DECEMBER!

Wow, November really flew and December has snuck up on me.  We have done so many things!  Our Thanksgiving program was a huge success.  The kids were fantastic.  Our Feast was amazing with so many delicious donations.  A visitor from Putnam Museum came- Miss Music taught us about music around the world and we were able to play different instruments and do dances from places like Vietnam and Mexico.  We earned a project party for being great at listening and are now working on earning a PAJAMA party for being "responsible".  That one will be fun!  We have started learning about celebrations around the world and where some local family items and traditions (Christmas trees, stockings, wreaths, nutcrackers, cuckoo clocks etc) originated.  We are working hard on measurable attributes in math and comparing things using words like "longer, shorter, heavier, lighter, taller, holds more and holds less".  Kindergartners have also been working hard on mastering at least 25 sight words to meet our goal for this quarter as well as all of the letters and sounds of the alphabet!  As you can imagine, we are busy.

Not to mention that we started this week with SNOW and the craziness that happens trying to keep track of snowpants, boots, hats, gloves, coats, scarves, bags, tennis shoes....It is tricky, but I think this year's class has been the very best (in my 10 years of teaching) at getting dressed, undressed and keeping their items together and organized in the hallway with few reminders.  It has been great!

Only 2 weeks left before break.  Make sure $4.00 gifts for our exchange arrive in the classroom by DEC 12 so I can be sure everyone has a gift.  If you need assistance in choosing or purchasing a gift, please do not hesitate to contact me so I can help in any way!

Stay warm - I think we are in for a few days of indoor recess later this week.  Remember- we go outside if the accueweather.com temperature WITH WINDCHILL is 10 degrees or greater.  

Election Day and Giving Thanks

We had a school wide mock election today.  Every student was able to cast a vote on their ballot and second grade totaled the votes throughout the day.  Mr. Donald Trump was the winning candidate at CR Hanna.  We will see if that is a predictor of what the results will be for our country this evening.

As we have begun learning about Native Americans and their constant efforts to give thanks for every gift of life, we made a Thankful Turkey for our hallway.  Check it out when you come for the Thanksgiving Program later this month, or when you come to help in the classroom.  It is really neat and the kids love looking at how their individual feathers work together to make something so beautiful as a whole.  We have so much to be thankful for every single day!

Conferences, Halloween, 3D shapes, Invitation

Thank you to EVERY family that met with me during conferences.  We had 100% attendance which is fabulous!  I enjoyed my time with you.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions after our meeting.

Halloween was great yesterday.  The kids looked so fabulous in their costumes and I know they had fun the entire day.  Thank you to all PTA members who helped put on a fun party!  And thank you for our treats and drinks, too.  Check out some pictures below.

We have been hard at work in math centers this week working on recording different ways to make ten and showing one more.  Today we introduced 3D SHAPES!  We focused on Spheres today, read a book about solid objects and went outside and blew bubbles (spheres).  Every time a child popped a bubble, he/she had to yell "SPHERE" so we got a lot of good work with that vocabulary word today :).  Ask your child what objects around your house are shaped like spheres (globe, baseball, soccer ball, the top of a tootsie pop, etc.).

*You should see an invitation to our Thanksgiving Music Program for Nov 22 in your child's folder tonight.  Doors open at 10:40, program begins at 10:55.  You can invite anyone to join you to see this super short (20 minute) and super fabulous show!

And finally - Game 6 tonight...GO CUBS GO!

:)

New Student and writing books!

Today we welcomed a new student to our classroom.  We were very excited to add our new friend, Emersynn to our Kindergarten family.  She brings our class up to 24 students with 10 girls and 14 boys!  Please keep this in mind when sending snack from here on.  Ask your child if he/she did anything to make our new friend feel welcomed today!

In reader's workshop, we have been working on reading books with patterns.  This week we are working in partners to WRITE and ILLUSTRATE a pattern book!  The kids have gotten to choose their pattern and are working hard to create amazing books.  I will have a set out at conferences and your child will be bringing his/her book home on Wednesday.  Keep your eyes out for this awesome project!

We have been learning so much about woodland animals this week.  The turtles and frogs have been especially fun.  We have started our letters over and each day read a book all about that letter, use something messy to make our letters (applesauce, butter, colored chalk) and we do an action on a large letter taped to the floor (ant walk, bounce, crawl).  The kids are loving the new letter review and they have learned so much since the beginning of the year.  In math, we are working on our 0-10 numbers - writing them, counting them, drawing sets with that many, breaking them apart (9 can be made from 5 blue smiley faces and 4 red smiley faces...etc.) Continue working on letter and number recognition.

Conferences are Thursday and Friday of NEXT week.  Everyone has signed up for a time (YAY YOU!).  If you need another reminder of what time your conference is, you can contact the office or email me and we will let you know.  I am looking forward to discussing our Kindergarten goals and your child's progress so far.

Tomorrow is Fire Safety Day!  The fire trucks will be here and we will practice a fire drill in the morning. It is sure to be a fabulous Friday!

Hexagons

Did you know....
A hexagon is ANY closed, 2D shape that has six straight sides.  We have discussed it in class and the Kindergartners LOVE it!  See if you can find the 3 hexagons below...

Kindness

We earned lunch in the classroom on Monday and it was a HUGE success.  The kids did a great job earning all of the letters in "listening" and we had fun having lunch together.  Our next behavior goal is KINDNESS.  We read a book about kindness and have discussed ways to show others kindness at home and at school.  One important philosophy to remember: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.  We have reviewed this more than once and will continue to do so.  When we earn all of the letters in KINDNESS, we earn a movie party!  Be Kind, Kindergarten!  Ask your child if they did anything kind for someone today.