Photo of our Feast

What a fun week we had last week!
I've got lots of great pictures to prove it, but here's a group photo of the 'Little Pilgrims' @ our Feast!
Thanks to all of the moms, dads, and grandmas who came in to help out!
Also, thank you for sending in all of the food and supplies!

Newsletter Updates for the Week of November 30th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, December 17th—Christmas Party (pm)

-Friday, December 18th—Pajama Day for Kindergartners, Sing-a-long, & Movie

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE:

I know many of you are beginning your Christmas shopping. For our class Christmas party, we are planning to have a gift exchange. We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.50-$4.00 and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM (To: a girl  From: Mrs. Brinks).  Our party will be held Thursday, December 17th in the afternoon.

BRRR: 

I’ve been very impressed with how quickly and independently the students have been getting dressed and undressed @ recess—Way to Go!  Please be sure to label all items, as we have several duplicates of mittens and boots:)  Also, please remember to pack shoes for the classroom; I don’t let the students wear their boots in the classroom because we spend a lot of time sitting on the floor and we try to keep it clean and dry:)

READING: 

This week our class will be reading stories about sounds we hear in our neighborhoods and communities. Your child will experiment with ways to make sounds.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—listen & volume - Go outside together and invite your child to listen to the sounds in your neighborhood. Talk about what makes the sound. Describe the volume of the sound.

· High-Frequency Words—and & but—Write the words and & but, then have your child trace them. Have your child search for them and circle their sightwords in the newspaper.

· Category Words—sound words—Sit outside together and listen for different sounds. Ask your child to identify what is making the sound. Have your child describe the sound.

· Phonics—Nn—Search for objects that begin or end with the letter n, such as nails and pan. Write the words on sticky notes and have your child put the notes on each object.

WRITING: 

This week we will edit our November Journals and bring them home to share. We will begin our December Journals by writing about our families. We will also begin a new unit for Writing that teaches us how to write pattern books; we will begin by writing about things we see.

MATH: 

This week we will play several games that involve ordering numbers.  We will also learn a new game called ‘Monster Squeeze’ which involves identifying a mystery number on a number line.  This is a game that students can also play on their ipads and is always a favorite!  The students will be bringing home their ‘Countdown to Christmas’ Chains to hang up at home and help them keep track of how many days until Christmas:)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will be reading several books about families, since the Holidays are all about spending time with our families and caring for each other.  We will also begin our Science Unit on the 5 Senses. We will be reading several books about the senses of sight and hearing this week, as there are a lot of neat things to see and hear at Christmas time!

 Remember to return your

November Book-it Calendar!

Newsletter Updates for the Week of November 23rd

CONFERENCES:
Thanks so much for taking the time to come in and meet for Parent Teacher Conferences.  It was a lot to cover in a short amount of time, so I appreciate your patience.  Please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions or concerns.  I firmly believe that parents and teachers working together is what students need in order to reach their maximum learning potential!

WINTER DRESS:
Winter is knocking and will soon be here to stay! Please be sure to send your child with everything they need to stay warm and dry outside - snow pants, boots, hat, coat, mittens & gloves.  Also, please be sure to label ALL of their winter clothing with their name as we always have students with the same items.  An extra pair of mittens or gloves in their backpack is recommended, but I do try to dry their mittens and gloves on the heater between recesses.

THANKSGIVING ACTIVITIES:
This will be a busy week of learning and fun!  Monday we will rotate through all of the Kindergarten classes to complete several fun activities - we will be making cornbread and homemade butter for our feast and 'trading' in order to get all of the items we need for our soup.  Please be sure to bring in your items for our soup by Monday - potatoes, cabbage, & barley.  Tuesday we will be cutting up our vegetables for our soup and on Wednesday afternoon we will feast on Friendship Soup, cornbread, and homemade butter.  Mr. Brimmer will also be joining us for our feast:)

Below are the sign-up as a reminder:)

Wednesday's Lunch

Just wanted to let you know that this Wednesday, November 18th the kitchen will be serving Thanksgiving Dinner with the trimmings for lunch. :)

Newsletter Updates for the Week of November 16th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, November 19th—No School

                    Parent Teacher Conferences 1:00-8:00

                    Book Fair Open—1:00-6:00

-Mon., Nov. 23rd—K. Thanksgiving Activities—am

-Tues., Nov. 24th—Making Friendship Soup—am

-Wednesday, November 25th—The Feast—pm

-Thursday, November 26th—Thanksgiving Break

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Tristin Quist.  Tristin enjoys painting, coloring, & fishing.  His favorite book is Rocks and he is in good company with Mrs. Brinks as he likes things clean and organized :) Congratulations to Tristin on being Student of the Week!

CONFERENCES: 

I am looking forward to meeting with you this Thursday for Parent Teacher Conferences.  I’ll be going over your child’s assessment results—Dibels, Aimsweb, NWEA, and Report Cards as well as sharing with you some of their writing samples.  Together we’ll come up with a plan to help them build upon their learning in Kindergarten, as we have a lot to learn this year.

