The week of Dec. 11-15.

Only 8 more days before Christmas Vacation!  Wow!  This semester has really flown by and your kids are taking off in Kindergarten!  It has been a fun first semester to watch the growth in your children's learning!

This week is Bb week and we will be doing various Bear activities.  The kids came home with a teddy bear invite for their favorite teddy bear (or stuffed animal if they don't have one) to visit us at school on Thursday.  Please make sure it fits in your child's backpack.  I am going to also surprise them with a PJ party on Thursday for filling up our class bucket!

We will be comparing Goldi Rocks and the Three Bears to The Three Snow Bears  with a venn diagram writing the similarities and differences.


In reading we are learning about technology and how it's different now from years past and what might happen in the future.  We will read an informative text and fiction text about technology, then compare the two.  We still continue to use the 5 finger retell at school to make sure the students are understanding what is read.  Please keep asking questions about stories you read or they read at home.  It's very important to not just read the words of a story, but be able to comprehend what they are reading.

Social Studies-  We are continuing with our Economics Unit this week.  Today we learned about our 3 Basic Needs-Food, Clothing, and Shelter, along with Needs and Wants.  At home you can review by telling your child a good and asking if it is a need or a want.

Next, we will learn more about Goods/Services, and Consumers/Producers.  We will be doing picture sorts to review what we read about.

Math-- We are finishing up Topic 16 on Analyzing, Comparing, and Composing Shapes.  Your child will be tested on identifying and describing 3D solid shapes.   Here are their descriptions to know so you can review with your child.  

A cone has 1 flat surface, can roll, stack, and slide.
A cylinder has 2 flat surfaces, can roll, stack, and slide. 
A cube has 6 flat surfaces and 6 corners, can stack and slide.
A sphere can roll, and has no flat surfaces. 
All are 3D solid shapes.

They will be tested on Thursday!

I only have $2 from 6 people to help cover the costs for the Winter Party.  Please send that in soon!  Thank you!

Coming up!

Dec. 18            Winter parties  2:30-3:15  Please send in $2 to help cover the costs of the party!

Dec. 19             1/2 day for all

Dec. 20-Jan. 3  Christmas Vacation!!

Job Day!

 Mrs. Musil  is an investigator.

 We pretended we were nurses!

 Mrs. Donovan is a nurse!

 Mrs Clark is a writer for a bank!

 Mr. Lewis is a pastor!  They collect goods for others who need them.

 Ms. Waters is a litigation lawyer.  She was accompanied by her para legal for a fun activity!

 Mr. Hanks is a Senior Purchasing Manger for a construction company!

 Mrs. Hillner showed us a model of an eye!

 Mrs. Hillner is an Optometrist!

 Mr. Pirie is a Finance Manager at an insurance company!

 Mr. Benlon is a Regional Manager for Toyota Corporate!

The week of Dec. 4-8.

Was last weekend our last perfect weather weekend?  It will definitely be colder weather the rest of the week.  Please make sure your child is wearing pants and a coat to school as we do go out for recess if the temperature is above 35 degrees.  A thin sweatshirt jacket is just not enough, especially when the wind is blowing.  Thank you!

We are looking forward to Job Day on Thursday!  Just a reminder that I will not be here on Friday.

Intruder Drill last Friday.  We were informed that an intruder was in our building, but we didn't know where they were.  I chose to teach the kids how to hide and barricade the door if needed.  We could have evacuated also.  We will be practicing both procedures so we are familiar with both.

The Holiday Party is coming up on Monday, Dec. 18!  Our party coordinators are asking for each family to donate $2 toward the snack, game, and craft.  Please send that in to me and I will make sure they get it!  Thank you to the two parents for planning the party!

Reading this week!
We are reading an animal fiction book this week!  We will learn how to use context clues in the story to figure out words we do not know.  Hopefully this skill will help your child when they are reading a book they don't know.

Sight words:  you, and
Letter of the week--Hh

Math this week!  
Topic 16   Analyzing, Comparing, and Composing Shapes.  We will compare the 3 D solid shapes that roll, stack, and slide.

Social Studies!  We will be learning more about what a police officer, firefighter, nurse, and veterinarian do.  Then, we will fill out graphic organizers listing details we learned about each.  Finally, we will graph our favorite community helper!


Coming up! 

Dec.  7              Job Day! 

Dec. 18            Winter parties  2:30-3:15  Please send in $2 to help cover the costs of the party!

Dec. 19             1/2 day for all

Dec. 20-Jan. 3  Christmas Vacation!!

The week of Nov. 27-Dec. 1.

The weekend was beautiful for Thanksgiving!  I hope your family had a wonderful time together!

Job Day!  I have 9 volunteers to share about their jobs on Dec. 7!  Thank you to those who are able to take time off at work to share!

I am just amazed with how much the kids are learning with our new reading program!  I hope you are also noticing how much your child has progressed since the beginning of the year!  Keep working on those sight words!  Only 3 more weeks until the quarter is over!  

This week we are talking more about making our sentences more interesting with descriptive verbs.  We will learn that we add -ed to a word to make it past tense.  Then, we are going to have fun making up fun sentences with colorful adjectives and verbs!  

Sight words:  mom, in
Letter of the week:  Hard Cc and Soft Cc

Please make sure you have your child read their little readers that come home once a week at least 2-3 times to someone.  If you can cover up the pictures after reading it 1-2 times, it will challenge them to read without the pictures!

Math this week!
Topic 4:  We are learning more about what 3D solid shapes are and what they can do.  Today, we sorted objects in to their correct categories of spheres, cubes, cylinders, cones, and rectangular prisms.  We will also be sorting 2D/3D shapes and sorting different types of food into the categories.  Then we will graph our results.

