Happy Thanksgiving!

For the month of November our class has been reading and learning about the Pilgrims, Native Americans, and the first Thanksgiving.  We learned about the voyage the Mayflower took and how the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

After learning about the Pilgrims, our class worked together to create a Venn diagram comparing colonial America to the present.  Here's what we came up with:

 

Buddies

On Monday the kindergartners had "buddy time" with the second graders.  Together we read the story A Plump and Perky Turkey, by Teresa Bateman.  After the story, the students disguised bare turkeys and created their own stories of how their turkeys escaped being eaten on Thanksgiving!  The students were really creative and had a lot of fun!

Book It

Please remember that this is the last week to send in your turkeys with the titles and authors of books you've read with your child.  If your child has met the 10 book goal, they will receive a certificate to Pizza Hut!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekly Recap

Keepers of the Bobcat

Here's a picture of our school's Bobcat in the cave that the students decorated for our classroom.  At our Weekly Gathering the 5th and 6th graders passed the Bobcat to our class for reaching our goal.  The students are so excited that he's visiting again!

Letters

This week our class focused on the letters "H" and "K".  As always, we practiced sky writing the letters, creating them with wood pieces, and practicing writing them on chalkboards and in workbooks. Check out our word lists for this weeks letters:

Hh Words

1. Horse
2. Hope
3. Harmonica
4. Hand
5. Hay
6. House
7. Hair
8. Holes
9. Hut
10. Hot
11. Hen
12. Hunter
13. Howland
14. Hoot
15. Hoop
16. Hula Hoop
17. Helper
18. Head
19. Happy
20. Hat  

 Kk Words

1. Kait
2. Kangaroo
3. Karate
4. Key
5. King
6. Kite
7. Koala
8. Kid
9. Kidnapped
10. Kidding
11. Kindergarten
12. Kindly
13. Kiss
14. Katie
15. Kind  

 When your reading a book to your child, keep a piece of paper and writing utensil next to you.  See how many times the letters "H" and "K" appear on each page.  Use tally marks to count the letters. Which letter appeared more? Share your results with the class!

"Paws"itive Behavior Alert!

The kindergarteners have met their goal again!  In less than a month, our class earned more than 50 Paw tickets for positive behavior!  Our class will become "keepers of the bobcat" at our weekly school gathering next Friday!

Letters

This week our class focused on the letters "N" and "M."  Each student practiced sky writing the letters, creating the letters with wood pieces, participating in a variety of phonics activities, and writing the letters in their handwriting books.  As a class, we worked together to create word lists for each of the letters.  Check out the lists below:

Nn Words

1. Net
2. Nap
3. Noodles
4. Newt
5. Newspaper
6. Nine (9)
7. Nuts
8. Note
9. No
10. Numbers
11. Nolan
12. Nest
13. New
14. Node
15. Nose
16. Nails
17. Not
18. November
19. Never
20. Nineteen (19) 

Mm Words

1. Man
2. Moose
3. Mom
4. Motorcycle
5. Mask
6. Move
7. Map
8. Morgan
9. Monkey
10. Museum
11. Mackenzie
12. Mittens
13. Mat
14. Marley
15. Meatballs
16. Mouse
17. Mice
18. Milk
19. Mine
20. My
21. Make
22. Mountains
23. Mirror 

Flip through different magazines or ads with your child.  See if you can find any pictures of objects that begin with the "M" or "N" sound.  Cut them out and share with the class if you can!

Weekly Recap

Math

This week our class used attribute blocks to practice sorting objects by three different attributes: color, shape, and size.  The students looked at many different examples and used problem-solving skills to determine what the objects had in common.  Have your students practice sorting skills at home using virtual manipulatives:  Sorting Attribute Blocks

Letter R

The second letter our class learned this week was the letter "R."  The students rolled play dough into different lines and curves to create the letter R.  The students also used wood pieces, chalk boards, and their work books to reinforce handwriting skills for this letter.  Check out our word list below:

Rr Words

1. Racket
2. Red
3. Rabbit
4. Rhino
5. Rainbow
6. Read
7. Ring
8. Raccoon
9. Radio
10. Rake
11. Rocket
12. Roar
13. Rock
14. Road
15. Rag
16. Roses
17. Ride
18. Relish
19. Ranch dressing
20. Raindrops
21. Rim   

Open up your kitchen cabinet, look at the labels with your child and see how many times you can find the letter R.  Make a graph or tally chart to keep track.  Share with the class if you'd like!

Fall into Reading

This year our class will be participating in the six month Book It! Reading program.  Our theme for the month of October was "Fall into Reading."  I challenged each student to have at least 8 books read to them for a classroom goal of 40 books.  At the end of the month we tallied up our book leaves and counted a total of 50 books, 10 over our goal!  Thank you for your support and participation.  Each student will receive a certificate to Pizza Hut!

This month's theme is "Gobble up a Good Book."  Turkeys have been sent home to keep track of the names of books you read to your children.  This month the students are challenged to read or have at least 10 books read to them for a classroom goal of 50 books.

For more information about the Book It! program and/or for activities and ideas check out the Book It! website:  Pizza Hut Book IT! Reading Program

Letter B
 
We started off this week focusing on the letter "B."  Check out our word list below:

Bb Words

1. Balloons
2. Bear
3. Book
4. Boat
5. Bat
6. Bumble bee
7. Belt
8. Baby
9. Bench
10. Build
11. Bike
12. Bucket
13. Box
14. Board
15. Berries
16. Big
17. Beautiful
18. Bag
19. Ball
20. Bad
21. Bobcat 

Read the list of words to your child.  Take turns coming up with a sentence for each word.  Write the sentences down to share with our class!

