave us a clue!

Then, he led us on a hunt around the whole school. People saw him here and there, but we only found crumbs and candy and clues that he left for us.

We had to be very quiet and tip toe so that he would not hear us coming to look for him...

The last clue he left was outside on the tree. BRRRR...it was cold!

He told us that he left a surprise for us in the room.

We sent Mrs. Cass in first to check out the room before we went in. She told us that she had to use her karate moves on him...:)

When we came in, he was all chopped up! He was YUMMY!

It was a great day! We had so much fun chasing after the Gingerbread Boy, but we still wonder how he came alive and is he still running around Dug Gap Elementary!

The Very First Thanksgiving

2009-12-07T17:18:00.001-08:00

Each year, DGE Kindergarten puts on a production of The Very First Thanksgiving. The students did a wonderful job of acting and singing to remind us about the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Pilgrims and Indians. I think we may have some future actors and actresses in our classroom.

Thanksgiving Feast

2009-12-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

We had fun celebrating Thanksgiving like the Pilgrims and the Indians did. We dressed up, made placemats, and ate food that we thought they might have eaten at the very first Thanksgiving meal. We had turkey, nuts, berries, bread, popcorn, and apple pie. Yummy!

DGE celebrates Veteran's Day

2009-11-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

November 11th was a special day at DGE. We honored our veterans with a special program. The chorus sang, soldiers from the Army Reserve presented to us the correct way to fold a flag and explained to us what each fold represents, and our school was presented a flag that was flown on the USS Sterrett! Then, we went outside to watch our new flag being raised in front of the school. It was an amazing day!

Watching our new flag being raised...

Some of our own family members are veterans and they came to share a special lunch with us.

Our own, Mr. Gerald is a veteran. We love you Mr. Gerald! Thank you for everything you do for us!

Scarecrows

2009-11-12T17:54:00.000-08:00

With signs of fall all around, we have been appreciating the season with studying about things that we see around fall time. Last week, we studied about scarecrows. We made a classroom scarecrow, which we named Edward. As a class, we wrote about our scarecrow. Then, each student helped make their own scarecrow so that they could use it in a descriptive writing. They wrote about their scarecrows...what color eyes, buttons, patches, etc. that it displayed. We had so much fun studying about scarecrows and we are still enjoying having Edward be a part of our class!

Mrs. Cass, our ESOL teacher, helped us label the parts of a scarecrow.

Here we are making our classroom scarecrow.

This is our interactive classroom writing on Edward.

Then we wrote about our own scarecrow that we helped design.

Fall Party 2009

2009-11-12T17:43:00.000-08:00

What better way to celebrate fall than with a party?!? We made creepy witch hands, spooky spiders, scary ghosts, painted our faces, and played pin-the-nose on the pumpkin!! Can you say FUN?? Thank you to all the parents who came and made it possible. We couldn't have done it without you! The kids had so much fun and I think the adults did too!

Our wonderful families who came to help...THANK YOU!!!

PARTY FUN!!

Our Classroom Jack-O-Lantern

2009-11-05T16:09:00.000-08:00

We had fun making a classroom jack-o-lantern. Everyone stuck their hands in and felt the yucky insides...ewwww! We baked the seeds and tasted them. Some of us really like them and some didn't. Here is a picture of it. Isn't it cute!

Be Cool About Fire Safety!

2009-11-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

We also got to visit Fire Station #8. Firefighter Chris Dempsey taught us some important fire safety tips. We got to look at the firetruck and hear the siren. It was really loud! Thank you Fire Station #8 for letting us visit you!

My Birthday Buddy...we got to celebrate our birthdays with a field trip!

CiCi's Pizza

2009-10-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we went on a field trip to CiCi's Pizza. We learned how to make our own pizza and then we got to eat it. YUMMY!! Thank you CiCi's Pizza for letting our Kindergarten classes visit you!

Red Ribbon Week

2009-10-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

Dug Gap is celebrating Red Ribbon Week!

Tuesday was Hands Off Drugs Day. We wore our gloves to school to say that we are keeping our hands off drugs!

