Happy Halloween!

We learned signs for a new shared reading about leaves. In math, we reviewed the numbers 11-15 and did a group activity in which students worked with the people at their table to make number labels for cups and count objects to fill the cups with the appropriate number of objects. We reviewed the letter T and worked on ending sounds, which was a bit of a stretch for some. Students had to think of a word that ends with T and answers were "turtle," "table," etc. It helped when I showed them written words that had a T at the end. We'll continue to practice ending sounds. In their journals, students used the sentence starter, "For Halloween I will be..." Each student was able to share their writing and picture with the class. At the end of the day, Mrs. Hanson invited our class to watch a Winnie the Pooh Halloween movie with her class. I gave each student a Halloween treat: a Wendy's Frosty gift certificate and a small piece of chocolate. The students who turned in their reading logs also received Pizza Hut certificates. Get some sleep tonight and don't eat too much candy--you'll have to focus tomorrow! Report cards go home tomorrow.

PJ Day

It was so cute to see everyone in their PJs! We learned more about bats from watching the Reading Rainbow video Stellaluna. When we finish our night unit in science, it will lead into a unit on the planets--very exciting!

Today was Noah's birthday. We compared and contrasted the books Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Goon using a Venn diagram. In math, I introduced the class to a hundreds chart. Students found patterns on the chart and we talked a lot about teen numbers. We will be working on recognizing and counting numbers 1-30. You can help by counting with your child as often as possible. I noticed that all of the students can count to 10, but several of them get lost after 12. By the end of next quarter they will have to be able to count to 100. We received 3 more post cards today, from New Jersey, Louisiana, and Kansas. Late this afternoon the Lifetouch pictures arrived so they will be sent home with your child tomorrow. They are soooo... cute!

Today we reviewed numbers 1 through 10. We learned the "White" song (spelling the word white). We learned about fables -- stories that are meant to teach a lesson. We read the fable "It's Mine!" by Leo Lionni. We also learned 3 vocabulary words from the story: bickering, defiant, and harmony. We watched a video of another fable, "Strega Nona." In the story, the main character disobeys his employer's instructions to leave alone the magic pasta pot and learns a lesson the hard way. Sophie brought her disguised pumpkin(s) this morning and they are darling! I can't wait to see the rest tomorrow! Tomorrow is Noah's birthday.

I forgot about Red Ribbon Week. Today was Lay off Drugs- wear a lei. Here's what's up for the rest of the week:
Tuesday- Don't let drugs tie you up - wear a tie.
Wednesday- Drugs stink - wear pink.
Thursday- Sock it to drugs - wear crazy socks.
Friday- Team up against drugs- wear team clothing.

In sign language this morning, we practiced reading and signing My Fire Safety Plan. Students also signed sentences about foods. They had to remember the food signs and put them into complete sentences such as, "I want a banana." We played BANG, a letter recognition game, and BINGO, a number recognition game. Enjoy your four day weekend!

In math we reviewed positional words such as over, under, on, beside, and behind. We put those words to use by putting Tattle Turtle in different places around the room and using complete sentences to describe his position. In kindergarten we really emphasize the importance of answering questions by using complete sentences instead of one word answers. I can really tell that some students are practicing reading sight words at home. As of right now, your child should be able to recognize and spell the following words: yes, no, blue, red, I, orange, the, and see. Write those words on index cards and practice nightly until your child can read them without hesitation or guessing. I see that one of our post card recipients has made a comment to yesterday's blog post. It will be really fun as we begin to receive more post cards. I put a large poster of the US on our classroom wall and have marked Illinois, the first state to send us a post card. Tomorrow is a half day. Please make plans to pick up your child at noon.

