The week of Oct.28-Nov. 2.

We have another busy week!  Never a dull moment in kindergarten!

Our Halloween parade and party are Wed.  Please send your child's costume in their backpack or in a bag with their name on it.  Mrs. McCall sent out a Smore through Skyward.  She addressed school rules on costumes.  I know some of the kids have masks that go with their costume.  I'm going to say as long as they can see through the mask easily, they can wear it.  Mrs. McCall did say no wands, weapons, or make-up.  No scary masks either please.
Also, she is going to let KDG parents only come help dress at 2:20 since they need more help.  Coordinators can come at 2:20 to set up too.  Thank you everyone for volunteering to bring things for the party!  I love how KDG parents get involved in our class events!  We will begin the parade in our hall, walk down 1st/2nd hall, outside and back down 3rd/4th hall, and finish in our room.We're looking forward to a great party!

Our field trip is this Friday.  We will leave promptly at 9:00.  Please make sure your child is here at 8:40 at the latest so we can get name tags on, disposable sack lunches in place, and ready to head at 9:00.  We are asking everyone-kids and adults-to wear RED to be spotted easily.  It is supposed to be 51 degrees on Friday for a high, so your child better wear a jacket or sweatshirt on the bus.  The bus driver will stay with the bus, so we will probably leave the jackets on the bus so we don't have to carry them.  But, good to have them just in case...
Make sure your child goes to the bathroom right before leaving home.  We won't have much time before getting on the bus.

This week in reading.
Last week we read about "What Plants Need to Survive".  This week we are reading, "What Animals Need to Survive".  We will compare the two informative texts, and learn more about glossary and index. We will also read a fiction animal book that animals are talking in to look for the quotation marks to notice the difference between nonfiction and fiction.

Spiders!  We made a spider flip book of the Garden Spider, Black Widow, and Tarantula.  Look for that  on our spider web in our room!  Also look at our KWL poster beside the web to find out what we learned about spiders!

If you come to the Halloween party, look for our class quilt in the hall that we made on our opinion about "Spookley the Square Pumpkin", and our Rainbow fish that we made sharing our pieces with our friends.  

Sight words:  is, was
Letter of the week:  Pp--we pretend we are painting as we say the /p/ sound.
Our last color of the week:  orange

Math this week:  We are finishing up Topic 4.  Thank you for making sure your child completed the homework packet so they are more prepared for the test tomorrow!  
Topic 5 is over Numbers to 20.  Please start working on 11 to 20 at home!  Naming the number and writing them.

Wednesday we are going to do some fun Pumpkin Measuring for math!

Coming up!

Oct. 31      Halloween Party!  Parade at 2:30 and party following until 3:15. 

Nov. 1        Wear orange today!  Peyton has the orange snack.

Nov. 2       Field trip--bring a disposable sack lunch and disposable water bottle.  

Nov. 8       Rainbow  snack--Mrs. Scott

Nov. 16     Happy Bear presentation

Nov. 21-25   Thanksgiving Break

Pink Day

The week of Oct. 22-26.

This week is a busy one!  The firemen come with their firetruck to talk to us about what the kids need to do in case of a fire, and then we will get to go outside and learn about the firetruck!  Please make sure your child wears their jacket as it's usually chilly outside in the morning.

We talked a lot about a meeting place outside your house, how to know if it's safe for them to open a door, and what to do if they have fire on them.  Most knew what to do--Stop, Drop, and Roll.

I am sending home a fire safety booklet tomorrow that your child can work on at home.  It's a good manual to talk about fire safety.

Book-It calendars--I reminded the kids to keep filling out their book-it calendar for this month to receive their free pizza coupon.  Several said they hadn't been filling it out.  Please help your child be responsible by coloring in an acorn when they read to you or you to them for 10 min. a day.  It helps them be aware of their learning!  I let them know that I put the calendar in their Parent-Teacher conference packet if it's not found.  If it's gotten lost, I can either copy one for you or you can write down on paper when you read.  Thank you!!!!!

Reading groups!  Our reading groups are off!  I want to apologize for the confusion of skill groups and books.  The groups did great with skills only last week, so I decided to begin sending home the little readers.  We will read them together one time in our group, so reading at least 2 more times at home will help them really know the words and comprehend what the story was about.  Using the 5 finger retell will let you know how your child is understanding what they read.  
Please send back the little reader, skill sheet, parent note in the baggie the next day.  Thank you!  Enjoy listening to your child read!!

Istation:  Many of the kids are getting on at home and working on reading skills on Istation.  If you are having difficulty getting your child on at home, please let me know and hopefully I can help out.  I suggest 10 min. a day at least 3 days a week.  The more min. the better, help those reading skills!  If you make it a priority first before playing, it will become a routine.
Thank you for all you do at home!