Wednesday was Put a Cap on Drugs Day.

Friday was Sock it to Drugs Day. We wore CRAZY socks to school.

2009-10-27T19:34:00.001-07:00

In math, we are learning about shapes and how to recognize shapes in the world around us. Today in class we talked about each each shape and counted the sides they have. We played a game where we had to guess the shape on our back. Our friends traced the shape and gave us hints to help us discover what shape was hiding on our backs! Math is so much fun!

We love to exercise!

2009-10-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

We have been learning about nutrition. We talked about how it is important to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly. We had fun on Friday by doing exercises in the room! The kids loved it!

Having Fun with Bus Safety

2009-10-09T19:17:00.001-07:00

Our bus safety teacher...

Listening carefully to the bus driver. She is telling us how to be safe on the bus.

We got to get on the school bus!

We also got to practice how to get off the back of the bus in case there is an emergency. The kids did a great job!

Open House

2009-10-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Open House night in Benson's Beehive! Thank you to all of the families that came out to visit our classroom.

We got to show off some of our work to our families.

We met up with our Kindergarten Friends too!

A Good Bunch of Apples

2009-09-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Last week, we studied about apples. We had fun sorting apples and making patterns with apples. We also tasted different colors of apples and made a graph of our favorite color. Our class liked the yellow apples best! On Friday, we made apple pies...YUMMY!!!

2009-09-13T20:00:00.001-07:00

This week we have been learning to sort in math. Sorting is putting things together that are alike in some way. We had fun with a sorting relay. We sorted by shape and color. As you can see from the picture we had tons of fun!

Visitors and Volunteers in Kindergarten

2009-09-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning, Tanner McCutchen, my nephew and a senior at Southeast High School came to volunteer in our classroom. Thanks Tanner for the help!

Mr. Wagnon's fourth grade class came to read to us on Friday afternoon. This is something that we plan on doing the rest of the year. Right now the fourth graders are reading to us, but give us a month or two...WE WILL BE READING TO THEM!! Thank you Mr. Wagnon's class! We had so much fun listening to you read to us.

Having Fun with Shapes

2009-09-13T19:07:00.001-07:00

This past week, we learned about shapes and recognizing them in the world around us. We discussed different shapes each day and had fun activities that went along with each one. Here are some pictures from our fun week of shapes!

Triangle

Square

Rectangle

Oval

Circle

Diamond

Rainbow Day

2009-09-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

To celebrating the ending of colors weeks, we had Rainbow Day. We made special Rainbow Day shirts with the kid's handprints. As you can see from the pictures, they turned out really cute!

In math, we made patterns with rainbow M&M's.

We ate Rainbow Goldfish.

Colors Week

2009-08-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

For the next two weeks, we will be learning about all of the colors in the world around us. Each day we celebrate a different color by wearing it, having a special snack, sharing a toy and drawing different things in our journal that are that color. We always have so much fun during these weeks!

RED DAY

We had red jello...yummy!

BLUE DAY

We had blueberry muffins!

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ORANGE DAY

We had orangesicles! :)

Who says the kids are the only ones that can enjoy snacktime??

PURPLE DAY

We drank purple grape drinks.

We drew things that are purple in our journal.

BLACK DAY
We had yummy Oreos!

WHITE DAY
We ate vanilla ice cream.

First Week of Kindergarten

2009-08-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

Benson's Little Bumblebees had a buzzing first week in kindergarten! We have had a wonderful start to the school year! This week we have been talking about school rules and how things work around our classroom. We also have begun reading, math, and writing. We have been doing a lot of singing and dancing as you can see in the videos below. We have also been using our ActivBoard a lot to reinforce the things we are learning. We have all kinds of excitement going on in the beehive! I am so thrilled to be starting a brand new year with a fantastic group of kids!
My name is...

Fun with Writing!

A told B and B told C, "I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree
!"...We made our own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees...YUMMY!

Singing and Learning

2009-08-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of fun songs that we have been singing in Kindergarten! Enjoy! :)

Welcome To Kindergarten!!

