Week of Oct. 23rd – Oct. 27th

This is a long post, but please read all the way to the end! 🙂

We were batty this week learning all about bats!  We learned the word schema (what our brains already know) and we made a chart with our schema and new learning as we learned about bats.  We also learned a misconception is when we think we know something is true and find out that it is not a fact.  We learned that it’s a misconception that bats turn into vampires.  There IS a vampire bat, but it drinks the blood of cows and horses, not humans.  Their bat fact book came home and we worked on making our illustrations match our words.  And yes, I have a real live/dead bat that I brought in.  I found it last year on the sidewalk and scooped it up. (My family thinks I’m nuts, but I thought it was really cool!)  It’s really neat to be able to see an actual bat in person.  We also talked about how if they ever find a bat on the ground, they should NOT touch it ever!! 🙂  We made paper bats and practiced writing sentences with a capital letter, spaces between words, and a period at the end.  They had to write a good bat fact.  We talked about how Bats can fly is kind of a boring fact, while true, we learned a lot more interesting things about bats to write about!  We learned the vocabulary, chiropterologist, which is a scientist that studies bats, echolocation, and gravity as we learned bats have to fall into flight and cannot take off from the ground.  We also learned that a colony is a group of bats and that baby bats are called pups.  This goes right along with our language arts skills of sentence writing, fact vs. opinion, and listening to great expository books.  It also fits in well with our animal adapations with science.   We also did an experiment to determine how the Mom Bat finds her pup in a colony of thousands of bats!  Be sure to ask your child to tell you!  Bats are pretty cool! 🙂

We add the letters Gg and Dd and the sight word to.  We talked a lot about how g is a sit on the line letter and that d has to be written as a donut and a door, otherwise it’s a b!  Next week, we’ll do long and short Oo and the word come.

In math, we have started addition to 5.  Next week, we will work on subtraction.  We learned 6 different ways to add.  Using a ten frame, using number bonds, using fingers, drawing circles, putting the bigger number in our head and counting on (this one is hard!), and using counters.  We’ve been doing LOTS of hands on practice!

We started reading groups this week and books have already gone home with some of the kids.  Please remember these things when a book comes home:

• Keep the book two nights and practice even if it’s an easy one.
• Have your child read SLOWLY, point to the word, look at the word, and read the word.  This ensures that they are not just memorizing, but making sure they are corresponding what they say to the word on the page
• Mark the log Too Difficult, Too easy or just right.  The paper in the bag explains this.  Please do not write the title each time it’s read.  Just mark how they did overall.
• Make sure they are using their reading finger (hand they write with) to point.  I am sending home witch fingers next week that they can use as well.
• If they get to a word they don’t know, use the strategy sheet!!

Yes, I am guilty too of putting my conference folder on the counter and walking away.  Now that it’s been a week later, I ask that you please go through and review the games and things in there.  I haven’t had a single parent sign up for Seesaw yet.  It’s not required, but if no one signs up, then I won’t take the time to put in pictures.  Then you’ll miss out on the bat experiment we did last week! 🙂  Also, the grant has limited matching funds, so if you are going to contribute that would be great.  I know several of you mentioned that you work for companies who would donate.  Thanks in advance.  If it gets fully funded, I will be getting fun take home activities for you to do with your kiddos!

Thanks to all who responded to go trick or treating at Autumn Leaves on Monday.  I will meet you down there at 6:00.  It’s on 127th, just across the street from Walgreens.  Please be there on time because as you can imagine it is not an open door kind of place!  The kids made cards today to give to the residents and then they will be able to trick or treat.  I talked to them today about why they live there and that they are so excited to see those that can come.  Please make sure you do NOT open the door to let anyone out!!  There is a code that has to be put in so the alarm doesn’t go off.  There are a couple of ladies that live there that would fool you in a heartbeat that they are just visiting.  In fact, one did leave when someone held the door several weeks ago, so we don’t even have the code to get out anymore.  Thanks for understanding and thanks for taking the time to do this!  It will be a win win for everyone!!

And now for Halloween on Tuesday.  At least it won’t be a full moon this year!  One year it was a full moon AND Halloween…yikes!!  They can wear costumes to school.  The rules are that they have to be able to get in and out of it on their own to use the bathroom, they have to be dressed to go outside to recess ( princess shoes aren’t the best), and there can be absolutely no weapons or blood or gore.  I already had one ask if he could wear, “just a little fake blood”…nope.  If they have head pieces or masks or helmets or gloves or parts like that, they can bring them for the parade, but not have them on during the day.  Parents can set up at 2:15, the parade is at 2:30 and parties start at 2:45.  If you are bringing food, please remember to check with me as we have a severe nut/milk allergy and I want all kids to be included.

Almost done…we go out every morning for recess at 9:45 am.  This morning it was 38 degrees.  PLEASE make sure your child has a COAT on days like this, not just a hoodie.  It would be better to have them overdressed than under dressed.  We go out unless the windchill is below 20, so please keep that in mind this winter.  Trust me, they need to get outside as often as they can! 🙂

Well, congrats if you made it this far! Just lots of info. to know this week!  I’m supposed to head to Lawrence to watch the KU game Sat., but I’m pretty sure I’m going to wimp out.  I don’t like cold and wind and I’m sure we’re going to lose, so….home snuggled on the couch with a good book it just may be!  I’m a single mom for two weeks as my husband starts his new job, but won’t complain as I’m grateful he found one so quickly and one that’s a great fit for him.  I’ve had lots of just Jack time and I love that!  Have a great weekend!

