Happy Thanksgiving!

We are not entirely certain where November has gone, and how it could possibly be Thanksgiving, but when we take these opportunities to reflect we see just how much we have accomplished!

We sure enjoyed making our Thanksgiving cards in Mandarin and have even taken virtual field trips to Plymouth, Massachusetts to learn about the journey the Pilgrims embarked on coming to this new land.  If you would like to take a virtual trip to Massachusetts with your family just click on the link below:

Thanksgiving Virtual Field Trip

Our study of homes and journeys has lead us to learn so much about the shelters the Pilgrims needed and how they constructed them with such little resources.

 
To help us with our inquiry on how/why homes and shelters are created Mr. Taylor came to share his journeys with us as a soldier with the Air National Guard.  We learned so much about the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and the work that is being done on the East Coast and elsewhere around the world.  The shelters they have constructed are fascinating!  Thanks for coming Mr. Taylor!

Reading/Writing

We have really taken off with our reading!  Knowing that we CAN read is a wonderful thing. We read stories as classes and in our small groups.  We work on sounding out words, fluency with our sight words and of course using clues to figure out unfamiliar words.

As our reading skills are growing so are our writing.  Using our sounds to build words is so powerful!  

 As authors and illustrators we are able to communicate an entire story, with a beginning, middle and ending.  Can you believe it?! We have been in school 62 days and have grown in so very many ways.  The best part about writing our books is of course sharing them with others in the classroom.  

Celia is reading her story New Fish to the class.

Math

In Math we are deep thinkers and figuring out all kids of ways to solve problems.  It is good to know that often there are many ways to arrive at an answer.









Thank you Mystery Readers!  You are such a gift to our students and school.  Thank you for taking the time to share a story (or two) with us.


Things to Remember:

**Home Exhibition Projects are due on Thursday, November, 29.  The Exhibition will take place on 11/30 in the 1st floor lobby.  Since there are 80 Kindergarten students, please remember that we are asking that the house not be any bigger than a shoe or cereal box.  We are very excited to share these with our school and community.  We have such creative Explorers!

**Hope Totes for The City Mission- Each Kindergarten class has been assigned a different item needed to fill a tote.  *We have set a goal to fill 28 totes.  Please send donations with your child on Friday, November 30.  We are anxious to see just how many totes we can fill.  

Reminder-

Mrs. Humphrey's class: bar soap

Mrs. Snyder's class: toothpaste

Mrs. Taylor's class: toothbrush

Mrs. Wightman's class: shampoo

**Ms. Lipka is asking that everyone save lids for her.  All sizes!  Just send them into your son/daughter's class and we will be certain to get them to her.  

Thank you for all you do each and every day!  

Where We Are in Place and Time

To kick off our new unit, students reflected on what they felt a
home was and what a journey might be.  

Need and Wants Pre-Assessment-Studnts were asked to order the objects
as to what they needed most to survive.  So fun to hear the
Explorers explain their reasoning for the order they chose!

We have begun our second Unit of Inquiry, Where We are in Place and Time.  It is an inquiry into homes and journeys.  In this IB unit we will discuss homes, shelters, journeys and transportation.  We will explore how the environment impacts the type of shelter we live in as well as the materials needed to build a home.  Through this unit of study, our Explorers will begin to understand the items they "need" to survive and what items are "wants."  Studying the effects of Hurricane Sandy has opened our eyes tremendously about what we, and others, really need to survive. 

 Here the students had to sort a variety of items as they helped, Ms. Vogias "pack" for a trip.  They had to work in teams and think critically about what she needed to bring as space was limited.  Oh the discussions that were propelled from this activity were fantastic!

After reading about houses and homes across the world, two Expolers designed a house with stilts and had scissions on how it could live in an environment with water.  Such Thinkers!



We took part in our own elections as we geared up for the nation's elections.  It was a lot of fun to vote as classes and compare our results with other grades and classrooms throughout the school.

Reflecting and Communicating are important aspects of the Learner Profile.  As the Explorers journal and work in their Problem Solving Notebooks, sharing is so very important.  

Word families are so much fun!  

In math we are working hard on the concept "How many more," as well and the cardinality of numbers 11-20.  

Here two students are playing Get the Moon math game and working on "How many more."


Thank you to our Mystery Readers!  We love, love, love having you come.  

Things to Remember:
November 16-Mr. Taylor will be coming to discuss the National Guard's efforts to help others after Hurricane Sandy
November 21-23-Thanksgiving Vacation
November 29-Home Projects are due (information was given at conferences)
November 30-Home Exhibition

Fall is in Full Swing

 Mrs. Snyder's and Mrs. Wightman's classes began the week with spending a perfect day at the zoo.  Wow..did they luck out with the weather!  

Apple Investigation

 We spent all week breaking down our 8 Key Concepts (5 are listed to the left) as we took a good look at apples.  We are absolutely amazed at how our students are able to make sense of these "Fancy Nancy" words, and apply them to all aspects of our learning.

