K-C News
October 27, 2017
What you really need to know
If your child missed picture day in September or you would like a retake, you second chance for a school photo is this Monday, October 30!
Please remember our special event this
TUESDAY, 10/31
KINDERGARTEN PAJAMA DAY!
No slippers please :)
Thanks so much for your support in having your children choose and present items for their special sharing day. We have had 100% participation so far! I hope your children are enjoying hosting our little chats about their special memories at school. So, Just to review:
You should have received a "sharing calendar" for October and November sharing dates. We will rotate through the months so each child gets one sharing day every 4-5 weeks to bring in a special item or story to share with the class. This is on a voluntary basis, no make-up dates. please!
Look for November book order flyers to come home in your child's backpack on Monday!
Thank you to Amy Chee and Deborah Nicholson for coming in to be our Mystery Readers! Deborah shared I Like Slop! and Amy read Hugless Douglas.
ALICE drills coming up this week
Officer O'Leary, from the Needham police department, visited with the kindergarten students this week to introduce our ALICE protocol. ALICE is our planned response in the very unlikely event there is ever an intruder in the building. The kindergarten plan is to high-tail it out of the building ASAP. We are fortunate to have two easy access exits from our classroom so we can evacuate safely and easily in a matter of seconds. This upcoming week the whole school will practice their ALICE response (ours will be evacuation) two times, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Students in PM KASE will practice the same response they have already learned in morning kindergarten.
At this age, less is definitely more when discussing this topic with children. When I speak with the children about potential crises I emphasize that they are so unlikely to happen, but we are able to stay safe under any circumstances by practicing a calm and organized response. I never offer scary scenarios or details, but instead, emphasize preparation and practice and empowerment to always be in or move to a safe space. The most important takeaway for them is that their teachers have everything under control and will take good care of them. We already practiced our own mini-evacuation drill and we learned to:
STOP
LISTEN
FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS
Coming Attractions
School Portrait retake day
October 30
Kindergarten Pajama Day
October 31
No AM Kindergarten/PM KASE in session (AM Conferences)
November 8
November Book orders due
No School, Veterans Day (observed)
November 10
No School, Professional Development
November 22
No School, Thanksgiving
November 23-24
No Morning Kindergarten (Delayed opening)
December 6
No Morning Kindergarten, Conferences
December 13
No School, December Break
December 23 - January 1 (school resumes January 2, 2018)
All in a days work...
- Our question of the day has focused on practicing printing beginning sounds from a picture cue and counting collections to record the correct number.
- We went outside on a Fall Leaf walk to find leaves of every color and recorded our findings. We are really, really good at reading color words now.
- Our fine motor skills have been challenged by mastering wiggle pens, snap cubes, tracing and cutting handprints to create fall trees and using push pins to trace fall designs. It's hard work in here, I tell you.
- We made and read our own books about fall colors, called (you guessed it) Fall Colors. We are learning reading strategies such as point to each word as you say it and look at the first letter to make the best guess about unknown words.
- We observed leaves very closely and did science drawings to show all the details and characteristics that make each leaf unique. We also learned to label the parts of a leaf.
- Our fall math and literacy assessments are done, so now we know where everyone is and where everyone needs to go next! We are learning every day.
Links of the week.
Choose your skills and Feed Freddy:
http://www.toytheater.com/feed-freddy.php
Learn about Tally charts and bar graphs with Moby
https://jr.brainpop.com/math/data/tallychartsandbargraphs/
Make your own jack o'lantern two ways!
http://www.abcya.com/make_a_pumpkin.htm
http://www.abcya.com/pumpkin_carving.htm
Spelling Challenge: spell 3 letter words to get the bus over the bridge!
(choose school bus spelling from the menu)
The things kids say. For real.
Mrs. Cohen: The teeny tiny woman went back to her teeny tiny house and put the bone in her teeny tiny cupboard. A cupboard is a cabinet with doors and shelves inside.
Student 1: A cabinet is where you keep your bones.