Nov 27-Dec 1

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and enjoyed some down time and lots of laughter with loved ones!  This next month is such an exciting one to experience through the eyes of a child. We will continue to be busy in Kindergarten, but will certainly be taking time to enjoy the  magic of the season.

Just a reminder that on Friday, the Kindergarten classes will be hosting An Afternoon With Astronauts!  The students are so excited about this!  It will begin at 2:30, but please come and go as you are able!  We will wrap about a bit before 3:00 and you are free to take your child home with you at dismissal time.
Also, a huge thank you to all families who donated supplies to help with this event!

Important Dates and Reminders:

11/29: Kwik Trip gift card orders due
12/7: PJ day and PJ's, Pizza and Publishing Family Night 5:30-7:00
12/12: NO SCHOOL
12/13: Holiday Wear Day
12/21: PJ Day
12/22-1/1: NO SCHOOL

Here is a peek at our week:

Math: This week we will take some time to review concepts learned so far in our math unit.  We will work on number sequencing, number formation and -1 equations.  We will also review identifying and classifying shapes and will play some math games that will help us to be more automatic with our +1 pattern.  We will start to discuss partners (2 numbers that work together to make a larger number) of numbers and work to see partners of a number through math drawings.

Reading:  This week we will kick off a new unit called: Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles.  This unit builds perfectly off of Super Powers unit!  This week we will learn to use a reading mat to organize our books from easy to more challenging and will then make a plan for the reading powers we will need to use to tackle our more challenging books.  We will rely on using patterns that books give us, snap words, beginning sounds and picture support to continue growing as readers.

Writing: We have been working SO hard to make sure we are getting one WHOLE story written each day in writer's workshop!  This week we will reread our books as we write to make sure we are writing everything we can to tell WHO is in our story, WHERE they are and WHAT happened.  We will also learn to add more vowel sounds to our writing to make it easier to read and will also challenge ourselves to write snap words correctly every time.

Science:  We will excitedly prepare to share our learning with you this Friday by: researching a space topic we are interested in using books and Ipads and then writing a book about it.  We will also be painting a "model" of our space topic.  Needless to say, science will be our favorite time of the day this week!

Snap Words: At conferences, you received a list of snap words that will be taught in Kindergarten this year.  Any practice with these words that can happen at home is super helpful to your child as a reader and writer.  Here is a list of fun and engaging ways to practice these words at home!  Thanks so much for your support!

Nov 13-17

I enjoyed meeting with many of you at conferences and look forward to Tuesday!
For those of you attending conferences on Tuesday, please remember to stop by our Appreciation Station!

This month New Directions is showing how to BE Thankful!  As a way to bring us together as a school community we are going to have an "Appreciation Station" set up for students and families to use at conferences.  At this station you will be able to write a note to someone you are thankful for in your lives. It can be someone from the school or someone from somewhere else in your lives.  Please look for the station outside the cafeteria by the 4K classroom and stop by to let someone know you are thankful for them!

Important Dates and Reminders:
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
12/1: Afternoon with Astronauts 2:30-3:00 (more info to come)

Here is a peek at our week:

Math: We will continue to work with the counting mat this week as we explore the operations of +1 and -1.  We will look at how numbers increase and decrease by 1 as we count forward or backward and will work to write equations that reflect this.  We will learn two poems that will help us to become more automatic in solving +1 and -1 equations.  We will also work to identify and create hexagons.

Reading: We are continuing to get stronger as readers each day now that we have learned about our reading super powers!  This week your child will bring home a book each night to read to you!  This week we will learn more about rereading books to make them sound smooth and begin to sound more like grown-ups as we read!

Writing: This week we will launch a new writing unit called "Writing for Readers."  The focus of this unit will be to tell true stories from our lives and then to write them one page at a time.  We will really focus on making sure our pictures and words are easy for others to read.  This will also help us to grow stronger at rereading our own writing.

Science:  The students are LOVING our science unit so far!  This week we will continue to gather new information about the sky by rotating through different "research" centers.  Students will be using iPads to listen to facts about the sky, learning a poem that teaches about the planets, observing and writing about artifacts related to the sky and exploring non-fiction texts to learn more about outer space.  Please mark your calendars for December 1st, we will be showcasing our science learning by hosting an Afternoon with Astronauts from 2:30-3:00 and all are welcome!

Nov 6-10

I am anxious to meet with all of you at conferences starting this week!  It will be so exciting to show you the growth your son or daughter has made and to talk about next steps in their learning!

Also, just a reminder that canned/packaged food for the food drive can be sent in until November 9th.  This is a district wide event coordinated by the Kaukauna High School NHS.

This month New Directions is showing how to BE Thankful!  As a way to bring us together as a school community we are going to have an "Appreciation Station" set up for students and families to use at conferences.  At this station you will be able to write a note to someone you are thankful for in your lives. It can be someone from the school or someone from somewhere else in your lives.  Please look for the station outside the cafeteria by the 4K classroom and stop by to let someone know you are thankful for them!

Here is the November newsletter for our school.

Also, the Eagle Graphics online store is open for school apparel sales until November 19.  Use this link.

Important Dates and Reminders:

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 focus on the equal and not equal signs and how to use them appropriately.  We will also working with a counting mat to notice that as numbers grow sequentially what we are doing is adding 1.  We will explore and discuss number order and even try to write some +1 equations (5=4+1).  Additionally we will be looking at the attributes of a triangle and learning some position words: above, below, beside, behind and in front of.

Reading:This week in reading we will be shopping for books at our "just right" reading level.  I will be able to explain to you exactly what reading skills your child can be working on when we meet at conferences.  Your child will also bring home a book or two nightly.  Please enjoy reading each night with your child and praise the hard work s/he is doing as a reader.  This week we will continue to learn about and practice our reading powers. So far we have learned: pointer power, reread power, partner power and picture power.  This week we will focus on sound power and persistence power!

Writing: We are coming to the end of our "Writing Like Scientists" unit.  This week we will revise our writing to make sure it includes zoomed in pictures, labels and sentences.  We will also be editing to make sure our writing has spaces, snap words, punctuation and that was used as many sounds as we could when stretching out words.  We will co-create and use checklists to make one piece our best to be shared with you at conferences.   

Science: This week we will begin our very first science unit on the sky.  This week we will be doing some knowledge building around what is in the sky and will do some reading of informational books to come up with some questions we would like answered about the sky.  We will wrap up the week by studying and writing about some photographs of various things in the sky (sun, moon, clouds, planets).