Perspective and Change provided very yummy learning experiences! Perspective was represented in a graph as we taste tested various apples.  We were surprised by our results! 

After following the life cycle of an apple seed as we introduced Change, and reading many books on apples, we thought it would be fun to make applesauce.  It was so yummy! Change happens in lots of ways.  

Writing

The power of the mighty pencil!  Putting our voice on paper is a big step as we learn many ways to express ourselves. 

Here our students are responding to literature (The Scarecrow's Hat):

 Take a look at the amazing progression of writing our Kindergarteners will make:

An Explorer created this word and surprised us all!  We love to write in all ways!

Thank you to our Mystery Readers this week!

So Caring!

I was so glad to be be able to capture this moment on film!  Our Explorers are so very Caring. They are always looking out for one another.  Here a student noticed another child did not have their coat zipped and didn't want him to be cold, so without being asked, put his things down and started zipping! 

Things to Remember:

*Fall Festival is today from 2:00-4:00.  See you there!

*Book Character/Learner Profile Attribute Parade on Wednesday.  This will be in the afternoon (depending on the weather we may keep it right at our school).  Please send the costume and book with your child on that day.  

*Field Trip to Playhouse Square on Thursday for the entire school to see Snowflake (Hopefully, that is the only snow we will see this week).

Pumpkins, Mystery Readers, Mice and So Much More...

We have only been in school 44 days (yep, that's it-4 tens and 4 ones! We can't believe it either.) and look at all your children are already doing.  Even as teaches we are amazed constantly at the growth our Explorers are showing every single day. 

Let's begin with our Pumpkin Investigation that has been ongoing for roughly two weeks now. *This is a fun project at home too.  We examined a pie pumpkin and then cut the top off and then observed the inside.  We noticed a ton of seeds.  We wondered if we added soil what would happen. 

We added a little water, put it in the window and waited...and waited.

About a week later we noticed a couple of sprouts.

This is what we saw the VERY next day!

 Recording our observations is just what a scientist does:

Will a Pumpkin Sink or Float?
We decided to take it a step further and try to figure out if a pumpkin sinks or floats.

Most of us thought the pumpkin would sink.  It felt very heavy!  Although some thought it would float, because they could hold it in one hand (that opened up a huge conversation with lots of other materials being tested as well-so fun!).  Take a look at our findings:

Unit of Inquiry

 In our Unit of Inquiry of Who We Are, we spent this week completing our final project.  The students completed a folder book about themselves through our Key Concepts Form, Connection and Perspective.  The results were absolutely amazing!  To top it off, we had a tour come through yesterday, during our completion, and the visitors had the opportunity to converse with our Knowledgeable Explorers on the topic. Effortlessly the students explained what they were doing, using the terminology and were able to provide examples.  REMARKABLE!
During our student led conferences, you will have the pleasure of seeing and hearing about your child's project first hand!

Mystery Readers

We have had so much fun with our Mystery Readers.  Guessing who it might be is so exciting!  We sure have to be Thinkers as we listen to the clues.  
*If you have not signed up for a date, and would like to, please send a note to your child's teacher. We would love to have you!

Reading and Writing

Understanding that we are readers is truly exciting.  Often when we ask an Explorer, how they might know what a word is, they may resound, "My brian just told me."  Their daily practice of poems, read alouds, shared reading, phonics and their independent reading is all coming together to make this smooth transition.  Thank you for all you do at home.  Together our Readers are doing amazing things!

As you read with your child at home, please take time to discuss the story elements too.  Being able to identify the characters, setting, problem/solution or simply the beginning, middle and end helps make deeper connections to the story.

Take a look at this wonderful journal entry:

 We continue to work on adding details, spacing, making our writing match our pictures, sounding out words and using our sight words to help convey our thoughts.  We have connected that being able to read well, sure helps us write well too.

Math

After reading Mouse count, we did a little investigating.  We wondered how may ways we could arrange 10 mice while putting some in the jar and some in the grass.  We created MANY combinations.  Understanding the concepts of numbers is extremely important.  Knowing there are many ways to create a number lays a solid foundation for addition and subtraction down the road.  

 As we have ventured into graphing, we have fun analyzing the results:  
-Which has the most/least?
-How many more/less does __ have?
-What do the results mean to us? 
-What if we made a change?  How does that effect our information?

Things to Remember:

1-Mrs. Snyder's and Mrs. Wightman's classes are headed to the zoo on Monday.  Bag lunches have been ordered already, no need to send in a lunch.
2-The Book Fair begins on Wednesday and will be open on the day of the Fall Festival (10/27).
3-Our Learner Profile Book Character Parade is on 10/31.  We will parade to Julka Hall.  
Here are some examples:

*Our creative Explorers should be able to share what Learner Profile their character represents and why.  

4-Student Led Conferences begin on Nov. 6.  Look for the confirmation letter in your child's folder.