Dear Families,

We have had another busy week in kindergarten. We began the week with our Great Giving STEAM Challenge. We read a book called  “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”, a true story about William Kamkwamba who turned trash into a windmill to bring an electric water pump to his village of Malawi.  Then our students brainstormed ideas for  their own ways to turn trash into a gift that solves a problem for someone else. With the help of Mrs. Diaz’ fourth graders, our class came up with some great ideas. Please enjoy these pictures from our STEAM DAY.

In reading this week, we read books related to Thanksgiving. The students enjoyed listening to these books. One of their favorites was called “A Turkey for Thanksgiving” by Eve Bunting. The students enjoyed the surprise ending of this book. If you would like to listen to this book again, please click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEnP0S7PEhA

In math, we learned about graphing. The students had fun learning about pictographs. Please click on the following youtube video to review pictographs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yi7rDyIXwW0

Finally, in social studies we learned about Thanksgiving and why we celebrate this special holiday in the United States. We learned about how we celebrate Thanksgiving now and how the first Thanksgiving was celebrated many years ago. Please check out the pictures below of the turkeys we made to show what we are thankful for.

NEXT WEEK’S AGENDA:

Language Arts: K.8e s Retell stories sequentially using beginning, middle and ending

Poem: Mr.Turkey

Words: look, not

Phonemic Awareness:  Heggerty

Essential Questions: 

JR Module 8 Green Questions

What’s happening at the beginning of the story?

What happened in the middle of the story?

What happened at the end of the story?

Math:  Graphing and Data

SOL :K.11 The student will
a)   collect, organize, and represent data; and
b)  read and interpret data in object graphs, picture graphs, and tables. 

Vocabulary:data, graph, object graph, picture graph, table, greatest, least, same, category

Essential questions:

• What is data?
• What are some ways to represent data?
• Why represent data in a graph?

Social Studies:  Thanksgiving 

K.11  The student will develop an understanding of how communities express patriotism through events and symbols by
d)    recognizing the holidays and people associated with Thanksgiving Day.

Essential Questions

• Why is Thanksgiving Day commemorated?
• What are some ways that communities commemorate Thanksgiving Day?
• Where was the first Thanksgiving held in Virginia?  Who was there and why did they give thanks?
• Where was the first Thanksgiving held in Massachusetts?  Who was there and why did they give thanks?

Vocabulary

• commemorate: to honor or preserve the memory of
• contribution: the act of giving of doing something to help others
• holiday: a day to honor or commemorate a special person or event

tradition: a way of doing something that has been used by people for a long time

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to send in items for our Thanksgiving Feast next Tuesday at 1:00 pm in our cafeteria. You may send in the items on Monday, November 25th if you would like. I hope to see many of you at our feast.

Also, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. May you enjoy time with your families as you reflect on the many things that we are thankful for.

Warm regards,

Mrs. Smith 🙂

Dear Families,

Happy Friday! We have just finished up another fantastic week in room #14. It’s hard to believe that today was the 53rd day of kindergarten. This week the students learned about the different types of weather, how to compare numbers from greatest to least, the ending sounds of words, and why we celebrate Veteran’s Day.

On Thursday, we recognized our veterans with a program from our first graders. Mr. Pattie, our music teacher, led our first graders as they helped to celebrate our country and our veterans. Below are some pictures from that program:

WHAT WE ARE LEARNING ABOUT NEXT WEEK:

Language Arts: k.8d Questioning

Poem: Mr.Turkey

Words: look, not

Phonics:  short a/o medial sounds

Essential Questions: 

JR Module 8 Green Questions

Who…?

What…?

When…?

Where…?

How…?

Which…?

Math:  Graphing and Data

SOL :K.11 The student will
a)   collect, organize, and represent data; and
b)  read and interpret data in object graphs, picture graphs, and tables. 

Vocabulary:data, graph, object graph, picture graph, table, greatest, least, same, category

Essential questions:

• What is data?
• What are some ways to represent data?
• Why represent data in a graph?

