Mrs. Daugherty's Kindergarten: November 2013

We had a mystery reader (Ms. Janisse) come read to the class! They love having mystery readers share different books. If you're interested in being a mystery reader second semester let me know! I will be creating a new schedule. I'm flexible with the time of the day. It is usually about ten minutes where you read a story of your choice to the class. Thanks to those who have already volunteered.

Thanks to everyone who returned the learning survey that was sent home. We had the best return rate in kindergarten! I appreciate your help with this. I understand it was not the best for kindergartners to fill out. I have a meeting this week with the person who assigned this task to teachers, and I will let her know of our feedback. Not surprisingly, most students were tactile (hands-on) or visual learners. I always incorporate different learning styles into the lessons. However, based on the learning surveys I grouped students into tactile or visual learners. (We had no auditory learners in our class.) In the tactile group students compared numerals and used popsicle sticks to make the greater than/less than/equal signs. In the visual group, students focused on looking at items and discussing what looked greater/less. Then, they picked the correct inequality sign.

In math, we continue to work on counting to 100 by ones and tens. Students have learned to count on from a given number, sequence numbers, and label sets. Now we are focusing on comparing numbers. Students have been identifying groups that are more and less. That came pretty easily to students so we have moved on to using greater than or less than signs. We watched Allie the Alligator on youtube.com to start of our lesson. Next week, we will be starting to learn about decomposing teen numbers. Students will learn to break down 18 into 1 group of ten and 8 ones. We will have at least two weeks to work on this concept.

In writing, students have been writing facts or informational writing. Students enjoyed choosing their own topics and learning how to edit. We will continue to work on editing throughout the school year. To learn about the writing process we watched this copycat song. Next week, we will move on to how to writing. We have books from the library to investigate examples of how to writing. We will write some how to's together, and students will also be able to write some of their own in December.

At the beginning of the month in Social Studies students learned about veteran's. We researched the different branches of the military as a class and talked about how important it is to thank the men and women who help keep our country safe. Last week students started learning about Thanksgiving. We discuss how the first Thanksgiving is similar and different to Thanksgiving today. Next week, we will dicuss what we are thankful for and practice for our Thanksgiving Performance Friday at 8:30am. We hope to see you there! Students will be singing turkey songs and then after we will have a mini feast with our guests. It will be about one hour and located in the cafeteria. To sign up to bring something to the feast click here.

Upcoming Events this week:

Monday

- library lesson

* Ms. Hytka will be coming around to let students check out books. I know the schedule has been confusing. I recommend having your child keep their library book in their bookbag. I also try to put it in the newsletter. Soon, students will be checking out books independently and can go any day.

Wednesday

Author visit from Ms. Julie Ferris. She wrote The Masters: A-Z. We will read the book before she visits and discuss what an abc book is. If you are interested in purchasing the book, you may send in money by Wednesday. A green paper went home in your child's folder. We are also asking that children wear green or dress like a golfer on this day.
Wednesday is also sight word folder day!

Thursday

Grandparent's Lunch: Our lunch time is 11:02-11:32. Please meet us and say good bye at the lunchroom. Also, id's will need to be presented when you sign in.
Signed papers will be going home. Please flip through, sign, and return on Friday.
GKIDS reports will be going home. GKIDS is the kindergarten assessment that we looked at during conferences. We update it throughout the year. There will be a coversheet explaining more. Please sign the envelope it came home in and return the envelope only. You may keep the report. Feel free to ask me any questions/concerns that you have when looking at it.

Friday

8:30-9:30 Thanksgiving Performance
Signed white envelope and signed papers due.
November homework folder with completed work and reading log due.

We have an entire week of Thanksgiving this year. I hope everyone has a wonderful break and enjoys time with their loved ones!
<3 Mrs. Daugherty

To celebrate fall, we had a day of fall inspired centers. Our wonderful room parents planned it and had great support from other parents. Thank you to all of those who helped by volunteering at the festival or sending in materials. Below are the four centers students rotated through.

1) Candy Corn Bingo
A number was read aloud and students looked for a match on their bingo cards. All students eventually got bingo and a prize. They had fun and reviewed their numbers!

2) The second center allowed students to have a fun snack mix. They graphed each item in the snack mix and then ate it.

It was also the day to "shade out drugs" during red ribbon weeks. :)

3) At the third centers, students listened to a pumpkin story. After the story, students played a game where they hid a pumpkin and one student guessed where it was.

4) The fourth center incorporated fine motor skills, science, and technology. Students watched a quick youtube video on how an acorn grows into a tree. Then, they created a necklace with beads and an acorn.