2009-08-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about the new school year. Not only are we coming into a brand new, bright, clean, and beautiful classroom, but we have a wonderful class! We had a wonderful first day of school today. It was so precious to see all of them come into the room like big boys and girls and just leave their mommies and daddies standing at the door...I LOVE IT!! I just took a few pictures because my camera was not wanting to cooperate with me today, but I hope you enjoy seeing your little one in action on his or her first day.

Hard at work...

Recess Fun!

Benson's Little Bumblebees

Just so you know, I update this and try to put pictures on for you often. As a mom, I want to know what my little ones are up to during the day and I am not able to be there for everything...I do this for you so that you can keep up with what all is going on in our classroom. We will have so much fun this year and you will be amazed at how much your precious little one will learn.

I did not send home Homework Folders today, but will probably on Monday with more information about how we do things in our classroom so be looking for that in your child's bookbag. We got off to a slow start with communication due to the renovations, but I think we will all agree that it was worth it!

If you ever have any questions, you can reach me at the school or on my email, tara_benson@whitfield.k12.ga.us.

I just want you to know how honored I am to be your child's teacher this year. I think that Kindergarten is the best grade ever and we are going to have a fabulous year!

Congratulations Class of 2021!!

2009-05-31T07:49:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to our Kindergarten 08-09 Class!! Always remember how much Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Benson love you! We are so proud of every one of you and how hard you worked this year. We know that you are going to go on and do great things and we cannot wait to sit back and watch! You are special and don't ever forget it! We Love You!!!

Goodbye Kindergarten!!

2009-05-31T07:18:00.001-07:00

Can you believe that this year has already come to an end?? I can't! It seems like just yesterday that your precious little ones were coming into our classroom for the first time. I am so proud of everything they have accomplisdhed this year. They walked into our room barely knowing their letters and shapes and they are leaving readers and writers! Being a kindergarten teacher is such a rewarding experience because I see the growth of these little ones throughout the year. It is amazing to see how much they learn in just ten months.

We are going to miss each and every one of them. We are espcially going to miss their kisses and hugs, their smiles and laughter, and being able to see them everyday. Thank you so much for letting us teach them this year!

Have a great summer!! Don't forget to make sure your child keeps reading and writing throughout the summer!

Here are some pictures that I took for the end of the year video that each child received on Award's Day.

Fun on the playground with Mrs. Benson and Mrs. Debbie...

Goodbye Kindergarten...

Here we come First Grade!!

Field Day 2009

2009-05-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

Everyone had an exciting time at field day. We had several parents and grandparents show up to watch their little ones have fun competing in different games. All of the kids did a great job and had tons of fun. And to top it off, we won the Pre-K and Kindergarten Tug-of-War!!! CONGRATULATIONS BENSON'S BUMBLEBEES!!!!!!!\

Easter Fun...

2009-04-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

We had fun celebrating Easter with a party and an egg hunt!

Getting ready for the take off!

On your mark, get set, GO!!

After the hunt...the setting on my camera was changed so sorry about the coloring!

Down on the farm...

2009-03-30T06:14:00.000-07:00

We are studying about the farm and different farm animals. Last Friday, we made butter from heavy whipping cream. We ate it on crackers. The kids were surprised to find out that they liked it! Here are some pictures of the kids shaking their cream into butter.

First, we went over the recipe for making butter.

Next, we made the butter and enjoyed it on crackers.

Then, as a class, we wrote a story about our shared experience.

Field Trip to the Landfill

2009-03-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

We have been studying about the importance of recycling in our classroom. We have started recycling paper and plastic in the room and the students are very excited to help save the world! We visited the Landfill to see the recycling center and to see where all of the trash goes that cannot be recycled. Here are some pictures from our trip to the landfill.

In front of the aluminum cans...

In front of the plastic...

Here is a picture of us on the scales. Our class weighed over 1200 pounds!!

We recycled water bottles into shakers...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

You won't believe all of the crazy things that happened in our room today!

