Week 9

October 24, 2014

We did it - we reached the end of the first grading period! The children have worked very hard; I am so proud of them!
We started the week with our field trip to the library and ended with PJ Day! In between we worked with letters /p/ and /j/, added to our sight word list by learning 'my', 'gray', 'white' and 'pink'. We continued working in our tree unit and in math, are continuing with number comparison and number order. Each week, we spend some time with the writing process. We work on writing conventions, such as starting sentences with a capital letter, using spaces between words and ending with a period or question mark. And we work on spelling - using sounds to write words. As this stage, the children are are asked to stretch out sounds and write the ones they hear. The children are doing a nice job with this. One writing project involved footprints. The children had their feet painted white and printed on an orange pumpkin. When we turned the footprints over - they looked like ghosts! We added the words, "Trick or Treat, See my feet, This is what I like to eat" and the children tried to sound out their favorite candy. It was really cute - wish I had taken a picture! But I have included some pictures from our field trip and PJ Day. Enjoy!

Weeks 7 and 8

A Peek at the (last two)Weeks

I can tell it is October because the weeks are starting to pass by more and more quickly. Your children have been working very hard and I am so proud of all of them. 

Spiders have been the theme for this week. The children are showing a lot of interest in learning about this topic.  After reading about spiders, we made a class graph about who was afraid of them. The graph showed that most of the children are not afraid of spiders. We had fun reading and singing the story, The Itsy Bitsy Spider and the children made a cute picture depicting where their spider would climb. This week we worked on letters /e/ and /r/ and last week the letters /d/ and /s/. The sight words ‘can’, ‘brown’ and ‘black’ were introduced and added to your child’s binder.
Last week was Fire Safety Week and the children were visited by one of our local firefighters. They had a chance to hear some excellent fire safety tips from him. We also have begun learning about trees. We are learning how they grow and their importance to our world. On Monday we will take a trip to the library to participate in a program on this topic. 

As we get into the holiday season there seems to be a lot of information to dispense. 

Please make note of the following.

Important Dates and reminders:

·         Monday, October 20^th - field trip to the Avon Lake Library.  

·         Friday, October 31st - Halloween Parade and party. The children can come to school dressed in costume, or bring it to wear at school. (No weapons please).  The whole school participates in a Halloween parade at 9:00.  Our classroom party will be immediately following the parade (around 9:30).  All are invited4

·         Tuesday, November 4th.  Election Day - No school for students.

·         Wednesday, Thursday, Nov. 5^th and ^6th are conference days. Dismissal time is 1:45 on both of those days.

Monday, November 10^th will be Parent Visitation Day. (1:30-3:00) This is a special event where an adult can spend time with their child at school. I hope that each child will have a special adult (parent, grandparent, aunt, neighbor, etc.) to spend time with them in the classroom and share in their “work”.  We will begin at 1:30 and will be making a Native American costume which is to be worn at the Thanksgiving Feast. A white or tan pillowcase is needed to make the costume. (Sometimes Marc’s has them for a good price). Please send in a pillowcase by November 6th, labeled with your child’s name.  Directions for cutting are below.

In math we have begun Unit 4 which continues to provide practice on number comparison. But besides the work the children do in their math books, the children also work in math centers. The children are partnered with a buddy or 2 and work on different math skills. The children are rotated through the centers so that everyone has a chance to play each of the games. Check out the pictures of some of the students working at the centers.

Carson and Emma working at the patterning center.

Bronte' at the play-dough number center.

Ella and Kaeden playing a number comparison game.

Clara and Dominic are working at the counting center.

Myla and Andrew working on the computers.

        One of the spider projects the children completed last week.

              We took advantage of last week's nice weather and had some opportunities to play outside.

 

Week 6

Apple Fun Day was a success! Everyone had a good time with our apple learning!! 
On Monday, all three kindergarten classes came together to experience the apple activities. 
Each child completed a craft which shows how an apple tree looks during each season. They made apple prints, played with apple scented play dough, used tongs to scoop apples from the sensory table, and made a Johnny Appleseed hat. Math and science concepts were practiced as the children weighed and measured an apple then decided if it would sink or float.  The children tasted red, yellow and green apples and decided which one they liked the best. The results were graphed to determine the most popular. This year, red apples won by a landslide! On Tuesday, we made apple sauce.The boys and girls used the apple peeler machine to peel apples and then we cooked them in a crockpot. Mrs. Deemer's class and ours came together to taste the delicious treat. Although some students were reluctant to try the applesauce, most loved it and asked for seconds! 

This week, one story read to them was Ten Apples Up on Top. The children made a character of themselves with 10 apples on top of them.Our weekly story was the Little Red Hen. From this story, the children were introduced to the terms, character and setting. The children had several opportunities to act out the story and be one of the characters. We worked with letters /a/ and /g/ and learned the sight words "to" and "purple". 
We are as busy as bees in kindergarten!
Enjoy the weekend!