We talked about fire safety this morning and one of the important issues that came up was that each student needs to know their home address. This is something for you to practice at home. Knowing their address and phone number is important to student safety. I gave students a slightly different writing assignment today and I allowed them to take it home to show you. Students cut pictures out of magazines and labeled them. If you can read their label phonetically please praise your child's effort. They need lots of confidence to move forward with their writing. Due to our half day on Wednesday, your child will not get their library time this week so you might want to hang onto their current book for another week. Students WILL have gym tomorrow, so please send your child in his/her tennis shoes tomorrow.

Mrs. Concepcion gave me a set of rubber pencil grips this morning. I was instructed to tell students that these are "tools, not toys." They are helpful in getting students to properly hold their pencil but are expensive! If a student intentionally destroys one, they will owe the school $2. We had a talk about not chewing on them, picking at them, drawing on them, etc. so I'm hopeful that students will respect this additional piece of school property.

We played a math guessing game today. I chose a block from a bucket but did not show it to students. Through a process of elimination, they had to guess the attributes of my block (thick/thin, large/small, shape, and color). The students had fun and did a great job. We made scarecrows for art. I used a glyph. A glyph is a way to give information through your choice of colors or shapes used in the project. For instance, boys made the scarecrow face brown and girls made it orange. If students had ever carved a pumpkin, they made blue pants and if they hadn't, they made red pants. The scarecrows turned out really cute!

Next week we only have 2 1/2 days of school. Teachers will be working on report cards and attending training sessions.

The fire station visit was great! Caine's dad and grandpa (a fire fighter from Hardin), Quinn's mom and Joshua S.'s mom and younger brothers joined us. We watched a fire safety video that taught students the importance of having a fire escape plan and showed them how quickly a fire can spread, proving that they only have one minute to get out. Each student got a turn to spray water from the fire hose. We also watched a fire fighter climb 120 feet to the top of the ladder.

Tomorrow is the last day that the 6th graders will be selling caramel apples. They are $3.50 each and the students are only taking orders now. The apples will be delivered on Oct. 28th. There will be a table set up outside the gym before school and immediately after school tomorrow. I highly recommend these apples!

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and talked about the patterns in the book such as the days of the week and counting up. There was a day on which the caterpillar ate ten different foods. I challenged the students to look carefully at the page and then sent them to their tables to draw what they remembered. Most of them could only remember 2 or 3 items so I showed the picture several more times until they remembered more. This is also fun to do at home with an empty shoe box. Put 8 to 10 items in it, show your child, then put the lid on. Challenge them to remember all the items and then let them see how well they did.

A yellow form was sent home in your child's backpack. On it you will choose the best time to meet me for your conference. I schedule conferences on a first come, first served basis so if you can only meet at a specific time or specific date, turn yours in soon! Tomorrow is our walking field trip to the fire station. I told the kids to dress for the weather and to wear good walking shoes (no flip flops or high heels). If you are planning to come along with us, we will take a bathroom break around 8:35 and then leave the school at 8:45. Our tour begins at 9am.

It was so fun to see all the fancy dresses and handsome dress shirts today for picture day. I sometimes forget that these little guys and gals may not have had a professional photo taken before and I hadn't really explain what to expect. However they did a great job. Today was Alexis's birthday and she shared some delicious cupcakes with us.

We had a talk about boundaries during center time. I told students to "ask three then me" if they need help during center time and I'm busy working one-on-one with a student. They should try to get their question answered by someone else and then if that doesn't work, to wait patiently for a break when I can speak with them. We also had a talk about taking care of the things in our room, such as the Playdough and dry erase markers. Students are not putting the lids on the Playdough that I bought just this weekend and it's drying out before everyone has had a chance to play with it. When it's gone--it's gone and that's just a natural consequence for not caring for it.

Our driver for bus safety took us for a driving tour of the bus barn. Due to the rain we didn't practice using the emergency exits or loading and unloading. Students brought home a coloring book that was a gift from our driver. Thanks to Mrs. Boogman for coming with us. Tomorrow is library day so don't forget to return last week's book.

Picture Day Tomorrow!

