Week of November 17-21

Happy Thanksgiving!  Well, I know it isn’t yet, but with a short week, I won’t update next week.

This week we learned the Thanksgiving story and compared our communities and lives in the past to our lives and community in the present.  We learned about indian and pilgrim children and their lives and reflected on how ours are different in some ways and the same in others.  We learned about venn diagrams and made one comparing the two.  We made our retelling bracelets and books and their homework is to share the story with someone on Thanksgiving.  Be sure to prompt with questions: “what was the boat called, what ocean did they cross, how long were they on the boat etc.”  They should know!

We added the letters H and K and added the words, what and are.

In math, we finished up teen numbers and are starting addition!  Today we worked on some number problems and tried to find ways to find the problem if we had the answer.  It was kind of hard, but we’ll keep working on it.  Addition is really fun and the kids are catching on quickly, but this is a GREAT thing to practice at home!  We will start subtraction before Christmas break and then finish up in Jan.

Bella and Daisy went home with two friends today.  The format is a little different now that everyone has done the about me poster.  In the bag is a 1/2 sheet of paper with show and tell on it and the journal is different as well.  In the journal, please use 1 piece of paper.  The kids can still take or draw a picture and then I want THEM to attempt to write.  Please write underneath if I can’t read it so that they can share on Monday.  For show and tell, they should choose 1 item and the criteria is that it has to fit in the backpack and be closed and it can’t be alive.  They will write 3 clues to tell us about their object and they will read them to the class. (write underneath if needed so I can help).  Then the class will guess what they brought.  Then they have to TELL us about the object.  You could practice at home, them telling without a lot of prompts from you.  Where it came from, what makes is special, what it does etc.  Please have them in the backpack on Monday when you return it and tell them NOT to tell anyone what they brought.

We are focusing on writing and putting capital letters at the beginning, spaces between our words, and a period at the end. If they do writing  at home that they want to share, they can bring it in and share and I’ll put it on the good writing board.  That can include sentences, stories, labeling etc.  Having it on the board is often highly motivating to get the to write at home! 🙂

A Thanksgiving break homework packet will come home on Tuesday.  This is strictly an optional review of the skills we’ve worked on so far.  I will send one home over Winter break too,  In the past, I have had lots of parents request the extra practice.

Our Kindergarten Kindness project has begun.  We had a long talk with the kids about being thankful for all they have and talked about how much we have to be grateful for.  We are looking forward to sharing with another class of kindergarteners that will be so thankful for some new items.  I am also adding kid sized new underwear to the list of requested items.  If the kids bring things in, please have them bring them to the room and we’ll let them share before we add them to the baskets in the hallway.    Thanks in advance for helping the kids see how good it feels to give.

The school is still collecting shoes until Dec. 1, so you can continue to send those in.  We are also buddying up with our 5th grade buddy classes to collect coins for the mayor’s shoe drive.  On Dec. 1-3, we’ll collect pennies, 4,5 and 8th nickels, 9-11 dimes, 12,15, and 16 quarters, and 17 and 18 dollars.  If you want to donate, please put them in a baggie and make sure the kids tell us if it’s in their backpack.

We have quite a bit in lost and found.  It is located on the Quivira side on the doors you enter.  If you could check it out before Thanksgiving and collect lost items, that’d be great.

Calling all girls who want to play basketball!  There are still a few spots for girls on a co-ed team run by Brody’s Dad.  If you’re interested, please email him at  Dominic.flora@kckps.org

Alice training for the kids will take place for K classes on Tuesday.  At this level, they will see a powerpoint and basically be told how important it is to listen to your teacher’s directions.  ( I like that message anyway!)

Please be sure to observe the 24 hour fever free rule, especially in Kindergarten.  We have had kids doing lots of coughing, picking their noses (even though I strongly discourage it), and we spread germs like crazy in here.  (So don’t be surprised in a few months when I ask for more wipes! :))  I hate for anyone to be sick and certainly don’t want anything spread around anymore than we have to.

I hope you all have a great weekend.  It’s supposed to be a little warmer than the cold burst we had last weekend!  We have an uneventful weekend planned which is a little unusual at our house.  Jack is headed out to bowling with Inclusion Connections (a group for older teens and young adults with Down’s Syndrome).  He’s found a niche working with special needs kids.  Hannah’s working on getting some photos to exhibit and be critiqued for her AP art class.  It’s so fun to watch the kids find their interests, even if that still doesn’t involve cleaning their rooms or bathroom! 🙂  I plan to work on a little Christmas shopping!.  Enjoy your weekend!

Week of Nov. 10th -Nov. 14th

Brrrr!!!  Really, it’s TOO early in the year to be having indoor recess!  On the flip side of that, we do go out unless it’s wind chill of 10 degrees or lower, so please make sure they have coats, hats, and gloves.  Please be practicing zipping and unzipping at home.  I have 24 kiddos and we’ll never make it out to play if they can’t do most of it themselves.  It just takes some practice!

