Week 12

This is one of my favorite weeks.  We have been learning about owls!  Now that we have learned lots of facts, we will be writing an owl shaped book.  We have learned some new vocabulary like nocturnal and talons.

In math we started measurement.  We know that we can answer questions like which is longer, which is heavier, which is warmer, and which holds more.  We read the story Measuring Penny which is about a girl who measures her dog for her homework assignment.  We drew our own dogs (which look great!) and measured them using linker cubes.  Another story that was a big hit was Long, Longer, Longest: A Book About Snakes.  It is NOT my favorite, but the kindergarteners loved it!

In Reader's Workshop, we reviewed some strategies for reading words.  We can read words fast (our popcorn words).  We can use the picture to figure out new words.  We can use the first letter to figure out a word.  We had lots of practice with this in our independent reading and EEKK reading time.

We got an exciting announcement this week-we can take home our library books!  The kindergarteners are so excited to be able to bring home their books and share them with you.  Here are some questions you can ask your child as you read the book together:

Is it an informational text or a literary text?

Who are the characters?  What are the characters like?

What is the setting?

Why did you pick this book?

Do you see any popcorn words?

What would you like to share about this book?  (My favorite part, This is cool, I didn't know that, That happened to me)

The Get Active Get Fit challenge is coming to a close.  Please be sure to return it so that we have a chance to win a Disney Dance Party and playground equipment.

Grades close November 22.  Report cards go home December 4.   Parent conference day is December 5.  If you signed up for a conference, you should have gotten an appointment time.  I will send home a reminder the week of conferences.  If you can't make your appointment time, call the school and leave a message!  I will try my best to keep our conferences running on time!

Have a great weekend!

Week 11

We celebrated the 50th day of school this week!  We compared clothes, toys, cars, restaurants, books, music, and more from today to the 1950s.  The students chewed bubble gum, played with Mr. Potato Head, built with Play-Doh, wrote numbers to 50, and raced to 50 on a game board.  The kids who dressed up looked adorable!

We are talking about setting in Reader's Workshop.  We have learned that the setting is where the story happens, different stories have different settings, illustrations can tell us the settings, and that the setting can change in a story.  We used the story Little Red Riding Hood to help us with this concept.  It has been tricky for some students to tell where the story happens because they are so used to telling what is happening.  You can practice this with your child during read alouds at home.  If  you watch a television program or movie, you can talk about the setting too.  It is important for students to realize that not all books have settings.  For example, an informational text about shapes does not have a setting.

We added the word like to our Popcorn Word Wall.  We practiced writing the letter Bb and producing the sound it makes.

We have been working with 3 dimensional shapes in math.  We have been identifying them, finding them in the environment, and playing games with them.  I would like to have a "Shape Museum" next week so if you have any objects that are cones, cubes, rectangular prisms, spheres, or cylinders that you would like to donate, I would appreciate it.

We have been talking about Veterans Day this week too.  We read a book and made cards for my mom to deliver at the VA.  We also made soldiers to display in the hallway.

I put a conference sign up sheet in your child's folder on Friday.  Please return it as soon as possible to get your preferred time.  I know that the 4-6:30 slot usually fills up fast.  I can also add some 8:00 am slots during that week if that works better for your schedule, just add a note.

Have a great weekend!  Remember there is no school on Monday!