Picture day is tomorrow. Please turn in your orders by putting them in the Monday envelope and remind your child to give it to me as they enter the classroom in the morning. This morning students learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and where pumpkins come from (not just "the grocery store"). Students played a counting game in which they worked in pairs to roll a die and put colored, plastic chips onto a ten-frame. We talked about beginning on the left and return-sweeping just like we do when we read. For social studies we finished our unit on Me and My Family by having students draw a picture of each member of the family and gluing them onto a big red heart. I will give those to you during conferences. The pumpkin decorating sheet I promised to send home today arrived late from the printers so I will send it home tomorrow. Quinn, our birthday boy, shared some delicious Caramel Cookie Waffles with us at snack time and brought his cat, Alex, to meet the class at the end of the day.

I just submitted our Scholastic book order. Thanks for your orders, once again. Since it was raining we played musical chairs during morning recess and for lunch recess both kindergarten classes came into my room to watch an Arthur movie. Thankfully the rain stopped in the afternoon and we were able to enjoy some fresh air! I am so pleased with the students' progress in writing over the past few days. They are using an ABC phonics chart to write words based on the sounds they know. For example, "I love my daddy" might be spelled, "I luv mi dade." We didn't have time to share our writing today, but do on most days. The kindergarten classes will learn about bus safety on Tuesday. As part of bus safety, the driver will take us on a bus ride. I will need 2 parent volunteers to help with this. I would need you to be available from 12:30-2pm on Tuesday. If you're interested, please email me. If you are coming on our walking field trip to the fire station on Thursday morning will you please email me? I want to see how many helpers I have for that day as well. Have a great weekend!

This morning we learned about verbs or action words. Students identified verbs in two books we've recently read. Next they looked through magazines to find pictures of actions and then added the pictures to a large poster in our room. For science, students predicted which objects would sink or float before we tested them. We had fun trying different objects from the classroom including paper, my water bottle, a pencil case, scissors and a box of crayons. Students were shocked that an individual crayon sunk but the full box floated. We talked about density so see if your child can tell you why a ping pong ball floats and a golf ball sinks. Students were disappointed that I didn't take them out for afternoon recess but it was raining and we have many students with horrible coughs. Don't forget that book orders are due tomorrow.

This morning there was a vision screening which slightly altered our schedule. Thankfully the students are adaptable. Today we started "helper of the day." In past years I have used a job chart but found it so cumbersome that I'm trying something new. Alexander brought a wasp nest to show the class. It was interesting to see the colors in it. If you haven't seen a wasp nest, do a search in Google images. I'll photograph the one Alexander brought when Homecoming week is over and my daughter returns my camera!

The students had lots of fun playing number recognition BINGO for math today. They didn't know it, but they were practicing reading numbers 1 through 10. They got an unplanned lesson in probability at the same time. After at least 50 spins, the number 6 had not come up so I erased another number on the spinner and changed it to 6. Still no luck! I ended up putting the number 6 in 4 different spots before we finally spun a 6! Linda Mayes, a reading coach in the school district, introduced writer's workshop to the students today. She related it to Santa's workshop in that the elves don't just shout, "I'm done!" and then sit and do nothing -- they keep working! There were some really nice sentences being written. Even students who didn't know all of their letter sounds at least knew the beginning sound for each word in their sentence. It was a great start!

Today we started working on a new sight word: see. Students learned to finger spell it, sign it, and write it. In math, we learned about a 10-frame (a way to make counting groups of objects easier). In kindergarten we talk about place value without using that specific language. For example, I teach them that the number ten is made up of 1 group of ten and 0 ones. Don't forget about walk to school week. Students who walked to school today were given a ticket that they wrote their name on and then put the ticket into a bowl. I drew 2 names of students who could choose a prize at the office. We'll be doing the same thing each day this week. Please remind your child to hand me their Monday envelope as they enter the classroom tomorrow morning. This needs to become a weekly habit. Thanks!