Fall Harvest Science

For the past two weeks, the kindergarteners have been exploring the Fall harvest, with a variety of hands-on activities and experiments.

Our first experiment began with Indian corn.
First the students explored the Indian corn using 4 of their 5 senses.  Then I had each student make a prediction of what they think will happen to Indian corn that is placed in water.  Here's what the students predicted:

Indian Corn

1. The corn will float.- Yes!  When we placed the corn in water, it floated.
2. The corn will turn brown.
3. The corn will turn yellow.
4. The corn will sink.- No!
5. The corn will grow.

Check back for updated information with this experiment!

Gourd Experiments

Our class also did a "Sink or Float" experiment with a variety of gourds.
Check out the tally chart with our predictions below:

To our surprise, despite the size or weight, everything floated!

The students learned that it is because they are hollow inside.

For both experiments, the students made predictions, and documented the results in their science journals.

As a special treat, we ate homemade pumpkin seeds!  Some of us liked them, some of us didn't!

Weekly Recap

Letters

This week we learned about the letters "E" and "D."  For each letter, the students practiced by sky writing the letter, creating them with wood pieces, writing the letters on chalk boards and in their workbooks.  As a class we came up with a list of words that began with each letter.

Check out our word lists below:

Ee Words
Long E sound

1. Eat
2. Easter
3. Eagle
4. Evil
5. Each
6. Ear

Short e sound

1. Elephant
2. Evan
3. Envelope
4. Egg
5. Empty
6. Echo
7. Ever
8. Ex
9. Excited
10. Extra
11. Extraordinary
12. Experiment

Dd Words

1. Duck
2. Dad
3. Dog
4. Dentist
5. Dinosaurs
6. Dream
7. Door
8. Dresses
9. Draw
10. Drawer
11. Dragon
12. Doctor
13. Dish
14. Dinner
15. Diner
16. Dining room
17. Dirty
18. Dust
19. Dig
20. Dump 

What words can you and your child think of that start with these letters?  On your next trip in the car, see if you can find these letters on billboards, signs, or buildings!  Feel free to share your answers with our class!

Book Buddies

The kindergartners will be partnering up with the second graders for "book buddies!"  This week the second graders came into our classroom and read a chapter book to their buddy about Halloween.

Reminders

Please remember to sign and return your child's Progress Report.

Each time you read a book with your child, don't forget to write the title and author on a leaf for our classroom Book It reading board.  This month's theme is "Fall into a Good Book!"

Have You Heard the Buzz?

We have new playground equipment!  A special thanks goes out to Stamford Preschool for purchasing the equipment and to the Stamford Select Board for installing it!  Thank you so much, it rocked our world today!

 Other Great News in Kindergarten...

We met our goal!  The students have been keeping track of all of the "Paw" tickets they've earned.  At the beginning of the year they set a goal to earn 101 paw tickets.  We counted our tickets today and the students had 111!  They are so proud and will now get to be the keepers of the Bobcat (our school mascot)! 

The students set a new goal of 50 paw tickets.  We discussed how the "bar will be raised" and that they'll have to work harder towards earning paw tickets.

Columbus Day

Today was a great day in kindergarten! 

We celebrated School Spirit week by wearing hats for "Hat Day!"  I can't wait to see everyone "Inside Out" tomorrow!  We also celebrated "Columbus Day" by reading a book about Christopher Columbus and talking about explorations we would like to take.  Places we would like to explore include:  the Rainforest, Moon, Woods, Florida, and Ocean.

We also focused on the letter "F."  First we came up with a list of words that start with the letter "F."  Next, we practiced making the letter using wood pieces from Handwriting Without Tears on our mats.  After that we practiced writing the letter on chalkboards and then we completed a row of the letters in our workbooks.  The students all did an excellent job at writing their letters! 
Check out our list of words below:

Ff Words

1. Fat
2. Fish
3. Flat
4. Flower
5. Fry
6. Frog
7. Fire
8. Fox
9. Fight
10. Friends

What objects can you find at home with your children that start with "F?"
How many letter "F"words can you come up with?

Feel Free to share your answers with the class!

Walk to School Day

Today was "Walk to School Day" and our class had a lot of fun walking to school together!  We lead the entire school as we followed the fire truck on our walk to school.  Once we arrived at Stamford we ate a healthy snack and then listened to the fire men talk about fire safety.  We learned important fire safety facts and all of the students had a lot of great questions to ask!  Back in the classroom, we practiced dialing 911 and discussed the importance of having a family meeting place and knowing what to do if there is an emergency.  Please extend this conversation at home and share with your children what they should do in case of an emergency.

On another note, we have made it through the first month of school and it has been wonderful!  The students have done an excellent job at transitioning into kindergarten, learning our classroom schedule, and our routines!  I am still using the Traffic Light system for classroom management and the students have responded really well to it.  They enjoy staying in the green and especially like it when it's their turn to choose from the treasure box!

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Our first week of school was great!  I am so lucky to have such a wonderful group of students.  This past week we began learning the classroom routine and procedures.  As a class, we worked together to create rules for our classroom and discussed the importance of following rules.  We also reviewed the 4 Rs and acted out different ways that showed how we follow the rules.  We are off to a great start!

Once the rain finally stopped, we were able to go out on the playground.  Check out what we saw in our own backyard:

 A spider web covered in morning dew!

A tiny snail!

A frog!

A blue sky with clouds!