Friday, November 2nd

Despite the cold, we had a great time at the Apple Orchard!  We took a wagon ride to see the trees, picked pumpkins, enjoyed cider and donuts, and saw some animals.  Pictures to come soon!

On Friday, November 2nd, your child can wear his or her costume to school.  We will not be able to do changing at school, so please have your child wear his or her costume.  The parade will take place at 3 PM.
In my previous post, I had hoped for some parent volunteers for Friday morning activities.  Unfortunately I do not have any volunteers yet.  If you can volunteer from 9:00 - 11:00, please let me know by tomorrow (Thursday) morning.  Without at least 4 volunteers, I cannot do things the way I had planned, so changes will need to be made and activities will need to be changed.  Thank you for your support!

If you are tricker treating tonight, stay warm and have fun!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Fall is such a busy time of year!  And we have been BUSY learning!

Over the last couple weeks, we have been using a new Poetry Work Station.  Each week we do some Shared Reading (reading together with a pointer) with a special poem, chant, song, or chart.   This piece often supports our Phonics work (syllables, rhyme, sight words, etc.) and/or themes within our classroom.  The following week, students interact with the Shared Reading piece with a partner in their work stations.  They practice reading with a pointer and then they are able to write and illustrate their own copy of the poem.

I LOVE how these are turning out!

When these come home, don't let all that hard work go to waste!  Read the poem together with your child with a "reading finger," pointing to each word.  Talk about what the poem means, the words in the poem, and anything else you notice.  Keep these poems in a special folder or binder (a Poetry Collection) to read from often.  This type of memorized reading, while tracking each word, is a great beginning reading skill for your child!

Science:  Collections from Nature

We are learning how to observe the world around us in this unit - to look carefully and think about what we see.  GREAT WORK with your leaf hunts!  We have quite a few collections to learn from in our classroom.

This week we sorted with our collections.  We talked about and practiced various ways to sort shells, rocks, and leaves.  Here are some of those ways:

* by coloring

* by size

* by shape (for instance rocks might be round or flat)

* by feel (rough or smooth)

We have also been learning about APPLES and are looking forward to our Field Trip to the Orchard on Wednesday at 9:00 am.

Last week, we read a fun book called Ten Apples Up On Top by Dr. Seuss.  The kiddos LOVED it!  Then we put our own apples up on top:

With this project, each child worked to order numbers 1 - 10 and to create an AB pattern!

We read Apples by Gail Gibbons and learned some new interesting facts.

Ask your child about what he or she has learned about apples! :)

We have learned a lot about how apples grow and the parts of an apple.

Want to get your child REALLY excited?  Try making homemade apple pie, apple sauce, or apple crisp at home!


Been itching to volunteer in our classroom?!  Well here is your first opportunity! :)  This FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd from 9:00 to 11:00 am, I am planning Collection from Nature stations.  Our Ks will be completing multiple projects (yes some messy!) related to apples and pumpkins.  But I need your help, so please consider volunteering your time.  Feel free to send me an email this weekend if you can volunteer and I will also send a note home Monday.  THANK YOU!

Friday, November 2nd is also the day of our school-wide costume parade.  Your child can wear a costume to school that day, but it is completely optional.  The parade will be at 3:00 pm.  If you do not want your child to participate in the parade (religious reasons, etc.), please let me know.

GO TIGERS!

Yucky Germs & Change in Field Trip

First of all, it was a pleasure to meet and talk with so many of your last night at our first night of Parent Teacher Conferences!  I really enjoy those discussions and coming to understand your child that much more!

Now, on to the yucky.  As many of you have experienced, we have had quite a few sicknesses that seem to be traveling around our classroom.  Running noises, hacking cough, mucus, fatigue... you name it!

Here are some ways you can help support from home:
1.  If your child is experiences these symptoms, please visit your health care provider as soon as possible.  If something is contagious or needs antibiotics, we want to catch it early!
2.  Keep your child home to rest when needed.
3.  Talk with your child about habits for staying healthy:
* Washing hands with soap
* Covering your mouth with your elbow when coughing or sneezing
* Eating healthy
* Exercise
We discuss these things in the classroom, but reinforcement from home will help!