This week, we learned a few new turkey poems, read some fun turkey books, and made awesome turkeys that are in the hallway.  We even disguised turkeys so they wouldn’t get eaten for Thanksgiving in a class book.  The bummer is that some of you may be reading it in Jan. since they take awhile to get around!

We also talked about families and a class book will be coming home soon after we’ve all shared our family pages.  We also made family tree portraits which are also in the hall.

We added the letter E this week, both short and long vowel sounds.  We also did the words you and with.  I will retest sight words towards the end of Dec.  Keep practicing!

We have been talking about Fall even though it’s felt like winter!!

In math, we have been working on counting to 100 and working with seeing patterns in a 100’s chart.  We are learning to count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.  I have several kiddos that still need to be able to count to 100 for me.  If you haven’t seen the bubblegum chart come home, then your child should still be practicing.

Most everyone has passed syllables, but I’d love to have everyone keep practicing at home.  I have them make their hand flat, put it right under their chin, and say the word.  However many times your mouth moves your hand is the number of syllables.  Then I have them say the word and clap it as well.  For example, pi  zza

We have lots to get in before Thanksgiving and will continue talking about what we’re thankful for and will learn the story of the First Thanksgiving.  Next week, we do one of my favorite activities where we make a retelling bracelet and book.  It would be a great thing for your child to retell at your holiday dinner.  Retelling is a really important K skill that we work on a lot.

Well, I don’t have the exciting weekend I had last weekend, but that’s okay.  It sounds like I’ll be snuggled up with a good book while it snows!  I did show the kids a few pics from my weekend.  I think the boys were pretty excited that I had my picture taken with Wolverine!  I told the girls I was sorry, I waited awhile for Cinderella, but the line was too long. (I didn’t even consider Ana and Elsa-80 min. wait!!), but I did show them Cinderella’s castle which Elsa “froze” in a show.  It was pretty amazing!!

Have a great weekend and stay warm!

Week of November 3-7th

Happy almost Friday!

We’ve had another busy week in kindergarten!  Here are a few reminders about upcoming events:

* Please return your family sheet asap so that we can start sharing those next week.  If your child does the writing, please write underneath it what they said in case they can’t remember.

* If you are available to help set up or work Body Venture, please let the office know asap.

* Please send in your shoes to donate if you can.  More info. below.

* Book orders are due in a week on Nov. 14th.  If you want me to hang on to books for gifts, let me know.  I will also do one more order before the holidays.

* If you haven’t taken Dr. McDonald’s survey, please take time to do that.

Parent Survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CathyMcDonald2014-15ParentSurvey

* The veteran’s day assembly will be next Tuesday at 2:00.  Please send in pictures of veterans in your family (labeled)  if you have them.  Please have the kids wear red, white, and/or blue that day.

Thanks to all who helped make the Halloween party a success!  The kids really had a lot of fun and they had a great day.  I was melting by the end of the day! 🙂  I really appreciate all the parents who donated items, helped with the party, or just came to be here!  It takes a village to throw a party! 🙂

We go outside EVERY day unless it’s raining or below 10 degrees!  PLEASE make sure they are coming in with a coat!  It’s not always that warmed up yet when we go out at 11:05!

This week, we learned all about spiders.  We read some neat books, did some writing, math, and even made a spider facts book!  I hope they’re coming home sharing with you all their new information.  We also learned a song about the body parts of a spider.  It starts like this…cephalathorax, abdomen, abdomen….have them sing it for you!

We added the letters X and J and the sight word my this week.  In math, we are finishing up teen numbers.  Please be working on these at home, as we have to learn them really fast to keep up with the math curriculum.  I have also been testing kids on counting to 100.  When they successfully do it for me, they will bring home a bubblegum certificate that says, “I can count to 100!”  If you haven’t seen that yet, they probably got stuck somewhere.  They have to be able to do it without my help.  So if they get to 49 and then go to 60, I’ll tell them no and they have to figure out it’s 50.  If they can’t, they need to keep practicing!  Most everyone has been able to count by 10’s to 100 for me.

This time of year, we are doing lots of reviewing about above the line behavior.  We had a kindness assembly on Tuesday and we are really working on using kind words and having kind actions.  We are also extending our kindness by collecting gently used shoes to donate to children (and adults) in Africa so that they can go to school.  They can be any kind and any size of shoe (adults too!).  Please tie tennis shoes together and tape the others together if you can.

I want to let you know, I’ll be gone tomorrow afternoon for an appt. and then Monday, I am taking a personal day.  My Mom and I are taking my daughter, Hannah, to Florida late Friday night for a belated 17th birthday present.  We went several years ago when the Harry Potter park opened and we’re headed down again to check out the new park and spend one day at Disney.  No, our presents are rarely this extravagant, but she’s headed off to college next year, and we wanted the memories of another girl trip together.

Ms. Moser will be here along with Ms. Zeller and Mrs. Brock, so nothing should be too different for the kids.  Please remind them Monday morning to show our guest teacher what awesome, respectful kids they are!

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you all next Tuesday!