November 4-8

This week Thursday is the Veteran's Day program.  This is such an important event for our school!  Thank you for your support!

Important Dates and Reminders:
November 5: Picture Retake day-- send picture packages back to school with your child if you wish to have them retaken

November 7: Wear Red, White and Blue

November 27-29: NO SCHOOL

Math:Mathematicians will be introduced to the +1 pattern this week. Finding patterns in numbers is a foundational skill needed in mathematics. To study this pattern, students will use a counting mat to build numbers 1-10. We will discuss how to move from one number to the next and will write equations to  match.

1+1=2        2+1=3           3+1=4          4+1=5   and so on!

Reading:Last week, Reader Man left a note and special witch finger pointers for our readers! They have been working hard to amp up their pointer power. Readers will learn that every word, no matter how long, gets just one point! We will also use our snap words to make sure we are pointing correctly in our books. So far, the super readers have learned about four powers: pointer power, picture power, partner and sound power.

Writing:Students will learn to plan their story across pages, add more details in pictures and words, and add speech bubbles to their writing. At home, you could help your child generate ideas to write about! Practice telling the story orally and asking questions to add more details. Details to include in storytelling are: Who was there, where they were and what happened.

 This helps students to write more vivid stories. Oral storytelling is a key component in the writing process and will help students to get their ideas on to the page.

Researcher's Workshop:This week we continued our unit about animals and their survival needs. One lesson was called, “How can you find animals in the woods?” We learned how every animal has the need to seek safety. When we see animals in the wild, very often they are seeking safety. We will also read aloud a mystery with a book called, Who Lives in that Hole. In the book, Desiree notices all the holes in the trees around her house—and sets out to discover how they got there, and why they matter. Ask your child what happens in the book!

Weekly News October 28-November 1

This Friday will be ORANGE & BLACK day!  Student will also participate in a fall scoot.  They will rotate to three different classrooms and have fun dancing to fall songs, learning some cool science info about pumpkins and playing fall BINGO.  We will end the day with a special snack!

Important Dates and Reminders:

October 28-31 Red Ribbon Week (dress up days below)
10/28: Teaming Up Against Drugs is NO SWEAT! Wear Your Favorite Sweats and/or Team Apparel!
10/29: SOCK IT To Drugs! Wear Crazy Socks
10/30: RED DAY! Be United Against Drugs! Deck Yourself Out in Red Apparel
10/31: Wear Orange and Black
November 1: NO SCHOOL
November 5: Picture Retake day-- send picture packages back to school with your child if you wish to have them retaken
November 7:  Red, White and Blue Day-Veteran's Day Program 6:00 pm

November Lunch Menu

Math: This week our math focus will switch to story problems.  Mathematicians will learn that listening to and solving story problems is a lot like the writing process.  We will use the chart below to help us!!  We will also do lots of acting out to really see and understand what is happening in each problem we listen to.


Reading:This week is the beginning of our most EXCITING reading unit yet: Super Readers! Students will learn that readers are like super heroes because they can use super reader powers. After getting their very own book bins, they will learn about their super powers! For example, Super Readers can use pointer power to point at each word while reading a book.

Writing:This week we will be learning to write true stories! This means we will be taking an event from our lives, telling that story and then working to show it in pictures and words across three pages. We will practice this work as a class by writing a few class “true stories” together.  As true story writers we will need to do ALOT of story telling to help us say what happened first, next and last.  We will also use our writing folders to help us generate ideas for our true stories.  We will also work  on showing details in our drawings and will be pushing ourselves to write many letters in words we stretch out and use snap words to continue to write sentences.

Researcher's Workshop: Kindergartners will dig into a new unit exploring animals and their survival needs. Our first lesson was called, “Why does a woodpecker peck wood?” We will learn how every animal has the need to find food. When we see animals in the wild, very often they are looking for food. We will practice being different animals and learn about how they search for food,

Snap words:  The new snap words introduced this week will be: like, in, on, so

Weekly News October 21-25

Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who braved the elements to join us on our first field trip!  We packed a lot of learning into one afternoon and we couldn't have pulled it off without you!!

Important Dates and Reminders:
October 21: Veteran's Day RSVPs due!!!!
October 22: Family Night
October 28-31 Red Ribbon Week (dress up days below)
10/28: Teaming Up Against Drugs is NO SWEAT! Wear Your Favorite Sweats and/or Team Apparel!
10/29: SOCK IT To Drugs! Wear Crazy Socks
10/30: RED DAY! Be United Against Drugs! Deck Yourself Out in Red Apparel
10/31: Wear Orange and Black
November 1: NO SCHOOL

Math: Mathematicians will learn all about numbers 6-10 and how using a five group can help us to see and build those numbers quickly! We will use different tools to build these numbers and make equations to match. Mathematicians will also explore equal and not equal by comparing both digits to objects and objects to objects.

Reading: This week we will continue to explore and practice reading different types of books and how reading them will look, sound and feel.  We will even start to explore unfamiliar books and how we can use the pictures and words to do so. One thing readers will learn to do is take a picture walk by checking the cover and then looking at all the pictures to get an idea of how the book might go.  We will also pay attention to how many words are on a page and then try to match what we say to that (ex. if there are four words on the page, try to say four words).

