Our STEAM teacher, Mrs. Totten is asking if  your kinder could bring in headphones (the type you can plug into a computer) to keep at school to use during STEAM class throughout the year.  These headphones do not need to be fancy.  Often they can be found at Five Below, where you can purchase them for under $5.00. Consider sending in over the head type headphones (pictured below) rather than the earbud type as these are easier to put on and take off independently.

They will begin using them on Wednesday, November 6 in STEAM.  It would be greatly appreciated if you could mark the headphones with your kinder’s name.  If you cannot send in headphones we do have some extra ones for them to use.  Thank you!

POPCORN WORDS: like, here

READING: During reading this week, we learned more about looking for how characters are feeling in books. We practiced noticing feelings in Bear Feels Scared. The Kinders then looked for feelings in their books. They also learned about finding WOW! pages in the books they are reading. They worked with their partners to find a WOW page and mark it with a sticky note. This week, we also started to use our blue book boxes. The Kinders chose 5 interest books and put them in their book box to read during reading time.

WRITING: This week during writing, we wrote 2 pattern books. The first pattern book we wrote was about a pumpkin. The Kinders looked at a pumpkin and learned about the different parts. Then we drew the pumpkin, labeled it and wrote a sentence on all 4 pages! Our sentences were:  I see the stem. I see the rind. I see the ribs. I see the pumpkin. Our second book was about themselves. We started by learning the Mat Man song. This song helps Kinders to remember to draw all the parts of themselves. We drew ourselves, labeled ourselves and wrote a sentence on all 4 pages! Our sentences were: Here is my head. Here is my body. Here is my hair. Here is my friend. I’m so proud of how hard they worked during writing! They are doing a great job!

MATH: During math this week, we practiced writing our numbers and drawing that number of objects. We also practiced dot-to-dots. There are more and more numbers on the dot-to-dots that we are practicing. The Kinders are reminded to draw straight lines and go in order of the numbers. 

LITERACY: This week during our literacy time, we practiced our popcorn words, beginning word sounds, telling the difference between letter and numbers, rhyming words, handwriting (letters that are small, letters that are tall and letters that fall) and popcorn word books! We learn so much during this time of our day! This is the time of day where we also work in small groups and work on different skills. 

MYSTERY READER: Joshua was excited and surprised when his mom came to our room this week to be a mystery reader! We had a great time listening to the book The Book With No Pictures. The Kinders had a lot of laughs!! 

GVSU BASEBALL PLAYERS: On Friday, the GVSU Baseball players and their coach came to our class and played math games with us. It was fun to play some new math games! We love it when they come!

5th GRADE BUDDIES: On Friday, our 5th grade buddies came to our classroom and made a craft with us! It was so fun to have them visit! They helped us make an orange tiger! They are hanging up in our classroom for all of us to enjoy! After the tigers were finished, the fifth graders and kindergarteners got to read books together. We loved it!!

A COUPLE OF REMINDERS…

• Please remember to send your Kinder to school with 2 snacks each day. I have snacks for students who don’t have one, but we are going through many snacks each day. Thank you!
• Please help your Kinder remember to keep their toys at home. We have plenty of toys for them to choose from during play time. When they bring toys from home, they often have a hard time keeping them in their backpack and not playing with them. Thank you! 
• Please remember to send your Kinder in a coat each day to school. With this changing weather, it is important for the kids to be warm at recess. Thank you!

UPCOMING DATES…

Monday, October 28: Music; Library (remember to return library books)

Tuesday, October 29: Gym; Picture Retakes; Turkey Trot Race

Wednesday, October 30: Art; Kindergarten Parent and Administration Meeting 7:00 PM in the Multi-Purpose Room at Georgetown

Thursday, October 31: STEAM; Fall Party from 2:00-3:00 – Kinders are welcome to wear their costumes to school! 

Friday, November 1: Music; Send in headphones (labeled with your Kinder’s name) for STEAM; Wear Brown – our color of the week!

Friday, November 15: Fast Friday – dismissal at 12:15

November 18 and November 20: Parent Teacher Conferences

Have a great weekend!!

POPCORN WORDS: yes, no, stop, go

READING: This week during reading, we practiced rereading when you get stuck. We practiced going back to the part of the story we were familiar with and then reading from there. We also matched pictures to words. The Kinders did a great job looking at pictures with strong feelings and matching up words to the feelings. 

MATH: During math this week, we practiced adding numbers starting with the number 5. We used pennies to show the numbers and learned about using an addition sign. We also practiced telling and drawing addition and subtraction stories using white boards. 

WRITING: This week during writing, we wrote about our homes. We wrote three pages…one about where we sleep, one about where we eat and one about where we play. The Kinders did a great job drawing pictures, labeling (stretching out more and more words) and writing a sentence on each page. 

LITERACY: During our literacy time this week, we practiced learning the difference between b and d. We used objects that start with those letters and practiced writing b and d. We practiced our popcorn words and learned about stretching out words using Elkonin boxes. We also practiced a shared reading poem, looking for our popcorn words in the poem. 

BUS SAFETY: This week we had two Hudsonville bus drivers come to our school to teach all of the kindergarten classes about bus safety. We learned that you need to hold the handles to enter and exit the bus, you need to sit bottom-to-bottom and back-to-back on the bus and you need to wait to see a green sign from the bus driver and the bus driver’s eyes before crossing the street. We also learned it is very important not to yell and to sit down while riding on the bus. We even got to take a ride on the bus and got a glow-in-the-dark sticker! 

 

COLORS OF THE WEEK…BLACK AND WHITE: Our colors this week were black and white. We had fun reading Harry the Dirty Dog books. Harry brought us on many fun adventures this week with his stories! We learned about things that are black and white and ended the week making a black and white craft, our own Harry the Dirty Dog! 

GVSU BASEBALL PLAYER AND MATH GAMES: On Friday, we were lucky enough to have some new GVSU baseball players and their coach join us again for math games. We had fun playing Fall themed math games! We put pumpkins in number order, measured how many pumpkins tall some objects were, counted dots and matched them up to the right number, color and shape bingo, then we colored things that are normally black and white. 

UPCOMING DATES:

Monday, October 21: STEAM; Library – remember to return your library books!

Tuesday, October 22: Music

Wednesday, October 23: Gym

Thursday, October 24: Art

Friday, October 25: STEAM; Wear orange!

Tuesday, October 29: Picture Retake Day; Turkey Trot Race

Thursday, October 31: Fall Party 2:00-3:00; Thank you to all of the parents who are sending in supplies, volunteering at the party and our party coordinators!

November 18 and November 20: Parent Teacher conferences