Thanksgiving Lunch

Please join us for a special lunch on Wednesday, November 14th. We will eat together in the cafeteria. A turkey dinner is available for purchase from the cafeteria.  Please plan to arrive a few minutes before our lunch time -11:50-if you would like to purchase the school lunch. You can sign in at the office, and go right to the cafeteria to buy your lunch, and help your kindergarten kid too (just a heads up- the line will be long)! We will eat in the cafeteria. Everyone, including cold lunch kids, will get a piece of pie to celebrate....

Reflections

At our end of the day circle, students gather and often sing, "We had a good day."  After singing the song as a class, we often reflect on what we learned, what was challenging, strong choices made, etc.  If you are every wondering what questions to ask your child, try some of these:

                - What greeting did you have?
                - What song did you sing?
                - Tell me about the story you read.
                - What workplace did you choose?
                - Who did you play with at choice time?
                - What was your story about you wrote at writer's workshop?
                - Tell me what strategy you used when reading your just right book.

More to come.....

More Todd Parr

As students continued learning about Todd Parr, they took some time last week to show their learning.  In the style of Parr, students created portraits of people showing a particular feeling.  Throughout the week, students explored and practiced many new 'feeling' vocabulary words.  Through greetings, charades, and books, students were immersed in various learning opportunities to help them learn about what each word meant.  Students were then assigned a feeling to show and practiced making the facial expression and thinking about a time when they had that feeling.  All the children enjoyed illustrating this feeling in a very creative and unique "Todd Parr" style way.  You will notice that Todd Parr does not use "true to life colors" and will often create people in a different way.  INQUIRE with your child what feeling they showed and what they used to show it in a Todd Parr style.  Please check these out in the hallway bulletin board. You may find your child's drawing either outside to the left of our classroom or to the left of Mrs. Wrigley's classroom as this project was done using collaborative teaching.

Lost

A student has lost a few pieces of clothing and after waiting and checking the lost and found, they still have not turned up. If these items happen to have made it into your closets accidently, please return them to school.  A family will be forever grateful! 

      1.) Blue LL Bean rain coat, probably 5T

      2.) Pink and Blue Osh Kosh fleece with wind protectant outer shell, probably 6T

Todd Parr Study

Our newest author study is on works written by Todd Parr. The learning purpose of our study is to notice the simple pictures Todd draws to match his words. We will also focus on the simple sentences he writes to make his message clear to the reader. Yes - students are learning to combine words together to create sentences that convey their thinking to the reader! Todd Parr's writing also engages readers in thinking about, and asking questions about feelings. He focuses on taking care of yourself, others, and the community and we will uses these messages to help children continue developing mindful habits as a member of our class community, friendships and independence in Kindergarten. He writes a simple but special message to the reader at the end of every book. Check out our Shelfari bookcase on this blog to view titles we are reading, learn a bit more about Todd Parr's stories, and make connections with  your child about what they are learning as readers, writers and thinkers! 


 

E.C.O.

Despite the frigid and extremely brisk temperatures, students in Mrs. Wrigley and our class took care of themselves and each other to make sure everybody was dressed warmly for the outdoor adventure to Harrison Field.  The students learned about predators and prey, camoflauging, and various other survival mechanisms that animals use during a game of "eagle eye."  INQUIRE with your child what animal your child used and what they did to not get eaten by the owl! Do you see 31 animals camouflaged in the pictures above?

After snack, the children watched a demonstration done by the teachers of how to make a forest.  Believe it or not, the children disagreed and set out to find out out exactly what made up Harrison Field Forest in a fun scavenger hunt.(See video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPiEuMTQqNc

Each group explored the forest looking for a number of different materials they believed were the true ingredients to a forest.  Later in the month, we'll work on interactive writing pieces, models, and do our own writing for a "forest recipe" as clearly, Mrs. Wrigley and Miss Closter's recipe is incorrect!

REMEMBER....dress and help your child prepare for these E.C.O. days. MANY children realized that they might think about their snow pants, warmer gloves, and even long underwear for next month's adventures.  It sure was COLD today! 