First, we made Magic Milkshakes. We made them with vanilla ice cream, but when we took the lid off the blender...the milkshake had turned green! The class decided that maybe a leprechaun did it. Even though that were green, they were still delicious!

Then, when we came in the room after lunch we discovered our room had been destroyed! We found a letter from a leprechaun and we also found lots of gold that he left for us!!

We went outside to search for the leprechaun, but we couldn't find him!

Celebrating Dr. Seuss

2009-03-12T16:35:00.000-07:00

Last week, we celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday all week. We read several of his fun, rhyming books in class. We also made Sr. Seuss hats and had fun Dr. Seuss snacks. We had so much fun while celebrating Dr. Seuss. Each day we read a different book and we had special activities that went along with each one.

We made Cat in the Hat hats...

We drew and wrote about Cat in the Hat in our journals...

For snack, we used made another version of our own Cat in the Hat hats...

On Wednesday, third graders from Mrs. Baldivid's class came and read Dr. Seuss books to us...

We made green eggs and ham...

Then we graphed whether we liked it or not. We liked them. They were yummy!!

Sr. Seuss week was a blast!!

Friday Surprise!

2009-02-27T10:44:00.001-08:00

Mrs. Amy came to visit our class for a couple of hours today! We enjoyed seeing her and hearing about her experience she is having in her fourth grade classroom. She read us a book while she was here. We miss you Mrs. Amy!!

Happy Valentine's Day Ms. Kelsey!

2009-02-13T05:49:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Kelsey came yesterday and brought us Valentine's goodies. Thank you Mrs. Kelsey. We love having you visit our room!

What time is it???

2009-02-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

In math, we are learning about time. We have been discussing morning, afternoon, and evening and activities that we do at those times of day. Mrs. Cass, our ESOL teacher, made up a song for us to perform that helpes us learn this new concept. We performed the song for several classes, the office staff and the cafeteria staff. The students did a wonderful job! I think we have some future actors and actresses in our classroom!

Performing for Mrs. Haught's class

Mrs. Haught's Class getting ready for the show...

Mrs. Cecilia's group awaiting our performance...

Mrs. Gazaway's group...

Mrs. Brooker's kids excited about the show...

Dr. Coker, Mrs. Ansley, Mrs. Locke, and Mrs. Lucretia...

Cafeteria Staff...

Happy Groundhog's Day!!

2009-02-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

We had fun celebrating Groundhog Day in our classroom. We made a graph and predicted whether we thought the groundhog would see his shadow or not. We also made a groundhog puppet and a groundhog coming out of his burrow. We watched Punxsutawey Phil come out of his "hole". Guess what he saw? His shadow! Which means we will have six more weeks of winter. Our class predicted correctly!

It also snowed today! It was very wet outside so we did not go out in it, but we peeked out the doors to look at the beautiful snow!

2009-01-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

We made it to the 100th day of school! Your little ones are officially 100 days smarter. We started the day off by putting on our 100th day visors...

Then we counted out 100 Fruit Loops by tens and made 100th day necklaces... We also counted to 100 by putting stickers on the chart... We filled out a Hundreds Chart...with a little help, of course... We made 100th Day Trail Mix. Yummy!!

Penguins

2009-01-19T18:18:00.000-08:00

This past week, we had fun studying about penguins. We did different activities that helped us realize what amazing animals penguins are. Ask your little one to share with you some of the facts that we learned. They really enjoyed reading non-fiction books and looking at photos of penguins. At the end of the week, we made penguins from Oreos and Hershey's kisses. Here are a few pictures from Penguin Week.

The Mitten by Jan Brett

2009-01-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

This week our class has read and studied The Mitten by Jan Brett.

In the book, a Ukrainian boy named Nicki wants his grandmother Baba to knit snow-white mittens for him. She warns her grandson that a white mitten will be hard to find if he loses it in the snow, but of course he promptly does just that! What happens next is the surprising part, as a mole takes refuge in the lost mitten, then a rabbit, then a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, and a fox. If you think the mitten might be a wee bit stretched out at this point, just wait: "Then a big bear sniffed at the mitten. The animals were packed in tight, but the bear didn't care. He crawled in anyway." When a tiny mouse squeezes in, her whiskers tickle the bear's nose. He sneezes, and "Aaaaa-aaaaa-ca-chew!" all the animals fly out of their crocheted cave. As the mitten sails through the air, Nicki spots it, reclaims it, and takes it home to show his smiling Baba.

