More Thanksgiving Center Day Photos

Week of November 15-19

Dear Families;

What a fun week we had in kindergarten! Preparing for the holidays is always fun, no matter what the age! We spent a lot of time this week on Thanksgiving activities and ended our week with a Thanksgiving centers day. Thanks to all the moms who came out to help! There is no way I could have done that without you!

Animated Alphabet:
This week we learned two new characters: The Thick Thorny Thing (Which tied in perfectly with Thanksgiving) and Nellie Newt. Make sure that in your daily reading with your child you are pointing out these new letters and talking about the sounds they make in the words.

Literacy: Due to all of our Thanksgiving Day activities we were only able to get to reading groups once this week. Students created many different Thanksgiving Day booklets, which I hope you are taking the time to read (and re-read) with your child. Repetition is important!
We read many books on Thanksgiving, including one about the first Thanksgiving. Students learned who was there, who the pilgrims were, why the pilgrims had come to America, and what they were thanful for at the first feast.

Math: This week we finished up learning how to write our numbers up to 10. We also learned about growing patterns. Have your child draw one of these for you. Also, whenever your child has a few extra free minutes (riding in the car, waiting at a restaurant) have them practice writing their numbers. We will be taking our Unit 2 assessment Monday.

Activities next week:
* Tuesday will be our Thanksgiving Feast. I am asking that each student bring in one piece of fruit. We will then take each child's fruit and make a fruit salad to share. Students will eat these on the place mats they created on center day. They will also wear their Pilgrim Hats or Native Headdress. Items we need to make this a success...
- One extra parent volunteer
- some small plates
- plastic wear
- napkins
Let me know if you are willing to send one of these items to school.
I hope you all know how much your support really does matter. I couldn't do this without your time, snacks, wipes, patience, etc...

*If you haven't already please send a large brown grocery sack to school with your child on Monday. Thanks!

Last Week of October, First Week of November

Dear Families:
I am not sure about you all, but I am still recovering from the Halloween festivities. Thanks so much for all of your help on Friday with costumes, parading, party and clean-up. You helped make some great memories for these kids. Because I am running behind on my blog and this is a short week, I will summarize the two weeks together.

Animated Alphabet: Last week we only learned one character, Crazy Camel and this we will also only learn one, Lizzy Lamb. Make sure you are talking about the characters at home, singing the songs, and pointing out letters in print. Carrying over these lessons at home will help make your children readers! Also, a new Animated Alphabet activity sheet came home today. Try to do one activity with your child each day.

Math: Students have been focusing on counting by 5s and 10s, using money to count, and also learning to use the addition and equals sign. Students are learning in many different formats, using manipulatives, body movement, as well as paper-pencil methods. Students are also spending time learning how to write their numbers. This is a skill you can work on at home.

Science: Last week students participated in a culminating activity where they learned about the 5 senses. Parent volunteers manned learning centers where students experienced each sense hands on. They had a great time guessing smells, tastes, feeling and trying to decide "what's in the bag?", as well as guessing sounds, and looking at objects through rainbow glasses, magnifiers, and telescopes. We ended our day with a popcorn party where we used all 5 of our senses!

I have been spending the last two weeks assessing students. This way I will have the most accurate and up to date information to share with you at conferences.

If you haven't returned your parent conference slip do so as soon as you can so I will know if you are planning to attend. Conferences are very important and I look forward to visiting with all of you.

Book orders...I will wait until tomorrow to turn that in, so it's not too late!