Oct 30-Nov 3

I hope your child enjoyed the break from school and their time was filled with lots of outdoor fall fun...despite the chilly weather!  This time of the year is so beautiful that sometimes we need to slow down and remind ourselves to enjoy it!!  I cannot believe we are gearing up for our third month of learning in Kindergarten!!

With Tuesday being Halloween, NDLC students will celebrate by dressing in orange and black and teaming up to do some reading in buddy classrooms.  Students may bring in 2 fall or Halloween books to read with their second grade buddy.  We will also share a snack with them and learn a fun fall dance!

Important Dates and Reminders:
10/30: Pajama Day
10/31: Orange and Black day
11/6:  Packer Day
11/8: Dress Like Your Parents Day
11/9: Conferences 4:00-7:15pm
11/10: Wear Red, White and Blue for our Veterans
11/14: Conferences 4:00-7:15pm
11/17: 11:30 dismissal (no lunch served)
11/20: Badger Day
11/22-11/24: NO SCHOOL

Here is a peek at our week:

Math: We are continuing to work hard to tell story problems to practice our addition and subtraction skills.  We will also be focusing on number formation for number 6-10 and will also work to see 6-10 as a group of 5 and some extra.   Two new math symbols will be introduced this week: the equal sign and not equal sign and we will practice using them as we investigate numbers, quantities and equations.

Reading: We are so excited to be learning about our reading super powers!  Did you hear...we had a visit from Reader Man and he left us some very cool pointers to help us activate our pointer power!  This week we will learn how long words can try to test our pointer power, but we know that each word (no matter how long) gets just one point.  We will also be working on using snap words to really help us keep track of our pointing and will rely on our partners to help us make sure we are using our best pointing.  Lastly, we will learn that super readers combine powers to do their very best reading!

Writing: This week in writing we will work to incorporate snap words into our books to make books with patterns, which are similar to the books we have been reading and writing together as a class.  We will learn to pick one or two snap words and plan for our books to have those words on each page (Ex. The apple is read.  The leaf is brown, The grass is green).  We will also focus on planning and writing one whole book each day.  In order to keep this unit exciting and motivating for students, please feel free to send in any fall artifacts (small pumpkins, gourds, corn...) you have at home that may be interesting to us as science writers.  Thanks for your help!

Social Studies: This week we will work in our school helper centers and will also be working to do so me social goal setting that will be shared at conferences.

Snap Words: Snap words are words that we frequently read and write but cannot easily sound out. Knowing these words in a "snap" makes our reading and writing much easier to tackle. I would encourage you to practice snap words at home with your child! 

Here are a few ways to practice:

• Write them in sand, shaving cream, or any other fun materials
• Search for them in books, newspapers, and magazines
• Write them in different color markers. We call this rainbow writing.
• Build snap words using toys, noodles, or anything you can find!  

The snap words we have worked on so far are: I, a, and, the, this, is.

This week we will learn: look, to, you, here.