It is a great book to help us study characters, setting, sequence of events, and beginning middle and end. We had fun all week doing different activities that went along with The Mitten. Today, we took the story and did a Reader's Theater with it. We used a red blanket as the mitten and each of the animals climbed in one by one. The children really enjoyed it.

CHRISTMAS PARTY

2008-12-23T09:23:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from our Christmas party. We enjoyed pizza and Christmas cookies. The kids also had fun opening their Christmas gifts from Mrs. Debbie and I. Then we visited Northpole.com to see if we were on Santa's naughty or nice list. I'm proud to report that everyone in our class made the nice list! Thank you for all of the wonderful Christmas gifts that you sent to us. We are so thankful to have such a precious kindergarten class this year. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

You Better Watch Out, You Better Not Cry...

2008-12-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

Santa Claus is coming to town. Santa visited Dug Gap...well a cardboard version of Santa visited Dug Gap so that we could get our pictures with him. Enjoy!

Christmas Readers

2008-12-19T08:29:00.000-08:00

On Pajama Day, we always have Christmas Readers that come and read stories to our class. The class was surprised to see that Mrs. Ami, our student teacher, would be reading a story in our room! They were so excited to see her! She was sweet enough to bring us some homemade treats. Yummy! Thank you Mrs. Ami!

Raider Reader

2008-12-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

We are lucky to have a Raider Reader this year. Kelsey Fowler is a senior at Southeast High School. She has been helping out in our classroom on Tuesday afternoons. Beginning in January, she will be coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Thank you Ms. Kelsey for all your help in our room!

Pajama Day

2008-12-19T08:01:00.000-08:00

Mrs. Benson's Class in their PJ's...

The Dug Gap Kindergarten Crew in their jammies...

Christmas Carols

2008-12-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things that we do here at Dug Gap is sing Christmas carols with the whole school. It is so sweet to hear all of the little voices singing Christmas songs. I captured a few of the songs on video for you to see!

The Grand and Glorious Christmas Show

2008-12-12T18:56:00.000-08:00

The kindergarteners always do a great job performing Christmas songs at The Grand and Glorious Christmas Show. This year our own kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Bryson sang a song with the kids. And a special guest showed up during the song
S-A-N-T-A...the one and only Santa! Here are a few pictures from the night performance.

December Brings Snow

2008-12-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

On the first day of December, we got our first snow at Dug Gap! The students were so excited to see it. I must admit, Mrs. Debbie and I were excited too! It was really cold so we only stayed out for a few minutes, but they still had a blast!

Our First Thanksgiving

2008-12-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

Dug Gap Elementary kindergarten presented our version of the First Thanksgiving. The students did a wonderful job performing songs and saying their lines in the play. As you can see from the pictures we had Indians, Pilgrims, and turkeys roaming around at Dug Gap! I am so proud of them. They did a great job!

Singing and Learning

2008-12-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that your little one has shared with you that we do a lot of singing and dancing in our classroom. We love to use songs to incorporate learning into our classroom. It gives us a chance to move around, be crazy, and learn at the same time! I taped the kids doing a couple of our favorite songs. The kids got camera shy, but still did a great job! I will try to post more vidoes in the future. Enjoy!

You will have to go to the bottom of the page and pause the playlist to hear the kids singing.

We're Blowing Bubbles Over Graphing!

2008-11-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

We just finished studying graphing in math. We graphed all kinds of things including if we could blow a bubble with bubble gum. Here are some pictures of the ones who could blow a bubble...

Happy Halloween...Again!

2008-11-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Look who I found at the Southeast Raiders football game. Our own Wonder Woman and Hannah Montana!!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-09T19:22:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic time celebrating Halloween in our classroom! Our day was full of fun filled activities.

