Needs and Wants

We have spent this week discussing needs and wants! It has been fun listening to the students justify why we "need" certain things! You need a phone in case of emergency...you need a car to go to the doctor! I enjoy listening to their minds think! We've discussed things we NEED in order to live...and things we want or would like to have! This week the kindergarten teachers took turns observing each other's classrooms in the morning for reader's workshop...the students had a great time working with partners from another kindergarten class. It is always fun to have someone else to read with!

In writer's workshop we have been busy creating nonfiction books! The students are really enjoying writing facts and are very proud of their work! In math we have been busy making and interpreting graphs.

We ended the day today with our 3rd grade buddies! We had so much fun teaching them how to learn and play at centers. Enjoy the pictures below!

Next Week's Schedule:
Monday-D-day
Tuesday-A-day
Wednesday-B-day
Thursday-C-day
Friday-D-day

Tonight is PTA movie night...bring your pillow/blanket and enjoy a movie for free with your family. The movie starts at 7:00! Popcorn and water will be on sale!

2nd Quarter Midterm Celebration!

We have been busy celebrating our success this week! English Landing Kindergarten students got together on Tuesday for our second quarter midterm ribbon ceremony! Our students were very proud of the ribbons they earned! Please take note of the areas where your child needs extra practice and spend time practicing at home! My goal is for all Kindergarten children to earn the yellow ribbon (recognizing all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters), the black ribbon (producing 42 Jolly Phonics sounds), the blue ribbon (counting to 100), the red ribbon (identifying the numbers 0-31), and the orange ribbon (reading all 31 Kindergarten sight words) by the end of 2nd Quarter! Keep up the hard work!

**We have scheduled our kindergarten field trip to Kaleidoscope for Tuesday, December 11th...9:00-11:30 a.m. (we can have as many chaperones as we want...so everyone is welcome, however, chaperones will need to transport themselves). More information will be coming home on Monday, November 26th...but I wanted to let you know of the date/time in case you'd need to mark it on your calendar.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Schedule for Next Week:
Monday-C Day
Tuesday-D Day
Wednesday-A Day
Thursday-B Day
Friday-C Day

Thanksgiving

Our Kindergarten students have been learning about the first Thanksgiving this week! We have made a lot of text-to-self connections comparing the first Thanksgiving to our own Thanksgiving celebrations! We also compared and contrasted the lives of the Pilgrim children to our own lives. We all agreed that we are happy to be children in 2012 instead of 1620! Have your child share his/her knowledge with you and challenge him/her to read his/her Thanksgiving books to you!

We have been learning how to make and interpret bar graphs in math! The students have been very successful in mastery of this concept!

Our Kindergarten class was very sad to say good-bye to our student teacher Ms. Drake! We learned so much from her and know her future students will be very lucky to have a her as a teacher! Enjoy our class picture with Ms. Drake!

Our students made a "Sight Word Gobbler" to help us practice Kindergarten sight words! On Monday, Kindergarten midterms come home! Please refer to the areas where your child needs extra practice! Please remember that I would like all Kindergarten students to be able to read all the sight words fluently by the end of the semester! Please click on the link on the right to find a list of sight words!

Schedule for Next Week:
Monday-A Day
Tuesday-B Day
Wednesday-Friday-No School Thanksgiving Break!

Family

We have been busy learners in Kindergarten! In writer's workshop this week we have been working very hard to write a book. Our students made books with a title page, a beginning, middle, and end. We will be publishing our stories early next week! I know our students will be very excited to share their books with you!

In reader's workshop our students have been busy reading and writing words with digraphs (two consonants put together to make a new sound). We are also learning how to identify story elements (characters, setting, problem, and solution) during read alouds and when we are reading independently! We have also been working hard to read new books with a partner! In fact, on Thursday we worked so hard during our partner reading time that our WHOLE class received an Eagle Excellence Award. The picture on the blog this week will be shown to the whole school during morning announcements. Way to go Kindergarten!

This week we learned about the election and even had the chance to vote for president! We learned about the president's job and what he does for our country!

In math we played a lot of really fun pattern games! The students are creating and naming some very complicated patterns! I am very proud of our hard work!

Schedule for Next Week:
Monday-D Day
Tuesday-A Day
Wednesday-B Day
Thursday-C Day
Friday-D Day

Fall Fun

The Kindergarten students have been so busy learning this week!  We have FNISHED our Jolly Phonics program!  Continue to review the Jolly Phonics sounds (especially the double letter sounds) periodically at home.  Our students are working very hard to earn the black sound ribbon (producing all 42 Jolly Phonics sounds).  We have been learning about story elements this week!  We learned that characters are the important people, animals, or things in a story.  We have been identifying the characters in the books we are reading in class.  The students have also been working hard to retell the story in order.  I am proud of their hard work.

Writer's Workshop is becoming a favorite part of our Kindergarten day!  We have a lot of amazing authors in our classroom.  The students brainstormed a list of ideas that we can use when we are stuck and don't know what to write about.  The students have learned how to write a title for their stories.  We have been working hard to write a beginning sentence that tells who, where, and when.  The students are having so much fun creating books!

The Kindergarten kids have been working very hard to create and extend patterns.  We have learned how to make many different kinds of patterns.  The students have learned how to name patterns using letters and numbers!  We have enjoyed making patterns with M & M's, candy corn/pumpkins, and other fun snacks!

One of our favorite activities of the week was making words with letter Cheeze-its!  The students worked hard to make three and four letter words.  Enjoy looking at the pictures below of this fun activity!  THANK YOU to all of the paretns who donated fun snacks for us to use this week while learning!

Schedule for Next Week:
Monday - C Day
Tuesday- D Day
Wednesday-A Day
Thursday- B Day
Friday-C Day