K-C News
November 4 2016
What you really need to know
Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight and take an extra hour to chill tomorrow!
Our October festivities were so much fun! Thanks to our many parent volunteers for helping with the spooky crafts to celebrate the season.
Thanks to all for participating in our Math backpack program and for returning materials on time each Friday! Mrs. McKenna and I have enjoyed reading your feedback in the math journal and hope you are enjoying learning some math games with your children. Please don't feel obligated to complete all activities in the backpack. Activities should be based on your child's interest and preference.
Thanks to Emmet's mom, Debbie, who came in to read the book I Just Forgot, by Mercer Mayer and to Ezra's mom, Hannah who shared Benjamin's 365 Birthdays by Ron and Judy Barrett, both extolling the virtues of creative problem solving.
Our Scholastic Book Orders are ONLINE ONLY this month!! As in, our flyers never arrived so we have no choice but to go green. Which is good, right? Here's the November Kindergarten Flyer
Please go to https://clubs.scholastic.com and order by Friday, November 11. use our class activation code HVXFH if this is your first order. Go to the ALL FLYERS tab and choose any grade level to browse November selections.
On The Horizon.
Election Day - No School for students (Professional Day)
Tuesday, 11/8
No AM Kindergarten/PM KASE in session - K conferences by appointment
Thursday, 11/10
Veteran's Day - No School
Friday, 11/11
Early Release for Thanksgiving Break at 12:15
Wednesday, 11/23
Thanksgiving - No School
Thursday-Friday, 11/24-25
No AM Kindergarten/PM KASE in session - K conferences by appointment
Thursday, 12/8
Delayed Opening (Professional Development)/No AM Kindergarten
Wednesday, December 14
Winter Break - No School
Saturday, December 24- Monday, January 2
School Resumes in 2017
Tuesday, January 3
What we've been up to.
- Eliot's Understanding our Different Abilities parent-teachers visited kindergarten to share the story, Don't Call me Different, explaining that everyone likes to have to opportunity to participate and make their own choices. We learned that we don't all do things the same way and that's GOOD! They also gifted a variety of unique flowers to the students to demonstrate that, though they weren't all alike, they still had some traits in common, and everyone was happy to have one :)
- Mrs. Martell came to our classroom with the iPad cart! We all got to use our own iPads to practice writing letters and numbers.
- In science we took apart two different pumpkins to compare how many seeds were inside of each. Then we observed what happens to pumpkins over the course of a week when you cut them open and leave them in a warm classroom. Two clues: fuzzy and squishy.
- We didn't vote for president (we didn't actually seem to know who the current president is), but we did fill out ballots to vote for our favorite specials with our 3rd grade buddies. Music and PE tied for first place.
- We are learning more reading strategies! Our morning message has become even trickier as Mrs. Cohen has sneakily printed each part of the message on a separate sentence strip and put them in the wrong order. The students have to figure out where to put the heading, closing, and body so that the message makes sense. We are learning to look for upper case letters, punctuation marks and familiar sight words as clues.
- In math, we are just about to wrap up unit 1. We have practiced writing 9 and 10 and are learning that number groups can be composed in many different ways, laying the groundwork for addition and subtraction. We also learned to play the pumpkin smash strategy game.
- We learned a bit about Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights, and attended our first morning assembly to enjoy Indian Dance and traditional storytelling.
Links of the week.
We enjoyed reading and retelling the story of The Little Old Lady...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRDFgSZKkjg
practice matching upper case and lower case letters or letters to sounds.
http://www.abcya.com/letter_match_uppercase_lowercase.htm
CHALLENGE:
Practice blending sounds to make a three letter word.
The things kids say. For real.
Student: Hilary Clinton.
(Editor's Note: We are a nonpartisan, equal opportunity classroom)
Mrs. Cohen: No, Right now someone else has the job. His name starts with a B.
Students: ***crickets chirping**
Mrs. Cohen: Barack...
Mrs. Cohen: .... O....... BA.....
Mrs. Cohen: Barack Obama. His name is Barack Obama.
This is why you have to be 18 to vote, I guess.