Good Morning!

We are having such a good time delving into our Unit of Inquiry.  We are continuing to look at our similarities.  This week we are writing a Who I am book and we created our own Me Puppets. 

As we look into our similarities and differences, we are looking into the various cultures around.  Learning about different cultures, helps us to reflect upon our own.  On Friday, we enjoyed turning our cafeteria into a Chinese restaurant.  We used chopsticks, sipped green tea and enjoyed some Chinese cuisine.

Please continue to practice the sight words, letters, sounds, blending and numbers 1-50. 

Picture Day

Mark your calendars...November 30, 2010 is PICTURE DAY!


We are sending home our Picture Day packet today.  Please fill it out and return it to school on Tuesday, November 30, 2010.

Conferences, Harvest, Mooncakes...oh my!

We must first begin by saying a giant THANK YOU to all of our amazing families for attending our conferences.  We had 100% of our families come and that is outstanding!  The children were thrilled to share their information with you, and we were thrilled to have an opportunity to visit with everyone. 

During the conferences, we introduced the First in Math program to everyone.   We check the students’ progress every day and are so excited be able to celebrate their accomplishments.  Keep up the great work.

Here is the First in Math link in case you need it:

http://www.firstinmath.com

We are sure enjoying our first Unit of Inquiry (Who We Are).  We have begun to take a close look at what makes each of us special and unique.  It is so interesting to hear the children realize and verbalize their unique qualities.  With Thanksgiving upon us, one aspect we have touched upon is our family traditions.  Please continue to discuss your family traditions at home.  The children were very interested to learn that what they may do/eat to celebrate is not what everyone else may do.  J

 Mooncakes

As we have been reading about Thanksgiving and looking more closely into the origin, we discovered that China celebrates their harvest with a Moon Festival in mid-autumn. Although that time has passed, Mrs. Snyder’s class wanted to obtain the traditional Mooncakes to sample at school.  Koko’s Bakery (Payne Ave) had a few boxes left and the class was able to enjoy a small sample on Friday.  What fun!! 

Remember there is no school on November 24-26.  Have a wonderful vacation!

Who Am I?

This week we discovered our first Transdisciplinary Theme-Who We Are.  It was a great deal of fun to see all the pictures that were sent in.  Thank you!  What was even more fun was uncovering all our similarities.  

We have three questions that are driving our theme:

1-    What makes us unique and different?

2-   What can I learn from my friends about the world?

3-   What are my strengths and how do they allow me to lead, or help, others?

We have begun our work by introducing our Know It Notebooks.  These notebooks are reflection pieces that allow the students to share what they know.  They also encourage critical thinking surrounding the question, “How do I know what I know?”  This can be a tough concept.  We would love it if you would encourage this at home through your family conversations. 

This week we also started our All About Me books.  Students are looking critically about themselves and at what makes them so unique and wonderful.  Observing, describing, reflecting and sharing are such empowering skills! J 

CONFERENCE DAY

Conference Day is scheduled for Wednesday.  Our conferences will be student led and will provide another opportunity for you to celebrate with your child.  Thank you for returning the letter with your available times.  Look for a letter on Monday that shares your scheduled time.

KINDERGARTEN WAIVER DAY

No school for Kindergarten (ONLY) on Friday, November 12, 2010.

Applesauce Artifacts

During a conversation filled snack time last week, Mrs. Snyder's group decided they should make applesauce.  What a fun lesson!  

One More Request...

I promise this is it for (today)!

Is there anyone that would be willing to create a set or two of these flashcards for our class?http://www.oneshetwoshe.com/2010/09/leap-frog-letter-factory-flashcards-she.html

Letter Factory is a wonderful resource for our students who need reinforcement with their letters and corresponding sounds.   The flashcards on the site are beautifully done and would be a wonderful resource for our class.

Thank you!

Taking down the October calendar was a hard thing to do yesterday.   This action sparked a great conversation about how quickly time passes with the children. J

This week, we spent a great deal of time beginning our sorting unit.  We used the book Sort it Out by Barbara Mariconda as the base for this unit.  In the book Packy the Packrat sorts his “collection” in a variety of ways.  The children brought up the idea of sorting their candy this weekend.  We agreed this was a great idea.  We will discuss the ways they sorted on Monday.  *If your child does not trick-or-treat, please  encourage another sorting activity in its place (socks, groceries,…).

Our Book Character Parade to CSU was a fantastic success!  The costumes and book connections were OUTSTANDING.  It was also wonderful that the children truly had reflected on which Learner Profile their character best represented and could verbalize this to the group.  This is a great task for our kindergarteners and your involvement is greatly appreciated!

Next week we are beginning our first International Baccalaureate Unit of Inquiry-Who We Are. 

Central Idea: Children can develop an understanding of the uniqueness of others by learning about themselves.

We are absolutely thrilled to begin!  To make this unit of inquiry a huge success, we will be requesting your help.  The link between family, community and school will make it even more special J. 

We will be sending home a letter this week requesting a few items, but here is a preview if you would like to plan ahead J:

1.     Baby picture of your child

2.   Current picture of your child

3.   Family picture

4.   1 CLEAR., clean 2 liter soda bottle

**If you have digital copies of your pictures and would prefer to email them to your child’s teacher, please let us know.  We will be doing activities with these photos, so please do not send in the original.

Other items we need in our classroom are listed below.  If you have any of these items around your home and would be willing to donate them to our kindergarten floor, we would GREATLY appreciate it!! J

1.     Walkmans (these are hard to come by these days, but make for great individual listening centers)

2.   Alphabet beads

3.   Buttons, beads

4.   Popcorn kernels

5.   Sand

6.   Plants

7.   Aquarium (we will be observing animals and creating a composting area)

8.   Baby Soda bottles (http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/product/test-tubes)  *These are what a 2 liter is before they have air added. They make fantastic, safe test tubes.  We’d like to make I Spy sight word tubes, name tubes, etc. with them.

Remember-No School Tuesday (Election Day)

Thinker

(to the tune of “Clementine”)

I'm a thinker, I'm a thinker

I can think creatively,

Solve a problem, make decisions,

I can think of different things.

I’m a thinker, I’m a thinker

I can think all by myself.

I can think and choose an action

Choose an action that will help.

It is so hard to believe that the end of October is upon us!  The weather certainly has made exploring our season enjoyable.

Thinker was our Learner Profile for this week, and we will be stretching our thinking for certain this week as our Explorers choose a storybook character to dress-up as on Friday.  We have had quite a few conversations about ideas and the excitement is overwhelming!  Matching the character chosen to one of our Learner Profiles is taking the experience to an IB level J.  Friday is going to be so much fun! 

Check the Campus Communicator that was sent home 10/22/10 if you need more information about Friday’s activities.

Our pattern unit has been so much fun.  Our Explorers are finding patterns in so many things.  They certainly are fabulous observers. 

Becoming authors and illustrators has really excited our students.  In addition to Writer's Workshop in school, many are writing books at home and bringing them in to share with the class.  The retellings are absolutely awesome!  We plan to capture these on video to keep in your child’s portfolio.  Priceless memories J!

Please continue to review the following basics at home:

Ø   Letter names/sounds

Ø Letter formation

Ø Numbers 1-20  

Ø Address

Ø Phone number(s)

Ø Sight words