Apple Orchard
We had to change the time of our field trip on Wednesday, October 31st.  We will now be going from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. If you are chaperoning and now cannot attend, please let me know as soon as possible.  It is critical that your child is on-time to school that day, as we will be loading the bus right away.
If you have not returned the permission slip for your child, please return that and the $6.50 admission cost BY THIS FRIDAY.  Thank you!


And of course, GO TIGERS!

Parent Teacher Conference Schedule

Hello Families!

We have confirmed chaperones for our Apple Orchard Field Trip that will be coming on the bus with us.  These chaperones returned their permission slips and admission costs today:

Matt Baird
Soraya Giacaardi
Evelyn Smith
Daisy Obungu-Clark
Ebony Morales

Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee a space for any more on the bus; however if you would like to attend, you may drive yourself.  If you are planning on doing that, please send in $13 for you and your child's admission costs.  Thank you for understanding!  We will have both Mr. Davis's class and our class on one bus.


Here is our updated Parent Teacher Conference Schedule.  The first date is already Tuesday, so please plan accordingly.  Thank you!

Tuesday, October 23rd

4:00 - 4:15  Austin Manning

4:20 - 4:35  Vincent Huy Ren

4:40 - 4:55  Xavier Baker

5:00 - 5:15  Bava Buchanan

5:20 - 5:35  Olivia Carlson

5:40 - 5:55  Jamia Jackson

6:00 - 6:15  Vladimir Hill

6:20 - 6:35  Daniel Ghussaini

6:40 - 6:55  Cruz Vergara

Thursday, November 1st

4:00 - 4:15  Will Grice

4:20 - 4:35  Jenna  Abufarha

4:40 - 4:55  

5:00 - 5:15  Joey Knudsen

5:20 - 5:35  Olivia Smith

5:40 - 5:55  Elaina Sammour - Mom

6:00 - 6:15  Holly Kangas

6:20 - 6:35  Nevaeh Pena

6:40 - 6:55  

Monday, November 5th

4:00 - 4:15  Abigail Kerfoot

4:20 - 4:35  

4:40 - 4:55  Angelo Morales

5:00 - 5:15  Jaron Garner

5:20 - 5:35  Deven Obungu-Clark

5:40 - 5:55  K'Lyn Taylor-Neely

6:00 - 6:15  Caleb Baird

6:20 - 6:35  Elaina Sammour - Dad

6:40 - 6:55  Solana Peralta

Apple Orchard Field Trip

On Wednesday, October 31st, we will take our first field trip to the Apple Orchard!  This will be a part of our learnings from our Collections of Nature science unit.  We will learn about how apples grow, take a wagon ride through the orchard, have cider & donuts, and each child will get an apple and pick a pumpkin.  The trip will cost $6.50.

We will leave at noon (immediately after lunch) and return around 3:00 p.m.

Permission slips went home today for this event.  Please complete it fully and return it to school as soon as possible, along with the $6.50 admission cost.  I am in need of 4 chaperones for this event, on a first-come first-serve basis.  If you can chaperone, please check the appropriate box on the permission slip and include a $6.50 admission cost for yourself as well.  Younger siblings will not be able to attend.  Unfortunately, we can not take more than 4 chaperones on the bus with us.  Any additional would need to drive themselves to Plymouth Orchards.  I will confirm each chaperone.

Thank you and I look forward to this special day!

Kindergarten Things

It's amazing how much these Kindergartners have grown up in just one month!  This really is such an important and busy year.  Not only are your children learning how to do school but they are also learning how to do things for themselves.  Responsibility is a huge skill in our Kindergarten classroom!

So how can you support your child at home?  Give him or her lots of responsibilities!  Here are some things you can do at home that will help them throughout the school day:
* Does your child put on their own coat and zip it him or herself?  If not, it's time to start!  Practice makes perfect!
* Start teaching how to tie shoes.
* Does your child clean up after themselves?  For instance, after dinner, does your child take care of his or her plate?
These little responsibilities go a long way in a classroom.  And it helps us put our time to good use when kids can manage these things themselves.  Moral of the story?  Don't do things FOR your kids, teach them how to do things for themselves! :)  This is critical in establishing important learning behaviors now and throughout your child's schooling.