Social Studies--  This week we are beginning our Economics Unit.  We will learn about needs/wants, goods/services, producers/consumers, and community helpers.  

We only have one more week for our November book-it calendar.  Please continue to fill it out if when you read to or with your child!  Have them grab paper books from their bucket to read to you!  Let them read Level 1 books with you!  They will know many of the sight words in those books.  You read a page and let them read a page.  

Istation!  Let's get back on track after the break!  Only 10 min. a day will help them get their goal of 45 min. quickly!  Each gets on it here for 15- 20 min. once a week.

Coming up!

Dec.  7              Job Day! 

Dec. 18            Winter parties  2:30-3:15

Dec. 19             1/2 day for all

Dec. 20-Jan. 3  Christmas Vacation!!

Our First Thanksgiving!

The Wampanoag Indians

Pilgrims and Indians

Holding up the year of the first Thanksgiving and feast pictures.

 Greeting the Pilgrims

 Our Feast!

What a fun Thanksgiving Feast with our Pilgrim friends from Mrs. Hanson's class!

Only two days this week!

It is crazy that Thanksgiving is so close!  We are having fun making Thanksgiving turkeys, singing songs, and learning more about Pilgrims and Indians and their first Thanksgiving Feast in 1621!

Tomorrow is our First Thanksgiving "Feast" as Indians with Mrs. Hanson's Pilgrims!  We made our Indian headdress today and will decorate a vest tomorrow!  Thank you to all the parents that have helped me prepare all that was needed for the day!  If your child doesn't have a brown shirt, they can wear a tan, gray, or neutral shirt.  

Look for pictures to come of our First Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast!

Letter of the week!  Short O
Sight word:  on

Math this week!
The introduction of 3D solid shapes!  The shapes we will learn about and describe are:  sphere, cube, cone, and rectangular prism.  The kids will learn which ones roll, slide, and stack.

Job Day change!  I love that so many of you are able and willing to share your job on Job Day, Dec. 8.  However, I just found out that I have to go out of town and will not be here on the 8th.  Would you be able to come on the 7th?  For those of you that sent in your "Job Day Application" slip, please let me know if you are still able to share on the 7th!  So sorry for the inconvenience of the date change.  

Coming up!

Nov. 22-26      Thanksgiving Break!!

Dec.  7              Job Day!  Date Change!

Dec. 18            Winter parties  2:30-3:15

Dec. 19             1/2 day for all

Dec. 20-Jan. 3  Christmas Vacation!!

Apple Day pictures FINALLY!

Blue Day

Apple Day!!

The week of Nov. 13-16!

Wow!  We are almost half-way through 2nd quarter!  Progress reports will come home on Friday!  Please look for what your child needs to review at home or if they are right on track!  Skills will be highlighted if they aren't mastered yet.

Picture retakes are on Wednesday this week!  If you bought the first picture, but do not like it, return it on Wednesday and get retakes.  Or if your child was absent the first day, they can take it Wednesday.

We only have two days next week due to Thanksgiving Break Wed.-Fri.

Istation--I visited with the class today about making sure they weren't just getting on Istation to get their minutes.  They need to really focus and try their best and learn from their mistakes by listening to the program.  I have noticed on the reports that several are not doing very well.  If they are getting tired of it because they are stuck on a certain skill, try to sit with them and watch what they are missing.  They may need you to explain the concept to them.  We can't assume they understand all of it even if the program tells them the correct answer.  
Also, please make sure your child is logging out when they are done.  For some reason, the program doesn't like it when they don't log out and leave it idling.


Reading this week!
Our informative, nonfiction book, we are reading this week is "What do Animals Need?".  We will be looking for important details and matching labels to pictures.  We will compare/contrast last week's story, "What do Plants Need?" and this story.  

We have also been looking for the naming part and telling part of sentences.  It helps us to notice if we have a complete sentence when we write them.   

Sight words:  he, love  ( We are half way through the 2nd quarter list at school.)  Please review the sight words 5-10 min. a night until they know them.

Letter of the week:  Pp

Social Studies!
Today we learned about totem poles being made by Native Americans to tell stories.  We watched one being carved in a video today.

We will be reading books about the Thanksgiving story, how people dressed, lived, and what they ate many years ago.

Math!
Our Topic 14 is on flat, 2D shapes.  The class is looking around our room for shapes and making pictures out of a shape each day.  We are also learning how to describe each shape which is a goal to be able to do in Kindergarten.  For instance; the description of a rectangle is: it has 2 long sides, 2 short sides, and 4 corners.  A square has 4 equal sides and 4 corners.  A circle is round with no sides or corners.  A triangle has 3 sides and 3 corners.  A hexagon has 5 sides and 5 corners.  Lastly, an oval is round, long, and no sides or corners.  Please work on the descriptions at home, as your child will have to say them at school to pass that skill.

Coming up!

Nov. 15           Picture Retakes

Nov. 22-26      Thanksgiving Break!!
Dec. 8              Job Day!  (Information coming soon!)
Dec. 18            Winter parties
Dec. 19             1/2 day for all
Dec. 20-Jan. 3  Christmas Vacation!!

What a fantastic day on our field trip!

We had so much fun today!  The kids were fabulous along with my wonderful parent helpers!  Enjoy both our rainbow cookie pictures and our field trip pictures!

We loved making our own rainbow snack!

Our first bus ride in school!

Kaleidoscope

 The Kindergarten teachers taking a break!  Whew!

Lunch Land where we ate our lunch!

 Getting ready for our movie!

 More Kaleidoscope pics!