October 29-November 2

We hope the students enjoyed a few extra days off and will return to school refreshed and ready to continue working hard.  We cannot believe it is nearly November and we will soon be meeting you for conferences.  The link to sign up for a conference time went out through Campus messenger last week, please let us know if you have questions about signing up.  Also, the PSC is in need of help on conference nights, check out the sign ups below. 

Important Dates and Reminders:
October 31: Wear Orange and Black
November 8 & 13: Portfolio Conferences
November 15: Packer Wear
November 16: Half Day
November 19: Veteran's Day Concert
November 21-25: No School

Fall 2018 Teacher Conference Meals

Fall 2018 Teacher Conference Meals

Fall 2018 Book Fair

Fall 2018 Book Fair

Here is a peek at the week:

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 in reading we will continue to read unknown books and learn more strategies 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).  Lastly, we will work on rereading books again and again using a smooth voice.

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: and, a, come, here, have, is, I, like, me, the, this, we.   These are words that your child can practice at home by writing them or finding them in books.

Science: This week we will begin an exploration of weather.  We will become "weather watchers" and will learn important things to be on the look out for when studying the weather.  We will be spending time outside to observe and write about the weather and will begin to discuss how the weather impacts people and the things they need.

October 22-25

What a fun and exciting week in Kindergarten!  Check out the creativity students displayed when creating props and acting out to tell their old favorite storybooks!  We also had a blast decorating pumpkins!  Thank you for all of the donations of materials!

Important Dates and Reminders:
This week is Red Ribbon Week
10/22: Wear sweats or team apparel
10/23: Wear crazy socks
10/23: Family Night 6-7pm
10/24: Wear Red
10/25&10/26: NO SCHOOL

Math: On Monday we will take our Unit 1 math test.  This week we will meet with each of the students to go over their test and celebrate the parts they were successful with and then talk about what (if any) mistakes they made and how they can grow from those.  This is part of a growth mindset and embracing mistakes as a way for us to recognize where we have room to improve!

Reading: This week we will start a new unit in reading that will take us one step closer to conventional reading.  We will explore different types of books and work to understand the way the we can use both the pictures and the words to really read.  Starting Friday, we will begin assessments to see exactly where students are at with reading skills so we are able to meet them right where they are at.

Writing: This week in writing we will move from writing about our favorite objects to writing about our favorite places.  To do this work we will write across the pages of a book by thinking of the parts of the place we love.  We will continue work to be brave spellers and try to add at least 5 labels to each page.  Writers will also learn that they can make decisions about the words and pictures on their page and will look at the work of other options to inspire them.

Social Studies: As a culminating activity for our school study unit, students will pick a topic and present what they've learned! Here are a list of some topics they may choose: 

• What problems do we have a school at school and who could help fix them? 
• A map of our school helper offices and important places in school 
• Choose one school helper and teach about their jobs and tools

After choosing a topic, students will create a poster or book to present about their topics. I can't wait to hear them present about what they have learned!

October 15-19

Our field trip is Friday! We will be outside exploring at Heckrodt; please dress your child accordingly.

We are still collecting socks for Kid President's Socktober!   Please send in new pairs of socks you wish to donate by October 31!  Our school goal is to collect 500 pair as a school to donate to Homeless Connections of Appleton.

Upcoming Events: 
10/19:  Heckrodt and Fire Station Field Trip--Please send back form if you have not already done so!
10/25&10/26: NO SCHOOL

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.

Writing: Wow! The Kindergartners have been LOVING our new writing unit. They are so motivated to write about things they love. 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. Finally, we will decorate pumpkins and write about our pumpkins.  The pumpkins were donated by a Kindergarten family...Thank you! If you are able to donate any foam stickers or fun things to decorate our pumpkins with, we would appreciate it! Please send donations to school by Wednesday.

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. 

Social Studies: 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.

October 8-12

We kicked off our CREATE Kindness challenge on Thursday at our all school assembly!  We are collecting socks for Kid President's Socktober!   Please send in new pairs of socks you wish to donate by October 31!  Our school goal is to collect 500 pair as a school to donate to Homeless Connections of Appleton.

Upcoming Events: 
10/11:  PSC Family Event at Skate City
10/12: Scholastic Orders due
10/19:  Heckrodt and Fire Station Field Trip--Please send back form if you have not already done so!
10/25&10/26: NO SCHOOL

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, is, and, the, & me. 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! 

Writing: We will wrap up our very first writing unit and celebrate by having everyone edit a piece of writing, fancy it up by illustrating, and then reading it to the class. Students will bring home their writing work from the unit. If you are able, look through it with your child. They worked really hard! We begin a new writing unit on Wednesday and I believe it will be extremely exciting for the kiddos! The  unit is called Show and Tell. Look for a note and Ziploc bag to come home early in the week so that students can bring ONE thing in to show, tell, and write about! 

 Math:  We will work on number order this week, especially how to find missing numbers in a series.  We will also review the shapes and work on seeing numbers in various ways.  We will work with a new game called Tiny Polka Dots.  The cards for the game show numbers in a variety of ways and we will work together to sequence numbers in a variety of ways.  This would be a great game to purchase for home as there are SO many things you can do with the cards to promote math thinking.

Social Studies: 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!