Reading this week!
We read our Benchmark Series book called What Do Plants Need?  Ask your child the 4 things plants need!  We have been talking about it a lot!
Letter of the week:  Ff, we pretend we are fishing when we say the /Ff/ sound.
Sight words:  at, look (bonus word) pink
Color of the week:  pink  

Science:  We will incorporate learning about spiders in to our reading and science this week and some of next week.  Tomorrow we will graph how we feel about spiders, do a KWL-Find out what we already Know,  tell what we Want to learn, then write what we Learned, after we read a book about them.  Then, we will read The Very Busy Spider for a fun fiction book.  If you come to our Halloween party, you will find spiders hanging around!!

Math this week!
This week we will be learning about 2 more, 2 fewer, and numbers on a number line.
You can help out at home by giving a number between 1 and 10 or more if your child gets it, and ask for one more, two more, one fewer or two fewer.

Coming Up!

Oct.  25     Wear pink today!  Chloe has the pink snack.

Oct. 31      Halloween Party!  Parade at 2:30 and party following until 3:15. 
Nov. 1        Wear orange today!  Peyton has the orange snack.
Nov. 2       Field trip--bring a disposable sack lunch and disposable water bottle.  More info. to come.
Nov. 8       Rainbow  snack--Mrs. Scott
Nov. 16     Happy Bear presentation
Nov. 21-25   Thanksgiving Break

White Day!

The week of Oct. 16-19.

I hope your kids and you were able to enjoy the long weekend!

Halloween Party!  It is on Halloween, Oct. 31.  Please send your child's Halloween costume in a bag and put it in their backpack.  If it doesn't fit, make sure their name is on the bag.  The costumes that are the easiest are ones that can be pulled over their clothes.  Please remember that weapons are not allowed.  These could be fairy wands, swords, knives, hooks, or anything that could poke someone.  Also, masks should be saved for trick-or-treating.  The parade begins at 2:30.  If you are coming to help your child get dressed, please be here by 2:20.  Party coordinators can arrive at 2:15 to set up.  A sign-up genius will be emailed soon to give you an opportunity to donate items for the party.  All parents are welcome to come to the party!  We love as much help as we can get!!

We have worked hard during our Daily Five stations to be ready for me to work with reading groups.  I am starting reading groups this week, however I am just working on skills.  So, a baggie with a note and a skill sheet will come home with your child the day I work with your child's reading group.  Please do the worksheet with your child and send it bag in the baggie the next day.  I will be sending home little books with your child possibly the week of Nov. 5, if I feel they are ready. If not, we will keep working on skills only.  I will always have a skill sheet that comes home each week with the reader.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Reading this week!
We are reading some informative texts, and discussing the main idea and details of each text.  I always like to read a fiction book to compare and contrast so the class understands the difference between the two.

Writing:  2-3 days a week we are writing sentences about a given topic.  The kids are doing great trying to sound out the words and making a complete sentence with a capital letter and punctuation mark!  I'm so proud of how far they have come already!

Handwriting:  L, U, V, W.

Sight words:  a, she,
Letter of the week:  short i and long i
Color of the week is white:  Zachary has the white snack!

Math this week!
We are comparing numbers that are greater and less than other numbers.  Today, we put number cards in order to 10 and had to find numbers greater and less than numbers Mrs. Scott said.
You can ask these questions in the car or anytime to help your child understand which numbers to 10 are greater or less than others!

Coming Up!

Oct. 18       Wear white today!  Zachary has the white snack.

Oct. 19      Gradecards posted on Skyward

Oct.  25     Wear pink today!  Chloe has the pink snack.

Oct. 31      Halloween Party!  Parade at 2:30 and party following until 3:15. 
Nov. 2       Field trip--bring a disposable sack lunch and disposable water bottle.  More info. to come.

The week of Oct. 8-11.

Apple Day was a huge success!  Thank you parents for contributing your time and donating the apples.  The kids had so much fun!  We will have Farm Day May 3.  It is similar to Apple Day with the stations.  Look for the Apple Day pics below!  The apple frames your children made will be handed out later this week with their pictures that were taken.

Picture Day is tomorrow!  It will be individual and class pictures, so hopefully all will be here for the class picture!  There are retakes later if you do not like the pictures from tomorrow.

Permission forms!  I received several today!  Keep them coming!  Please make sure to paper clip or staple the check to the form so it isn't dropped.  This will be helpful all the rest of your days your child is in school.  I would suggest always putting cash in an envelope and paper clipping it to the note, so that if it falls out of the folder, it is not taken.  There will be many times you send money or checks to school throughout the years!

Lunch on Thursday is Manager's choice.  Lunch A will be Chicken Quesadilla, Lunch B is still Popcorn Chicken.

Friday and Monday are Inservice and 1/2 workday for teachers to work on grade cards.  No school for kids.

This week in Reading--
We read The Little Red Hen today.  We talked about kindness and being helpful.  We will be retelling the major events in the story using our Five Finger Retell, and looking for nouns and verbs.
Science
We are also reading various stories about leaves and the seasons.  We will use the leaves brought from home to learn about etching.  They will make a colorful picture using the leaves!  We will also read a story called, From Seed to Pumpkin, then we will put pictures of a growing pumpkin in sequential order.

Letter of the week:  Nn (We shake our heads no saying the /Nn/ sound.)

sight words:  be, my, black
Color of the week:  black (Robleh has the black snack!)