Writing: This week we will continue to strengthen our sentence writing by leaving spaces between words and using punctuation at the end.  We will also work on making endings for our books and will start to fancy them up to share with the 4K students next week.

Researcher's Workshop:Students will finish our centers to dig even deeper and apply the knowledge they gained about our school helpers and school community. Later in the week, we will read about maps to figure out what they are and why we use them. Finally, groups of students will illustrate one room of our school and we will put them together to create a large map.

Weekly News October 14-18

The 2nd Veteran's Day NDLC concert is approaching (Nov. 7)! If you and your loved ones plan on attending and/or want to celebrate a Veteran in your family, please send back the form by Monday, October 21.  This was an amazing event last year and we are so proud to be able to hold it again!

Important Dates and Reminders:

October 14: Packer Wear or favorite sports wear day
October 15 &17: Conferences-- held in our classroom
October 22: Family Night
October 28-31 Red Ribbon Week (dress up days below)
10/28: Teaming Up Against Drugs is NO SWEAT! Wear Your Favorite Sweats and/or Team Apparel! 10/29: SOCK IT To Drugs! Wear Crazy Socks 10/30: RED DAY! Be United Against Drugs! Deck Yourself Out in Red Apparel
10/31: Wear Orange and Black November 1: NO SCHOOL Math:  At the end of the week, students will take the unit 1 assessment. As a culmination of this unit's big ideas, mathematicians will be rotating through centers based on adding and subtracting, subitizing, number order, and number identification. Here are some pictures of what the centers will look like 
This bingo game support subitizing. Click here to download

A great way to practice number identification.
Click here to download

Reading: As we wrap up our "Old Favorite" books unit, students will be acting out the books that they know and love! We will start the week off by creating puppets and thinking carefully about how those characters look, act, and feel. Then, we will think about where the story takes place and create settings. Readers are encouraged to think about the problem in the story and how it is resolved in the end when acting out. Acting out stories is a great way for early readers to develop comprehension skills.  Near the end of the week we will also be reviewing how to read ALL of the types of books we have in our classroom and will do some book shopping and get books in our very own book bins!

Writing: Writing this week will focus mainly on sentence writing!  Writers will learn that sentences are a way to share more information than labels.  We will be using the high frequency (or as we call them snap) words to create sentences in patterns across pages.  The snap words we have learned so far are: a, I, is, go, me, to, the.  These are words that your child can practice at home by writing them or finding them in books.

Researcher's Workshop:  The students love interviewing our school helpers! It is great to visit the different offices in the school to learn about what our school helpers do.  After introducing the new social studies centers, students will have a chance to work in each center this week. Students will create building block structures of where our school community helpers work. We will create webs that describe the work of the school community helpers. Finally, students will look at an assortment of pictures, determine the problem, and decide which community helper(s) could be called to fix the problem.

Weekly News Oct 7-11

The boys and girls are REALLY looking forward to our field trip this week!    At Heckrodt we will learn more about looking closely (like scientists) and this will have a great impact on our writing...I just know it!   Please be sure your child dresses for the weather on Friday; we will be outdoors for  much of the afternoon.  Also, unless you have ordered a lunch through Chartwells, please send your child with a lunch on this day.

This week I will be conducting some 1:1 literacy assessments with each student. In order for me to meet with each child individually, Mrs. V. and Mrs. Flanagan will be here as guest teachers. They are both familiar faces from 4K (and are some of my favorites too).
We will see Mrs. V on  Monday and Mrs. Flanagan on Wednesday!
I will be anxious to share the results of these assessments with you at conferences.

Important Dates and Reminders:
October 11: Field Trip 11:30-3:00
October 15 and 17: Conferences - Please sign up here
October 22: Family Night
October 31: Orange and Black Day
November 1: NO SCHOOL

Math: This week mathematicians will review the shapes circle, square and rectangle.  We will also be playing some fun games and making our own number parades (like the one below) to help us with number order and associating quantity with 1-10.

Reading: As the Kindergartners work toward more conventional reading, we will be working on learning "snap words", or words that appear frequently in books but are not easily sounded out. Our current snap words are I, the, a & to. This week we will work on labeling important parts of our story books and adding snap words to these labels.
Another strategy for beginning readers is to look at the picture, think about what would make sense, and then read! If you have any pattern books at home, give your child the pattern on the first page and then watch as they use the pictures to read the rest!  We have been trying this in the star name books about your child you have seen come home!

Writing:Wow! The Kindergartners have been LOVING our new writing unit. They are so motivated to write about things they love. Our focus will switch to places we love this week, so show and tell bags will be sent home,  This week writers will be encouraged to try their best to write words on the page, even if they know the words are not spelled exactly right! They will also work with writing partners to make their writing even better by asking questions and adding more.

