So Long, November!

It is hard to believe that November is already coming to an end.  I hope you all had a happy and restful Thanksgiving with your families.  Below are some pictures from our Thanksgiving Feast celebration!

 We had so much fun celebrating this special day with all of our classroom friends.

This week our Unit of Study focus has been a Mo Willems author study.  Some of our favorite books are Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Knuffle Bunny, and all of the Elephant and Piggie books.  It is great to see students applying their reading strategies and beginning to read these books on their own.  This is time when reading really starts to take off!  Check out this website for great Mo Willems and The Pigeon games and reading activities.

In math we have been working hard on addition.  Students recently started using a number line and have been doing great with it.  We will be starting subtraction very soon as well as basic place value.  Don't forget that each student should be able to recognize and write the numbers 1-20 and also be able to count to 100 by the end of kindergarten.  Any way you can help your child with this at home will be greatly beneficial.

As always, thank you for your continued support at home.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS
-Please check your child's folder nightly, especially as the move to Johnson approaches.  There will be a lot of important information regarding the move coming home in student folders.
-Please take some time to read the "Book Baggie" books with your child.  Focus on things like sounding out words, using the pictures for clues, and finding little words inside of big words.  Those are the skills we are working on at school at this point.
-Don't forget to have your child do some writing in his or her Writer's Notebook!

Kinder Update

Room 5 has been super busy over the past few weeks.  Between our field trip to the Pumpkin Farm, celebrating Halloween, and Election Day our learning has been so much fun!

This week we added the words DO and YOU to the word wall and we did several fun activities using those words.  We now have 15 words on our word wall!  I am so impressed with how well each student is doing his or her part to practice and learn new words.

Our unit focus for the next two weeks is an author study of Laura Numeroff.  She is the author of the "If You Give A..." stories.  We are enjoying learning about her life, comparing and contrasting her stories, and of course READING READING READING!  Check out Laura Numeroff's website here!




 <<<--Reading to Someone!-->>>





In writing we have been working on making "little books" on topics chosen by each student.  We are still focusing on proper letter formation, punctuation, and staying on topic within a book.  We also did a lot of Laura Numeroff writing activities this week as well.  Thank you for encouraging your young writers to use their mini Writer's Notebooks at home.  We are so proud of our writing and we make sure to celebrate each notebook when it comes back to school.  These have turned into such a valuable tool for your child's writing life.

Two students working hard in their writer's notebooks.

Other Announcements:
 - "Book Baggies" will be sent home soon.  Please keep the books as long as you need them at home and return them for new books when ready.
- NO SCHOOL Friday, November 9th (Teacher Institute)

Check back often for classroom updates and information.