First, Mrs. Ami surprised us and came to spend the morning with us. The kids were so excited to see her. We love Ms. Ami!

Second, we were invited by Mrs. Baldivid's class to to the Charlotte's Web Fair. Her class did a wonderful job creating carnival games for us to play. We got to get our faces painted, play pin-the-tail on the pig, race cars, and many more games. Here are some pictures from our FUN AT THE FAIR!!

After lunch, Pre-K visited our class to help us carve a pumpkin. The kids had fun sticking their hand in the "pumpkin guts" as Austin referred to the inside of the pumpkin. It was yucky! Then, we carved a face, put in a candle, and turned out the lights. We also washed the seeds and baked them. Some of the kids were really surprised to find out that they actually liked them! Here are some pictures from our pumpkin carving.

Finally, we made it to our Pumpkin Party!! We had three activities to celebrate Halloween. We painted pumpkins, made witches hands, and decorated pumpkin cookies. It was a lot of fun. Thank you to Austin's mom, Mrs. Jennifer, for helping out. We couldn't have done it without her! After all of the fun, we got to sit and enjoy our pumpkin cookies and juice. We a a wonderful Halloween!

We love Ms. Ami!!

2008-11-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

Amilynn Teems, a junior at Dalton State College, helped out in our classroom as a student teacher during August, September, and October. She was a wonderful asset to have. The kids responded well to her and treated her as another teacher in the classroom. She helped out in all areas. Her last day was in October and we are going to miss her terribly! We gave her a going away party to show her how much we appreciated all of her help. We love you Ms. Ami and we wish you the best. You are going to be a wonderful teacher!! WE WILL MISS YOU!

Raider Nation Pep Rally

2008-11-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

GO SOUTHEAST RAIDERS!!

We're Going on a Leaf Hunt

2008-10-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

We had fun learning about fall and went on a hunt for fall leaves! We went on to the playground and looked all around for the best leaves we could find. We then filled out an observation sheet that described the look and color of our leaves.

Be Cool About Fire Safety!

2008-10-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

We got to visit Firestation #8 to learn about fire safety. Fireman Chris did a great job teaching us about what we should do if there is a fire in our house. He also told that that if our clothes catch on fire, we should stop, drop, and roll. He also showed us a smoke detector and reminded us that we need a smoke detector in every room of the house. Then we went outside and he put on the gear that he wears in a fire. It was really neat to see. Then we got to look at the fire truck, which everyone loved! Thank you Fireman Chris for letting us visit your firestation!

Hi, Welcome to CiCi's!

2008-10-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

We had a Pizza-Riffic time at CiCi's! We learned all about making pizzas. The employees at CiCi's were wonderful teachers.

First, they took us into the kitchen and we got to see the great big mixer that they make the pizza dough in. We also got to walk into the great big refrigerator, BRRRRRR...it was cold in there! They showed us huge packs of pepperoni, cheese, hamburger, sausage, pizza sauce, and mushrooms. Guess how many pizzas they make at CiCi's each day? Over 900!

We also learned how to make a pizza. After they showed us how to make it, we got to make our own pepperoni pizza! We took turns stretching out the dough, putting on the pizza sauce, the cheese, and then the pepperoni. We did a great job. They were delicious!

Then we got to eat! We all got pizza and cinnamon rolls! YUMMY!

Thank you CiCi's Pizza!

Congratulations Lexi!

2008-10-17T18:31:00.000-07:00

We have a new Big Sister in our class. Lexi's baby sister, Luci, was born on Monday, October 13, 2008. Congratulations Lexi! You are going to be a wonderful big sister! We know that she will love to hear you read your Jack and Jilly Readers to her.

We are sorting it out in kindergarten!

2008-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

In math, we have been learning about sorting. Sorting means putting things together that are alike or the same in some way. We did various activities that reinforced teaching sorting skills. We played a sorting relay race, sorted M&M's by color and then graphed them, and we used the ActivBoard to sort shapes and animals. Take a look at how we are "sorting it out" in Mrs. Benson's room!

The Wheels on the Bus...