Researchers Workshop:This past week, we began our School Study unit. Throughout the unit, we will be exploring who the community helpers are in our school and conducting interviews to learn more about what they do! So far we have learned about interviews and planned what kinds of questions we are going to ask our school community helpers. We started conducting interviews with a few school helpers this week and and will do some more next week!

Weekly News Sept 30-Oct 4

What a fun and busy week we had!  I have to say I am so proud of the way the students have taken over ownership of our rules and the things and procedures in our classroom!  We had a chance to introduce our school family this week at the assembly!  Check out the poster we made to share some of our favorite things!

Important Dates and Reminders:

October Lunch Menu 
October 2: Picture day-- you can send envelopes to school on or before this day!
October 3: PSC Skate City Event
October 4: NO SCHOOL for students
October 11:  Field Trip to Fire Station and Heckrodt--please send permission slip and $5.25 by 10/7
October 15 and 17: Parent Teacher Conferences--sign up here

Math:This week, mathematicians will work on adding and subtracting using pictures.   We will connect this work to the work we do as story tellers to understand that there is a first, next and last part to math problems.  We will continue to work writing numbers 1-5 and seeing numbers of objects in a group.

Reading: On Monday, we will have a celebration to mark the end of our first reading unit. The readers will choose their favorite book to carry around during our reading parade through the school. Stay tuned for a video!  Students have worked so hard to learn to retell their old favorite storybooks using the exact words from the book, sounding like the characters, and using connecting words to keep the story going. As we continue to work in these "Old Favorites" in our next unit, we will learn to use the pictures and words to really think about how the character might be feeling and what they are thinking. These colorful stories provide a great base to begin that comprehension work with our emerging readers.

Writing: We begin a new writing unit this week and I believe it will be extremely exciting for the kiddos! The  unit is called Show and Tell.  A note and Ziploc bag to came home Thursday so that students can bring ONE thing in to show, tell, and write about for Monday!

Researcher's Workshop: Now that our rules are complete, we will start discussing what will happen if we forget to follow a rules (which will happen to all of us).  Throughout the next week we will practice taking breaks in our classroom break spot.  Every one of us has a difficult time from time-to-time.  We might be sad, upset, tired, or confused.  When we, as adults, feel this way we often have coping skills to help us.  We may: go for a run, read, listen to music, or sit in our room.  The many emotions we feel on a day-to-day basis are real.
We don’t want to ignore these many feelings for kids, we want to help them control them and develop skills to handle them.  The “Take-A-Break” Area is to be seen as a tool.  After a child visits the area, a teacher may process with him/her about his/her feelings and a possible plan for how to cope with something similar in the future.  These conversations will be student led as we want students to independently develop coping skills that feel right for them.
At home you could also make a “Take-A-Break” Area.  In this area you might have calming tools or pictures, just like we will have here at school.

Weekly News Sept 23-27

I am very proud of how well the students handled all of the safety drills we practiced last week.  They were very understanding when they were explained and brave when they practiced.  Of course, we hope we will only ever have to practice these things, but if a situation of any type (weather, fire, intruder) comes up we will be prepared.

Homecoming Week Dress Up Days:
9/23: Hat or Crazy Hair
9/24: Crazy Sock
9/25: Wear NDLC wear or purple
Homecoming Parade: Begin Staging at 5:15 at Holy Cross. Please see the attached flyer for the route information. Students are welcome to walk in the parade with an adult. NDLC will have a banner and will walk as a group in the parade. 
9/26: Super Hero or Disney
9/27: Wear Orange and Black
Important Dates and Reminders:
September 24: Family Night 5:30-7:00
October 2: Picture day-- you can send envelopes to school on or before this day!
October 4: NO SCHOOL for students
October 11:  Field Trip to Fire Station and Heckrodt

Math: In math this week our focus will shift from showing number quantity to comparing number quantity.  We will learn about a new math tool called a comparing mat that will help us to distinguish numbers as greater than and less than.  We will also be exploring and classifying shapes.  We will also revisit and practice addition and subtraction and begin working with number formation.  Also, please watch your child's folder this week for a packet of math games to play at home that will reinforce seeing numbers as quantities and taking numbers apart and putting them together.


Reading: It was very exciting to move into "reading" old favorite storybooks last week.  We were so excited to be able to open these new "gifts" of reading!  One way to support this work at home is by reading stories that are familiar to your child over and over and over again until it becomes a story they can 'read' on their own.

We are continuing our work in storybooks in the classroom as well, trying to say even more on every page to make our words match the text and connecting pages to make our reading sound even more grown up by using phrases like "and then" and "after that."  We will even be looking for and reading words we know and see again and again.  Check out the chart we made together to use at home:

Writing: This week we will focus on making sure each page of our teaching book fits with one topic.  We will also go back to books we have already written and revise by adding letters and words to make labels for our pictures.  Near the end of the week, we will use a check list to edit our writing and will "bring it to life" by adding color in the same way grown up illustrators do!  We will end the week by sharing and celebrating our progress as writers!

Researcher's Workshop (aka Social Studies): Check out our rules!!  

These were written by ALL of us!  If #2 doesn't melt your heart....