Phonics Updates
So far this year, we have mostly been concentrating on learning to read and write our names, beginning work with letters, hearing rhymes, and hearing the parts in words or syllables.
Watch this video at home with your child about Syllables:


Math Updates
Great work keeping up with math homework! :)  This week we started a new math routine and we are loving it!  Math Journals!  Each child received a composition note book, where each day will we record math we are learning.  We complete a journal entry together as a class first:

Then each child completes a page in his or her own journal:

I can't wait to see where this takes us!


Today we talked about direction words.  We practiced moving a teddy bear counter in different positions in relation to a block, using words like around, above, below, next to, in front of, behind, across, etc.  We also read a wonderful story called Rosie's Walk by Pat Hutchins that illustrates this concept.  Here is an online video of the story for you to watch at home!




Science
We are beginning our first Science unit Collections from Nature.  We will be studying many natural collections from the world around us, starting with APPLES!  For our activities next week, we need some bags of apples.  Is anyone willing to send in a bag of apples on Monday or Tuesday?  We need a variety: red, yellow, green, etc.  If you are willing, please leave a comment to the post below and indicate what color you plan to send in.  Thank you so much!

Carpenter in the News!

Check out Carpenter in the AAPS news for our Fun Run!  Click here!  Thank you for your fundraising efforts!  I just received two grants from our PTO for Math Work Station resources and Handwriting Without Tears resources, so your efforts really do go straight to our kids!

In the classroom, we have been talking a lot about the quality of our work and doing our BEST work!

Coloring is an important fine motor skill in Kindergarten.
Here is a chart from our classroom that helps us do our best -->

As your working at home with your child, discuss and hold his or her to these standards.  This will support important habits.

WOW-WEE!  Here is an example of a child doing his BEST work.  Take a look at this:

1.  Name is on his paper!

2.  Uses pencil to write his numbers!

3.  Neat work!

4.  Coloring in the lines, leaving no white space!

5.  Numbers his squares to count 9!!!

We always want our children to be doing their personal best.  Look at homework as a great opportunity to teach your child to excel.  One question we ask often in our classroom is, "How can I keep learning?"  It is clear this child asked himself that when he numbered the squares.

Keep up the good work!

Parent Teacher Conferences Schedule

Tuesday, October 23rd
4:00 - 4:15  Austin Manning
4:20 - 4:35  Vincent Huy Ren
4:40 - 4:55  Xavier Baker
5:00 - 5:15  Bava Buchanan
5:20 - 5:35  Olivia Carlson
5:40 - 5:55  Jamia Jackson
6:00 - 6:15  Vladimir Hill
6:20 - 6:35  Daniel Ghussaini
6:40 - 6:55  Cruz Vergara

Thursday, November 1st

4:00 - 4:15  Will Grice

4:20 - 4:35  

4:40 - 4:55  

5:00 - 5:15  Joey Knudsen

5:20 - 5:35  

5:40 - 5:55  Elaina Sammour

6:00 - 6:15  Holly Kangas

6:20 - 6:35  Nevaeh Pena

6:40 - 6:55  

Monday, November 5th

4:00 - 4:15  Abigail Kerfoot

4:20 - 4:35  

4:40 - 4:55  Olivia Smith

5:00 - 5:15  Jaron Garner

5:20 - 5:35  Deven Obungu-Clark

5:40 - 5:55  K'Lyn Taylor-Neely

6:00 - 6:15  Caleb Baird

6:20 - 6:35  

6:40 - 6:55  Solana Peralta

Your child does not need to attend this conference.  However, if you would like your child to attend, that is OK with me as well.  Please make sure you are on-time, as you can see there is very little wiggle room, and we want to use the time as best as we can.  Please let me know if you cannot attend at this scheduled time.  If you do not yet have a time scheduled, please email me with which open slot you prefer.  I look forward to these conversations with you!

Shapes All Around!

In math, we have been learning about shapes.  We can see shapes everywhere in the world around us.  In math this week, we sorted some pictures based on the shapes we saw inside of them.  Take a look:

You can see that our rectangle and square sorts look a little sad.  Here's what you can to support our learning at home:

Look through magazines together at home.  Search for shapes!  Use the vocabulary at home and discuss the numbers of sides, corners, etc.  Cut out what you find and send them into school in a small ziploc bag.  Then we can add them to our sorts!