Social Studies:  Thanksgiving 

K.11  The student will develop an understanding of how communities express patriotism through events and symbols by
d)    recognizing the holidays and people associated with Thanksgiving Day.

Essential Questions

• Why is Thanksgiving Day commemorated?
• What are some ways that communities commemorate Thanksgiving Day?
• Where was the first Thanksgiving held in Virginia?  Who was there and why did they give thanks?
• Where was the first Thanksgiving held in Massachusetts?  Who was there and why did they give thanks?

Vocabulary

• commemorate: to honor or preserve the memory of
• contribution: the act of giving of doing something to help others
• holiday: a day to honor or commemorate a special person or event

tradition: a way of doing something that has been used by people for a long time

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Monday, November 18th- 1/2 day dismissal, STEAM DAY 8:00-9:30, Awards in the classroom from 7:45-8:00

Friday, November 22nd- Make up picture day

Tuesday, November 26th- Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast 1:00-1:30 pm

Wednesday-Friday, November 27th-29th- Thanksgiving Holiday

If you would like to help donate items for our Thanksgiving Feast please click on the link below:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F094AAFAB28A1FC1-kindergarten

Thanks for your help with our feast Thanksgiving Feast.

I hope everyone has a super weekend.

Mrs. Smith

Dear Families,

It’s hard to believe that we are now in the second nine weeks of school already. I guess time does fly by when you’re having fun. Speaking of fun, the students had a great time at our PAW celebration on Monday. We began the day with an assembly in the cafe with a some fun games and a dance off. The children were able to continue the fun with free choice during our station time along with extra recess. We finished up our day with a movie and popcorn. Please enjoy these pictures from our PAW celebration.

In reading this week, the students learned that good readers ask questions to help them understand what they have read. These questions include: who, why, what, where, how, and when. We also began working on ending sounds as well. Click on the following link for extra practice on ending sounds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOba3SXVLcc&feature=youtu.be

For more practice on ending sounds please click this link. https://www.education.com/game/ending-sounds-hopper/

In math, the students learned how to compare sets using the terms same or equal, less or fewer, more or greater. We will continue to compare sets next week using these terms. To help your child review these concepts, please click on the following link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llqTVVXzPPY

Here’s another song to help your child review less than, greater than, and equal to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6Efzu2slaI

In social studies, the students learned how to sequence events and how things begin to change over time. The students also learned how things have changed over time in our communities and our schools. Please click on the following for more examples of how things have changed from the past to the present. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sZ_9hkeDic

I would like to thank everyone who was able to come out to our fall student-led parent/teacher conferences on Monday evening. I enjoyed getting to meet with many of you. If you were unable to attend on Monday, please email me and we can try and schedule another time for us to meet and discuss your child’s progress.

Next Week’s Learning Goals Are:

Language Arts: k.8d Questioning (Mercer Mayer Books)

Poem: The Family

Words: mom, dad, we

Phonics:  ending sounds/final consonants 

Essential Questions: 

JR Module 8 Green Questions

Who…?

What…?

When…?

Where…?

How…?

Which…?

Math:  Compare and Order Sets

K.2   The student, given no more than three sets, each set containing 10 or fewer concrete objects, will

1. a) compare and describe one set as having more, fewer, or the same number of objects as the other set(s); and
2. b) compare and order the sets from least to greatest and greatest to least. 

Vocabulary:more, fewer, same, compare, order, greatest, least, set

Essential question:

• How do we compare two sets to tell whether they have the same number of items?
• How can we make a set that has the same number of items as another set?
• What do the words fewer, more, and the same mean?

Science/Social Studies:  Weather 

K.9 The student will investigate and understand that there are simple repeating patterns in his/her daily life. Key concepts include

1. a) weather observations;

Essential Questions
• What do you see in the sky? How does it feel outside? What kinds of activities can you do in this weather?
• Someone says, “It is going to rain today.” What do you think they might have seen to make them say this?
• Why should we use a chart to record our weather predictions?
• What patterns can we see on a weather chart?

