K-C News
October 21, 2016
What you really need to know
In the spirit of the season, children are invited to bring/wear costumes to school on Monday, October 31. This is entirely optional and just for fun.
Here's the down-low if your child chooses to dress up:
- Children must bring or wear regular street clothes and shoes so they can remove their costume before recess at the end of our morning. You decide if your child will wear a costume and bring clothes or wear clothes and bring a costume.
- NO WEAPONS! That includes swords, pirate hooks, light sabers and ninja stars.
- Small or valuable accessories (badges, gloves, jewelry, etc.) are better left at home so they are not misplaced or left behind at school.
Our room parents, Amy Mercer and Andrea Cunningham, have also planned some crafts activities for the children to enjoy. If you would like to volunteer to supervise a craft from 9-10:00AM on the 31st, please look for a signup notification from Bloomz which should arrive in your inbox shortly.
Eliot teachers and staff have been undergoing ALICE training to consider and practice responses to possible crisis situations. Please consider attending a parent forum with Mr. MacNeal on Wednesday, Oct. 26 from 7-8:00 in the performance center to ask questions and learn more about the protocol.
Mrs. McKenna, our math specialist, has introduced our TAKE HOME MATH BACKPACKS!! The backpacks are filled with tons of fun activities, with all instructions and materials included. When it is your child's turn, they will get the backpack on a Friday and need to return it by the following Friday. Please make sure to check that all contents are returned in the backpack (there is an inventory list) and share feedback on your favorite activities in the journal provided.
Thanks to Jake's mom, Colin's dad, and Ellie's mom who were our Mystery Readers. Jen read The Book Without Pictures, Terry read A Visitor for Bear and Heidi shared her own childhood favorite, Clotilda, The first was just plain comic relief and the latter two taught themes about changing others' perspectives with cheerful persistence and and optimistic attitude. All useful reminders during election season, in my opinion.
Happy birthday to Emmett who is 6 years old!!
On The Horizon.
ALICE protocol Q&A with Mr. MacNeal
Wednesday, 10/26 at 7:00PM in the performance center
No AM Kindergarten & No PM KASE - K conferences by appointment
Wednesday, 10/26
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
What we've been up to.
- We are experts at color words and have created and read emergent reader books of our own that include lots of color words.
- In science we wend on a nature color walk and have taken a close look at leaves and trees. We learned about the parts of a tree and even talked about chlorophyll and how leaves change color. We made some great tree collage art and also drew very realistic leaf observations.
- Our recent survey revealed our preferences for the BEST season of the year. Surprisingly, our student results were very different when we asked the same survey question for two consecutive days. Not surprisingly, teachers and visiting administrators voted for summer both times.
- We are learning reading strategies! Our question of the day has lately focused on writing the initial sound given a picture cue. We are also learning to recognize sight words like nobody's business and have discussed the importance of using illustrations to understand and retell stories. We recently learned the all-important skill of pointing to each word, one at a time, as we read simple sentences.
- In math, we practiced writing 7 and 8, which are both very tricky to learn, but we are, of course, up to the challenge.
- We read lots of great books including The Carrot Seed, Goodnight Gorilla, a poetry book called Red Sings From the Treetops and we learned to read the traditional rhyme Five Little Pumpkins.
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!
The things kids say. For real.
Mrs. Cohen: Yes, we'll talk about it next week.
Student: But when can we wear them?
Mrs. Cohen: Ummmm. On Halloween.