Thank you for your support!

Resources for You

Families,
Have you had the time to check out all of the wonderful resources on our Blog??!!   :)

There are resources for you and for your child.  Check out:

<----  Helpful Parent Links

and our pages above:
Home Learning
Learning Links for Kids
Instructional Videos
Favorite Books & Authors


I just found a new site that I like: Storybots
The ABC videos are cute and introduce good vocabulary for letter sounds.  There are also some printable pages for letter work.

AND this you MUST do if you have an ipad at home for Handwriting practice:  Wet Dry Try App

Enjoy!

Work at Home

GREAT JOB families in supporting your child with his/her number homework over the last week and a half!  Each day, we have been learning about a new number and the extra practice at home helps support the learning we did in school that day.  Every child has brought back his/her homework the very next day!  WOW-WEE!  During morning meeting, we go through all the papers and each child stands up when I check off his/her homework.  Then we do a quick celebration.  What responsible learners we have!

On Friday, I sent home a note regarding the poetry we learn in the classroom, attached to your child's first poem.

In this nursery rhyme, we discussed rhyming words.  First, we read the poem together, discussing its meaning, pointing to each word, and listening to the sounds in the poem.  We also practiced clapping on the rhyming words in our next few readings.  As each Kindergartner illustrated his/her own copy of the poem, I walked around to each table to help them find and highlight the rhyming words in the poem.

We will do many shared reading poems like this throughout the school year.  We often read the poem multiple times throughout a week.

When your child comes home with all this hard work, here is what you can do to support his/her reading habits:

1. Read and enjoy the poem together! :)  Model to your child how to point to each word as you read it together.  Then, help your child read it by pointing to each word (guide his/her hand or have him/her follow your finger).  Talk about the poem and its meaning!
2. Look at special words in the poem.  This may include rhyming words, sight words (we will get into more soon), or word family words (later in the year).
3. Keep all of the poems he/she collects throughout the school year in a special folder or binder that you can return to often to read together.  By the end of the school year, your child will have a collection of poems he/she can "read" by memory.  Remember, the important part is pointing to each word!  This will also help your child begin to recognize and read sight words (or commonly read words).

Enjoy this process and please let me know if you have any questions!

News You Can Use

Hello again families!  First off, I want to apologize for not posting too often - I promise that once the start of the school year winds down, I will post more frequently! :)

A couple important dates to remember:
* Tomorrow (Wednesday) is Count Day!  Your child should be at school on-time to be counted for our school.
* Thursday is PICTURE DAY!  If you are ordering pictures, please return the order form (and I believe you can order/pay online as well).
* Friday is the Carpenter Fun Run to celebrate our fundraising efforts this week.  We will run from 2:30  - 3:00 if you would like to join! :)


Here are a few shots from our Math and Literacy Work Stations:

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Here, we act out the story and write the number of monkeys left of the bed each time.

Building and writing our friend's names with letter tiles!

Types of Lines

In writing, we have been talking a lot about how writers use pictures to tell their stories.  Therefore, to be Kindergarten writers, we need to practice our drawing skills!  We read this book:

and learned about different types of lines we may use in our drawings (wavy, diagonal, zig-zag, dashed, swirly, criss-cross, etc.).  Then we rolled a cube with these different types of lines on each side and practiced whichever lines we rolled!  How fun!

Fine Motor Station

Tracing different types of lines with dry erase markers

Handwriting

So far, we have been working on Frog Jump Capital Letters and Numbers.  Here, students complete a journal page on Frog Jump Capital F!  Don't forget to practice these at home!

In Social Studies, we have been continuing our discussions about getting along with others and bullying.  We talked about ways to deal with bullies: walking away, playing with others, telling bullies to stop, saying no, ignoring bullies, using I Messages to tell them how we feel, getting help from others, and even being kind.  We read this book:

In this story, a group of colors are being bullied by Red until One comes along.  One teaches them how to say no to red and how to stand together.  It even ends with reaching out to Red (being kind).  Such a wonderful book!
Here are some resources for you to support your child at home with bullying:
http://www.stopbullying.gov/
http://www.bullying.org/