Math games at Home!

Check out this link for great math games you can play with your child at home!

http://www.ictgames.com/resources.html

Tuesday/Wednesday Reminders

Please help your child remember to, "be their best self" tomorrow at school (Tuesday).  The students will be having a guest teacher as I will be at an all day Math training to learn with other colleagues from the school about how we can better use data from math assessments to differentiate our teaching.  See you all on Wednesday and

DON'T FORGET........

We will be having ECO (Educating Children Outdoors) on Wednesday morning, 

November 7rd from 9-11! Please remember to pack a plastic water bottle for your child, and a separate snack. We will bring both with us in backpacks to Harrison field. Also, please help your child dress in layers of clothing, including rain boots, rain coat and possibly rain pants. The grass is damp in the morning, so an extra pair of socks will help your child have dry feet the remainder of the day. It is supposed to be REALLY CHILLY so please help your child pack their bags for the day and remember their warm outdoor clothing!  

Election Day

Over the last few days, students have been learning about the presidential election.  We started with a "what do you know" about two presidential candidates to get a feel for what the children already knew.  We then had many discussions regarding what it is that presidents do and the process in which they get elected.  Students had fun dressing up as the president and thinking about what they would do if they were elected. We have also been reading various fiction books and will have a Kindergarten wide election to choose which character from each of these three books should be president.

Children have been learning about ballots, elections, polling places, keeping your vote confidential, the amount of votes each person can cast and much more. INQUIRE with your child what they know about the presidential election.  And, enjoy this cute little campaign slideshow...who will you vote for?

A free digital scrapbook by Smilebox

Kinder Art

On Friday, we began a unique integrated art study in Kindergarten, called KinderArt. Across the school year, as part of your child's in-classroom experience, students will study six famous artists to reinforce the learning habits of looking closely and inquiring. Not only will children become experts at noticing and comparing, they will practice important science and literacy skills too. For example, our first artist study is on Paul Cezanne, and his famous painting series "Apples & Oranges." We arranged two of his prints, and re-created a version of his still-life in our classroom.  This piece will engage children in being circle, square, triange and rectangle shape detectives. It will also provide them with an introduction to 3-D shapes such as spheres, cones and cubes. We will also take the next week to learn more about Paul Cezanne, where and when he lived, why he wanted to become an artist and why he chose the art medium, subjects and styles he did. Best of all... each child will "mimic" his art by creating their own version of the "Apples & Oranges" piece using a variety of materials and the practice of looking closely to learn.  These art pieces will be displayed at our Kinder Art Show at the end of the year....  INQUIRE with your children what they know about Paul Cezanne.

Cotton

Students spent Friday afternoon learning about Cotton from Barry and Mica Mansfield (grandparents of  Lucas).  Barry and Mica shared information about their trip to Mississippi last winter where they spent time working on a Habitat project.  While living there, they learned a lot about cotton and shared with us the life cycle that cotton goes and used a map to explain where it is grown.  Barry dressed head to toe in cotton to show us that most of what we wear is made of cotton.  After learning that cotton begins as a seed, we observed and explored a real cotton plant that was brought back from Mississippi and discovered that the cotton when twisted becomes thread to make clothes. Students also used food coloring to explore how all our clothes can turn many different colors and were provided an opportunity to learn how to read and spell the word, cotton! The students thoroughly enjoyed learning from Barry and Mica and we can't wait to have them return!

Guest Reader

 

Kudos to our first guest reader of the year! Thanks Suzanne for sharing three great stories with our class.  Students were engaged while listening to Toy Boat, Whale, and Miss Suzy (a favorite of Suzanne's as a kid)!  Students love having their families in and we love seeing the enjoyment that others have for the love of reading!  As students are working on their own strategies for decoding, building stamina, and learning about various features of fiction and nonfiction, this opportunity for others to share their stories through books is wonderful.  We look forward to having Katie G. be our guest reader next Friday, November 9th!

