November Update

November Update:

I want to start off by saying THANK YOU to all the awesome parents who took time out of their days to meet with me. I really enjoyed talking with each and every one of you. I am having SO much fun with your kiddos.

We are running a little low on snack. If possible, please send some snack to share; that would be deeply appreciated. It is hard to learn on an empty tummy.

What the kiddos like:

          Goldfish crackers

          Teddy Grams

          Cheese crackers
          Crackers and Cheese spread

         

Now that the temperature has dropped, please be sure to send your student with appropriate clothing.  Heavy coats, snow pants, hats, gloves, and snow boots are great. If your student is not wearing snow boots and snow pants, he/she will not be allowed to play in the snow. He/she will have to stay on the blacktop. The kiddos are having a blast playing in the snow, so please remember to send it all with your student. I would hate to see one of them being left out on the black top.

Also, we have a lot of black snow pants in the classroom this year. It would be helpful if you could write your name on the tag, tie a piece of ribbon on the tag, or something to tell your child that those are in fact his or her snow pants. That would be great and help me out tremendously. 

Reading Update:

We are flying through our unit on our five senses. These kiddos are picking up on the content and retaining all the information, which is great! Once we are done talking about our five senses and how we use them to describe things / observe science in our world, we will move on to unit 3. Unit 3 is all about homes and families all over the world.

Starting this month we will send home a list of sight words. Once your child can read the words in any random order please sign the paper and return it to school. Your student will then get a reward for mastering those sight words. I will then send it home again for him/her to color and keep. This month’s turkey will be coming home tomorrow, November 14^th.

We will continue to review/learn letters A through Z by name and sound.

We will also introduce digraphs: two letters that make one sound.

(For example: th, sh, ch, wh)

Sight Words to review:

the  a  an  here  is  I  see  we  and  he  she  it  no  this  in  go

New Words to Work on:

can  are  you  look  like  what  do  have  am  not have

Reading Group Skills:

I am loving our time in reading groups.  The kiddos are doing great! There are a few skills that we work on every day. These are all skill that can be reinforced when reading at home. The skills are as follows:

1.    A good reader points under the words as he/she reads the words. (crisp pointing)

2.    A good reader keeps his/her eyes on the words when reading.

3.    A good reader uses picture clues to decode unknown words.

4.    A good reader looks at the first letter and gets his/her mouth ready for the unknown word.

5.    A good reader tries to stretch out words and slide through the sounds. (sound them out)

6.    A good reader will make predictions. (What will happen next?)

7.    A good reader will make connections with a book.

a.     text to self

b.     text to world

c.     text to text

*Sometimes he/she will refer to it as a book to self, book to world, book to book connection. That is completely fine. Text is a hard word for them to grasp right away.

Math Update:

Walk to math is off to a great start. The kiddos are liking being with other students and maybe even another teacher. 
We will continue to work on number recognition, 0 to 20. 
He/she will need to be able to recognize a number within 3 seconds.
Please continue to practice oral counting at home. In kindergarten a student is responsible for being able to count to 100 by 10s and by 1s. 
One skill we are working our way towards is figuring out missing numbers. (For example:  7, 8, ___,  What number would go in that blank?) * be sure to move the blank around so that it is not always at the end. Put the blank in the beginning or the middle too.

Important dates for the calendar

November 18^th: PTA meeting, 6:00p.m. in the Library

November 20^th: Picture Retakes @ school; & Skate Night!

November 25^th: Half day! Dismissal at noon.

November 26^th: No school

November 27^th: No School; HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

November 28^th: No School

November Newsletter

I cannot believe that the first quarter of kindergarten has come and gone! I guess the saying is true, time flies when you are having fun! Here is the November newsletter plus an update to where we are headed in reading and math. Thank you for your continued support!

THE BOOK-IT PROGRAM FROM PIZZA HUT CONTINUES!

Wow! I was very impressed with the number of students participating in this in October. So again, this month when you read to your child for ten minutes or when your child read to you, please initial the day on the calendar attached. When your child has twelve days signed, he/she will receive a certificate for a free personal pan pizza! The calendars are due back to me on December 1st. Happy Reading!

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

Monday: Music (*Remember to wear tennis shoes!)

Thursday: P.E. (*Remember to wear tennis shoes!)

Friday: Library (*Books are due every week!)

November 5^th- 7^th: Parent Teacher Conferences; Half Day dismissal @ noon

November 5^th-7^th: Book Fair in the Library!

November 7th: Field trip to Alberta Bair; A Very Hungry Caterpillar

November 7^th: Scholastic Book Orders Due Back; If you want to order

               online our classroom code is MFK6Q.

November 11^th: Veteran’s Day Breakfast in the commons. All active

                         military or veterans with ties to Meadowlark School are

                         invited to enjoy breakfast with their guest(s) from 7:00 to 8:15.

November 18^th: PTA meeting @ 6:00 p.m. in the Library

November 20^th: Picture Re-takes

November 20^th: Skate Night from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. @ Skate World

                           (701 S. 29^th Street West)

November 25^th: Early Out; Dismissal @ noon.

November 26^th-28^th: No School! Happy Thanksgiving!

MATH AND READING GAMES FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER:

The math game for this month is heads or tails. The players take 10 pennies and toss them on a table. Next, one player sorts the pennies into two groups, heads or tails. Then that player writes the number sentences to show how many heads and tails are showing. (for example: 4+6=10) The game continues until all combinations of ten have been recorded.

Also coming home this month are a set of cards to play memory with. We are going to begin working in depth with the “teen” numbers. This is a game to help your child recognize each of the “teen” numbers and 20.

For reading practice segmenting words. This is breaking words down to each individual sound. Ask them to get the /m/ /i/ /l/ /k/ for you instead of saying the word milk. Your child will need to break the words down into individual sounds and then blend the sounds back together to form the word. Also work on counting syllables in words.

Reading Update:

In second quarter we will move on to our second unit in our reading series. This unit is more hands on and science based. It is all about using our five senses (sight, hearing, smell, feeling, and tasting) to discover the world around us.

We will continue to review/learn letters A through Z by name and sound.

We will also introduce digraphs: two letters that make one sound.

(For example: th, sh, ch, wh)

HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS:

and, we, he, she, me, it, is, in, no, this, look, like, have

Review words:  I, see, the, can, a, an

Reading Strategies: What do good readers do?

Make Predictions

Look at Picture Clues

Making Connections: Book to Self, Book to World, Book to Book

Identifying Important Information

Comparing and Contrasting

Math Update:

We will continue to work on oral counting, number recognition up to 10, and sorting. Please remember that your child must be able to explain how he/she sorted objects and know which has the most/least.

This quarter we will work in depth with numbers greater than 10, up to 20.  We will also be working on counting to 100 by 10s and 1s, being able to count forward from any given number, comparing numbers, correctly naming shapes, and knowing different attributes of each shape.

Shapes to know: circle, triangle, square, rectangle, trapezoid, rhombus, pentagon, and hexagon.

Happy November!