2008-10-13T06:22:00.000-07:00

Bus Safety Week is celebrated every year the third week of October. In honor of Bus Safety Week, the Whitfield County bus drivers came to our school to teach us bus safety rules. As you can see from the pictures below, we learned how to safely exit the bus in case of an emergency. We also learned how to wait at the bus stop, how to enter the bus, and how to behave on the bus while we are riding on it. Thank you to all of the bus drivers for teaching us about bus safety!

All About Me

2008-09-27T07:37:00.001-07:00

This week our theme was All About Me. We discussed how we are all alike and different. We are each special in our own way. We all enjoy different things, we look different, an we are good at different things. We also discussed our families. We made a special All About Me treat. On Friday, we shared our All About Me people that we made with our families. Thank you for helping your child complete this project. We enjoyed seeing them and they enjoyed sharing them with their friends.

In math, we continued to work on sorting. We introduced letter M. We also are focusing more on their handwriting. Please keep practicing with your child at home. We will continue to send things home here and there for you to use in your studies at home with your little one.

All About Me Family Project

All About Me Snack

Playground Fun

2008-09-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of us having fun with our friends on the playground...

Way Up High In The Apple Tree...

2008-09-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Last week we studied apples. We had fun reading about the life cycle of apples. We also learned about Johnny Appleseed. In math, we sorted the apples by color. After we sorted them, we tasted the red, yellow, and green apples and graphed our favorite apple. Our class like the red apples the best. On Friday, we baked apple muffins. They were yummy!

In math, we are learning about sorting. Sorting is putting things together that are alike. For example, putting bears together that are all the same color. You can practice this with your child at home by sorting coins, toys, etc...

Please practice the sight word flash cards that we sent home with your child at home. Also, please practice recognizing letters, numbers, and writing their name.

Thank you for all you do!

Shapes are everywhere!

2008-09-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

One of our kindergarten standards is to be able to recognize shapes in our enviornment. During shapes week, we focused on a different shape each day. We brought show and tell items, had shape snacks, and wrote about the shape in our journal. Here are some fun pictures from our shape filled week.

We can make a...

Triangle

Square

Shape Fun Slideshow

We are learning our colors one M&M at a time!

2008-09-21T13:55:00.003-07:00

Look around...everywhere you look you see beautiful colors. For two weeks, we focused on learning our colors. Each day we had a different color that we studied. For example, on red day, we brought a show and tell item that was red, we read Little Red Riding Hood and watched The Little Red Hen, we ate a red snack, and we made a chart of red items and then put them in our journal. Here are some pictures that I took during our weeks of colors.

RED DAY

BLUE DAY

GREEN DAY

YELLOW DAY

Fun With Colors...

All About School Week

2008-09-21T13:07:00.001-07:00

The second week of school our theme was All About My School. We studied different people in the school and looked at what their jobs were. On Friday, Mrs. Angie Byers, the cafeteria manager, took us on a tour of then kitchen. We learned lots and we even got to wear our own aprons. Thank you Mrs. Angie!

On Saturday, we celebrated Dug Gap's Back to School Bash. There were games, food, and auctions for the school to make money for needed items. It was a blast!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Look Who's in Mrs. Benson's Room!

2008-09-17T18:19:00.002-07:00

We had a great first week of school! We used this week to establish classroom rules and procedures and getting to know our new friends. Our theme was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We read this book and studied letters and letter sounds. Mrs. Morehouse brought a coconut for us to look at and smell. We also made our own version of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees with apples, sugar wafers, Alphabits cereal, and Whoppers. Yummy! This week was also our first time to go to specials. We had fun in P.E., music, library, lightspan, and counseling. There's nothing like your first week of kindergarten!

Our First Day of Kindergarten

2008-09-17T18:19:00.001-07:00

A New Beginning!

2008-09-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

So, here I go again. My last blog accidetally was deleted so I am trying to start a new one. Be patient with me as I try to get the pictures and slideshows on to this new blog. Please bookmark the new web address as bensonbuzz.blogspot.com and not bensonsbuzz.