FRIENDSHIP SOUP:  

In celebration of Friendship and Thanksgiving, we will be making and sharing Friendship Soup together next week.  As in the story of Stone Soup, everyone will bring in an item to contribute to our soup and then work together to create a delicious meal.  Attached you will find a slip with the ingredient that we would like your child to bring in.  On Monday, we will be trading amongst the Kindergarten classes to obtain all of the ingredients we need for our soup. We will peel and cup up all of the vegetables on Tuesday and then eat our soup on Wednesday.

READING: 

This week our class will be focusing on the rules they follow at home and in school. Children also will be reading stories about the laws people follow in their neighborhoods and communities.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—cooperate, rules—Make a chart of the rules your child follows. Encourage your child to think about the ways we cooperate, or work together with others.

· High-Frequency Word—to & it— Fill a small pan with shaving cream. Have your child write the words in the shaving cream each time you use the words in a sentence.

· Category Words—action words—Encourage your child to think of laws and rules to follow at home, at school, and in the community.

· Phonics—Ii—Help your child think of words that include the letter i, such as ink, pin, inch, if, sit, hid, and in. Write the words on paper. Then ask your child to underline the letter i in each word.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will introduce Chunky Monkey—he helps us read and write by identifying ‘chunks’ or ‘word families’ that we know within words. We will be using Chunky Monkey to read and write words with the chunks—it, ip, in, & ig.

WRITING: 

This week we will complete a couple of journal pages—one about where a turkey would hide and another one about the Pilgrims.  We will also be building a Sentence Buddy to help us with writing sentences.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will read several informational texts related to the Pilgrims and learn how they endured many hardships. We will also compare and contrast their lifestyles then to our lifestyle now.  We will continue to discuss wants, needs, and fair trades as we prepare to make fair trades for our friendship soup ingredients next Monday.

MATH:  

This week we will continue to practice identifying and writing numbers.  We will also work with partners to find different ways to represent numbers—drawings, fingers, numerals, ten frames, etc.

Book Fair Reminder

Just a reminder that we will be going back to the Book Fair to purchase books tomorrow.  If you would like your child to purchase any materials please be sure to send back the bottom portion of their wish list, along with payment + tax.  Please make checks to McBain Schools.  The Book Fair will also be open at Parent Teacher Conference this Thursday, November 19th from 1:00-6:00.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of November 9th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Tuesday, November 10th—Title 1 Family Night

-November 11th @ 1:50—Browse the Book Fair   

-Friday, November 13th—Report Cards Home

-Monday, November 16th—Delayed Start

             -Go back to purchase @ the Book Fair

-Thursday, November 19th—No School

       Parent Teacher Conferences 1:00-8:00

       Book Fair Open—1:00-6:00

-Mon., Nov. 23rd—K. Thanksgiving Activities—am

-Tues., Nov. 24th—Making Friendship Soup—am

-Wednesday, November 25th—The Feast—pm

-Thursday, November 26th—Thanksgiving Break

FAMILY NIGHT:  

If you sent in your RSVP, just a reminder that our annual Title 1 Family Night will be this Tuesday, Nov 10th; dinner is from 5:00-6:00 and activities are from 5:30-7:00.

CONFERENCES:

You should have received a yellow notice regarding your child’s parent teacher conference next Thursday, November 19th.  This is an important opportunity for us to meet together and discuss your child’s progress so far in Kindergarten and to look ahead towards their continued growth and learning.  Please be sure to send back the bottom portion so I can make any necessary changes to the schedule:) 

READING: 

This week our class will focus on different kinds of bugs and how they move. Children will also be reading about a variety of bugs they see in nature, including bees, ants, and butterflies.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—curious, observe—Go outside and have your child observe different bugs. Have your child draw a picture of the bugs in a notebook and then label each one.

· High-Frequency Words—the, we, see, a, like—Write each word on paper, then have your child write it. Ask your child to try to find each word in a book.

· Category Words—movement words—Say simple riddles that describe the different movements made by animals or insects. Have your child guess the animal or insect.

· Phonics—m, a, s, p, t - Draw a five-column table on a piece of paper. Write the following letters at the top of each column: m, a, s, p, t. Guide your child in thinking of words that begin with each letter. Record the words under the corresponding columns

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will introduce Iggy the Inferring Iguana who reminds us to make predictions and inferences as we read and then validate and adjust our predictions as we continue to read.  We will also introduce Pop the Weasel who reminds us to look for sightwords while we are reading: these are the words we know—they POP into our heads, and out of our mouths!

WRITING: 

Last week was a beautiful week to take a nature walk! We’ve sketched, labeled, and written about our nature items; this week we will finish our books by adding a ‘Wow cover.’  We will complete a couple of journals—one about something we want and something we would be willing to trade for it, and another journal about a ‘safety tip.’

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on shapes and writing numbers correctly.  We will also practice measuring length and follow directions using positional words (on top, below, between, beside, etc.)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:  

This week we will read books about America and Patriotism in observance of Veteran’s Day. We will also begin our Social Studies Unit on Market Economy as we learn about wants, needs, and making a fair trade. We will read the story of Stone Soup to reinforce these concepts and to help us prepare for our upcoming Friendship Soup project. With the opening day of deer season right around the corner, we will be talking about Gun Safety. We will meet Eddie Eagle who teaches children what to do if they ever find a gun lying around: Stop, Don’t Touch, Leave the Area, Tell an Adult!