Essential Terms

• cloud — a group of tiny liquid water droplets hanging in the air (or ice crystals)
•  change — when an object goes from one “look” to another over time 
• cycle — a repeated pattern 
• season — one of the four different time periods in a year (spring, summer, fall, and winter) 
• pattern — predictable events that happen in life (get up, go to work, go to sleep) 
• precipitation — water falling from the air (The falling water can be in various forms such as rain, ice, or snow.)
•  thermometer — a device or instrument used to measure temperature (tool)
•  wind — moving air

Upcoming Dates:

November 18th- STEAM DAY, Classroom awards, 1/2 day dismissal for students

November 20th-Report cards go home

November 26th- Thanksgiving Feast (More info will be coming soon)

November 27-29- Thanksgiving Break 

I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend.

Mrs. Smith:)

Dear Families,

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween yesterday. I am sure that they children enjoyed going out in their costumes in search of candy. I miss going out with my own children now that they are all grown up.

We are just finishing another fabulous week in kindergarten. I hope the students enjoyed all of our fun activities that we had for our spirit week. On Monday, the students worked in four different stations for our STEAM DAY challenge. All of stations centered around the poem called “The Five Little Pumpkins.”

https://www.google.com/search?q=poem+the+5+little+pumpkins&rlz=1CATATK_enUS746US748&oq=poem+the+5+little+pumpkins&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.9800j0j7&sourceid=chrome&i

A big thank you goes out to all of the parents and relatives who were able to come out and help with our STEAM DAY activities. Please enjoy these pictures from Monday.

On Tuesday, we had a wonderful turnout at our first “Book or Treat” event at Trevvett. It was great to see so many families who were able to come out and enjoy this event. The kindergarten teachers had fun dressing up as Pete the Cat and decorating our classroom doors. Check out these pictures of our door and yours truly as Pete the Cat.

On Wednesday, the children were able to have fun at the Big Blast fundraiser celebration. The students were able to enjoy thirty minutes of fun activities including a bouncy house and slide. Check out these pictures from the Big Blast.

Next week we will be learning about:

Language Arts: k.8d Questioning

Poem: 5 Little Speckled Frogs

Words: it, and

Phonics:  ending sounds/final consonants  

Essential Questions: 

JR Module 8 Green Questions

Who…?

What…?

When…?

Where…?

How…?

Which…?

Math:  Compare and Order Sets

K.2   The student, given no more than three sets, each set containing 10 or fewer concrete objects, will

1. a) compare and describe one set as having more, fewer, or the same number of objects as the other set(s); and
2. b) compare and order the sets from least to greatest and greatest to least. 

Vocabulary:more, fewer, same, compare, order, greatest, least, set

Essential question:

• How do we compare two sets to tell whether they have the same number of items?
• How can we make a set that has the same number of items as another set?
• What do the words fewer, more, and the same mean?

Science/Social Studies: Past/Present

K.3  The student will sequence events in the past and present and begin to recognize that things change over time.

Essential Questions

• What changes have recently occurred in the classroom or school community?

• Which events can be shown on a timeline to show change over time?
• How can people learn about the past?

Vocabulary

• past: something that has already happened  

present: what is happening now

DATES TO REMEMBER:

Monday, November 4th  Parent/Teacher Conferences 

Tuesday, November 5th Teacher Workday/ No School for students

Book Fair in the Library begins on Monday, November 4th

If you still haven’t signed up for a parent/teacher conference, I still have some spaces available. Please click the following link to sign up:https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0548aaab2ea4f58-november

Please remember to sign and return your child’s blue PAW sheet that will be coming home today. Also, please review the red sight words that came home with your child earlier in October. I will be checking to see if your child knows these words. Some students  have already mastered the red rainbow words and have moved on to the orange sight word list. If you have misplaced the red sight word list, please email me or write a note and I will send home another word list with your child. Finally, your child will be bringing home new homework today in their yellow Trevvett folder.

Thanks for sending in your child’s turkey project. The students did a wonderful job on this project. These turkey projects are displayed in our hallway sleeves right outside of our classroom.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Mrs. Smith:)