 

Week of Oct. 9th-12th

We finished up apples this week and celebrated with apple day.  We also learned all about bees and fact/opinion since we learned about bees on the field trip.  We made bees and then worked on our sentence writing.  We’re learning that a sentence starts with a capital letter, has spaces between words, and has a period at the end.  We worked on the letter I and added the word we.  Next week, with it being a short week, we will spend time reviewing the letters and sight words we’ve done so far.  We will also review rhyming, clapping words in a sentence, and isolating the first sound from the rest of the word.

In math, we are still working on writing 0-5 and making sure the numbers are not backwards.  We also worked on numbers before and after and learned a new number game called apple bump.

The field trip was lots of fun even though it was fairly chilly.  We did not get to pick apples because the weather didn’t cooperate for the trees this year, but we got to pick 3 kinds out of a box, we picked pumpkins, went on a hayride, learned about bees, fed the chickens and goats, ate lunch there, and played in the play houses.  They should be good and tired tonight! 🙂

Book orders are due tomorrow.  Please place your order online if you are planning to at scholastic.com.  Our classroom code is HWML6.

Would you please check and see if you have the Careers on Wheels class book?  It went home yesterday and was not returned today.  Thanks for looking!

We watched the A.L.I.C.E. video in class this week.  That is our district safety video and had information on what to do in case of an active shooter.  I did NOT use those words with the kids.  I basically told them if they ever hear “alice, alice, alice” they are to immediately be quiet, look at me, and do what I tell them to and if I tell them to run, I showed them where to go.  Our spot would be the church north of us on the north side.  We will NOT practice this drill.  There could be a situation where we would lock down and then we would be in the bathroom like a tornado drill.  I very firmly expressed that I was not trying to scare them, but they needed to know what to do just in case.

Conferences are next week.  Your child does NOT need to be at this conference, but will be asked to come in Feb.  Please be on time and I will try my best to be on time too.  I have everyone booked back to back and if one gets over, it creates a domino effect!  I look forward to sharing your child’s progress with you.  If for some reason you can NOT come, please call the office and let them know.  I will then send home the info. and we can have a phone conference if needed.  We strive for 100% attendance, so we hope to see you here!

Hope you have a great weekend!  Enjoy this beautiful weather!  Hannah is home for Fall break and Jack is off Friday too, so I’m hoping to get in some family time together!

Week of October 2nd-6th

How did it get to be October already?  I will tell you October can be hard on the kids.  Because of days off and conferences and Halloween and a full moon…a routine is harder in Oct.  Sometimes we see behaviors that haven’t shown up before, so we need to keep talking about above the line behavior!

We had a busy week (as we always do!)  This week, we worked on more apple activities.  We learned about evaporation and did an experiment where we weighed an apple, a peeled apple, and a sliced apple to see how quickly the water evaporated out of each apple.  We also learned about the life cycle of an apple.  We tasted a red, yellow, and green apple and apple pie and then made a glyph about ourselves.  A glyph is a picture that tells you information.  Ours are hanging in the hall if you get a chance to see them!  We also read a poem about apples, made a couple of books about apples and we did another experiment to see if an apple and apple seeds sink or float.  We learned that seeds sink and apples float because they disperse the water around them.  We talked about how it’s just like a boat floating in water.

We learned the letters B and F and the sight word see.  Next we’ll do the letter I and the word we.

In math, we’ve continued to work on numbers 0-5, ordering numbers, more and less.  Today we learned about sorting, graphing, and then used that information to fill in our data sheet.

We finally finished up our brown bear books today.  Yesterday we did the orange fish by painting with koolaid, black sheep was painted with cotton balls, and brown bear was painted with chocolate pudding.  I’ll wait for those to dry before sending them home! 🙂

Our social skills topic was centered around being proactive and being in charge of ourselves.  We also talked about personal space and how it’s important to respect others’ personal space.

Our field trip will be next Thurs.  Please make sure they are dressed to be outside the entire morning.  I haven’t seen the forecast yet, so fingers crossed.  They need to wear tennis shoes, bring a disposable sack lunch and a disposable water bottle.  Thanks to Anne Flora, Kim Hutson, Crystal Smith, Katy Spaink, and Rachel VerHeul for agreeing to go with us on the field trip!  Parents, you will need to drive and it’s a ways away, so I would encourage you to car pool!  I’ll send directions on Monday.

On Monday, we are going to do some more with sorting and graphing, so please have your child bring on one red, yellow, or green apple.  If you could put it in a baggie with their name on it, that would be great, thanks!

If you signed up to send something for apple day on Wed., I sent the note back home with the highlighted item/s to bring.  Please send those in Monday if possible.  Please note quantities, because I changed the amount to bring on some items, so you don’t have to bring all of it.  Thanks for donating items for a fun day with our buddies!

Have a great time at the Fall Festival tonight!  I am headed to the Olathe East game.  They moved the time up because it was supposed to pour tonight.  I’m glad it appears to be waiting until after  the Fall Festival!

Things are looking up at my house.  My father in law is doing SO much better.  The change from before the hospital to after is amazing honestly.  I now know how important hydration is!!  We miss Abby so much and find ourselves looking for her.  We will be burying her ashes this weekend, which is sure to bring more tears, but we’re trying to replace tears with happy memories.  Rosie seems to be getting back to her playful self again too, but I know she misses her too.  It’s helped so much to have her around.  And the best news that we’ve been hoping for is that my husband, Andrew, got a job offer today and it’s one that will be an easy transition for him.  So the dark cloud is hopefully moving away from our family!  We’re headed to Lawrence for the KU game and to see Hannah and then Jack is going to his girlfriend’s homecoming.  A busy weekend, but not filled with stress and sadness like they have been.  I can’t say enough how much your prayers and support mean to me.  Normally, I don’t start the year needing this much help!  Thank you all!  Have a great weekend!