If you are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, coworking, administrator, or school volunteer, we'd love to have you come share your love of reading in our classroom as well.  Please check the schedule below to sign up for a date that works best for your schedule.  Thanks! 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/508044AADAF2BA46-friday

Blogging delay

Hello Readers,

I apologize for the lack of blogging until further into the week. I've been moving over the last week and it sounds like my Internet will not be hooked up until later in the week. Blogging on an iPhone isn't nearly as easy! I'll try to get to some posts at school but if not, be ready for a long update next weekend! So sorry!

Thank-You!

Thank you to all who have been mindful about checking the 'wishlist' for classroom needs.  I truly appreciate your willingness to send in supplies for our classroom.  We had a great turnout of pumpkins also. As I don't know exactly which pumpkin belongs to which child, I will be sending home a mixed collection (and perhaps not the same number you sent in).  Kate M. has volunteered to make us pumpkin bread for a snack with a few of the pumpkins so she will take some first. If you'd like to create something for us, please let me know. If you would like a specific pumpkin returned to you, please also let me know. 

Calling all VOLUNTEERS!

The book fair is taking place on November 8th and November 9th from 8 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Your child may bring money in a labeled envelope on these days to shop at the fair during the school day. 
I am asking volunteers to take small groups of children from our class to visit and purchase books anytime you are available on these days. Providing children with an opportunity to visit the book fair in small groups really helps them be able to focus on finding a just right book to purchase and take home. Please e-mail the date and times you may be available to bring a small group down. Thank you so much! I appreciate your help in making sure the book fair is a success.  

Enjoy this short clip of "Five Little Pumpkins."

Pumpkin Day

Throughout the morning, students were engrossed with pumpkin related activities.  Students sorted the life cycle of a pumpkin, read pumpkin books, sang songs, read poems, practiced the letter /p/ and wrote various words that all began with the amazing letter.  In math, students used pumpkins to measure how tall they were and practiced their tricky teens.  This afternoon our fourth grade buddies came down for some Pumpkin Fun. The children measured and weighed their pumpkins, observed whether their pumpkins floated, balanced pumpkins on their heads, counted the ribs, and played a game of bowling using their pumpkins as balls. What an amazing integrated day of learning for all. INQUIRE with your child what their favorite part of the day was. Can they sing you, "The Five Little Pumpkins?"

Math Games

This week, students were introduced to two different partner games in math, BEAT YOU TO TEN and BUTTERFLY RACE.  Both games had children increasing their number sense by counting, adding, subtracting, identifying numbers, comparing quantitites, and of course helped all students increase their positive sportsmanship skills. INQUIRE with your child which game they liked better and why!

Interactive Writing

Many times throughout the year, our class has engaged in an activity called interactive writing.  Both reading and writing are practiced while engaged in this activty.  We have written letters together, lists, procedures, and a variety of other forms of writing.  During this activity, the students and myself share the pen to produce the piece, continuouslly re-reading throughout.  By the end of the writing, all children are able to read it fluently on their own.  Differentiation is able to happen during this activity, as students may be writing their own name, a beginning sound, a sight word, or an entire word.  The skills of all children range and it is important that opportunities are given for each student to be challenged at his or her own level. All these writing pieces are about an authentic experience the class has had, a classroom rule, a response to a text, or a piece about our current unit of study.  INQUIRE with your child what they like best about fall!

Published Writing

Last week, children "published" their first piece of writing that was completed during our unit on personal narratives.  We talked about what publishing means and brainstormed all the authors that we knew of that had published their books.  Children are beginning to understand that authors and illustrators are real people who publish many books. INQUIRE what books Audrey Penn, Eric Carle, Kevin Henkes, and Todd Parr wrote. How are they like these authors?  Although the editing stage was shortened this time around, students spent time looking through their writing folders last Friday to decide on which draft was their, "best."  Further in the year, we will spend more time on the editing process and children will work to make their piece even better!  Enjoy the beginning stages of writing with your child as they tell you about their "First Published Stories" that were sent home.  
INQUIRE with your child how their work has changed over the year.