Handwriting:  Using big and short lines, we will write H and K.

Math this week:  We will take our Topic 3 math test tomorrow (Tuesday) and begin Topic 4-Comparing and Ordering Numbers to 10.

If your child missed naming any numbers to 10 on their progress report, please work on this with your child.  Also, have your child count to 20 and make sure he/she isn't skipping any numbers.  Does he/she know his letters and sounds for Mm, Aa (long and short), Ss, Tt, Nn?
My helper will be testing them over this again if they missed it on their progress report.

Lastly, I have introduced all of the 1st quarter sight words now.  Be and my are the last ones.  Are you working on these at home?  They will be tested again tomorrow.  Please don't let your child get too far behind.  It is hard to catch up!  We will start on 2nd quarter sight words next week!  5-10 min. review each night will go far!

Istation--The recording week for Istation minutes begins on Sundays and goes through Saturdays.  A few kids thought they should get a certificate for their minutes yesterday, but they will get it next Monday.

Coming up!

Oct. 9        School pictures today!

Oct. 11      End of 1st quarter.  Black Day.  Robbie has the black snack

Oct. 12      No School  Inservice/workday for grade cards.  

Oct. 15      No School   Inservice all day

Oct. 18       Wear white today!  Zachary has the white snack.

Oct. 19      Gradecards posted on Skyward

Oct.  25     Wear pink today!  Chloe has the pink snack.

Oct. 31      Halloween Party!  Parade at 2:30 and party following until 3:15. 

Apple Day Fun!

Building numbers with linking cubes!

The week of Oct. 1-5.

First of all, thank you again parents for attending  your child's conference.
I hope your child had a great 4 days off!

Please make sure your child gets their math homework from the weekend turned in tomorrow!
(It may still be in their folder.)
Sorry I didn't let you know it was coming home.

Apple Day is this Friday!  We need volunteers for our AM Apple Day stations!  You would need to be here from 8:30-noon if possible.  Please consider volunteering on the sign up genius for one of these stations below.  I know many of you would have to take off, but it is a fun half day and your child would love having you there!  I will resend the sign up genius for you to look at.  I had 4 of you sign up at Parent Info. Night.  If you can help out at one of the stations, please sign up.
Also, don't forget that your child needs to bring in one green Granny Smith apple by Friday.  You are welcome to send it in anytime this week though!
We need:

1 for apple tasting/graphing

2 for apple frames and pictures

1 for Apple Bingo and necklaces

2 for Applesauce and face painting

1 for Apple Stamping

2 for apple weighing

We will also learn about the seasons of the apple tree, make our own little books with the apple tree seasons, read a Johnny Appleseed book, and find out what's in an apple!

Our Kindergarten Field Trip is one month away on Friday, Nov. 2.  Today I drew 3 names from the 7 that signed up to go.  I'm sorry not everyone that signs up is able to go.  We are limited at Kaleidoscope.  I drew out--Karen Stahl (Grace), Lindsay Pecaro ( Makenna) and Jordan Guth (Declan).  I will be sending more information to you three about the field trip.  It is all day, so if any of you are unable to attend, please let me know asap so I can draw another name on my list.

Istation--I had 6 kids get certificates today for getting at least 30 min. on Istation and several others got on it too, but didn't quite reach 30 min!  Wow!  I was going to ask you to have your child begin Istation at home this week!  Those that reached 30 min. will get a certificate and piece of candy today!  Thank you for getting your child going!

This week in Reading!  We are reading to Goldilocks fairy tales.  One is Goldilocks and the Three Bears that was retold.  The author updated it with fun additions!  Ask your child to share some with you.  The second story is called Goldi Rocks and The Three Bears.  We will compare and contrast the stories and answer the 5 comprehension questions for each book--who, what, how, when, where.  The last fairy tale similar to the other two is called, Goldy luck and the Three Pandas.

Sight words:  we, by, brown  (Henry has this snack.)

Letter of the week:  Tt--we pretend to tickle when we say the sound.

Math this week!

We are counting and writing to 10, finding patterns, and reviewing before our math test next week.  

Handwriting--We are writing N and M, along with reviewing how to write F, E, D, P, B, R.

Coming up!
Oct 1-5      Peace Week aka Red Ribbon Week! Tues-Wear neon colors, Wed-wear PJ's and slippers (bring tennis shoes), Thurs-favorite team shirt or (brown shirt), Fri.--wear sunglasses

Oct. 4        Apple Day Setup at 5:30 in the Maker Space and Brown DayHenry has the snack.

Oct. 5        Apple Day!  Our class is from 8:30-12:00

Oct. 9        School pictures today!

Oct. 11      End of 1st quarter.  Black Day.  Robbie has the black snack

Oct. 12      No School  Inservice/workday for grade cards.  

Oct. 15      No School   Inservice all day

Oct. 18       Wear white today!  Zachary has the white snack.

Oct. 19      Gradecards posted on Skyward

Oct.  25     Wear pink today!  Chloe has the pink snack.

Oct. 31      Halloween Party!  Parade at 2:30 and party following until 3:15.