November and December Reading

Beginning November 1st all kindergarten classes will be participating in this wonderful reading program.

Our Five Senses Science Lab

Great Website

I can across a fun site about matter.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/5_6/sorting_using_mate.shtml

State Of The Schools Address

VBCPS  Superintendent Dr. James G. Merrill delivered a "State of the Schools" presentation. Check out his message at http://www.vbschools.com under"Headline News". I know many website viewers do not live in Hampton Roads, Virginia, or even the East Coast. His message is a great way to learn about our school system.

Trees, trees, and more trees.

Our science, math, and language arts intergrated unit on trees is underway.
Please review the following vocabulary words with your child:
leaves, branch, root, trunk, bark, fall, shape, size, taller, shorter.
For all of the children who are Word Masters (Those children who have learned all of their blue sightword flash cards are to be practicing these words as enrichment.)

Ask your child to tell you the parts of a tree and what a tree needs in order to stay alive.

More Fall Fun...

Counting our scary spiders!

Will it sink or float?



Using our sense of taste!




Graphing our ghostly flips!




Making predictions



Fall Fun

Using our sense of touch

Today we had our Fall Fun Centers and we had tons of fun! 

Thanks to our class volunteers and Mrs. Rose's class volunteers the children participated in eight different centers.  Each of the centers dealt with science, reading, and math skills.

Please ask you child about their great day!

Making Observations

Listening and Learning

Measuring A Pumpkin

I wonder if my ghost will land on happy or scary?

"It weighs how much?"

Great volunteers!

How does a pumkin grow?







How much does that weight?

The children have just finished their unit on Properties of Matter in science. 
We have learned many new vocabulary words: weight, texture, size, shape, and color. 

Balancing

The unit ended with a really fun lesson on weighing objects.  The children were asked to discover which items weight the most, least, and which we are same.

In order to discover the weight, size, shape, and color of objects the children needed to use their Five Senses.  Ask your child to tell you about their five senses.

Obseving

Thinking and asking questions

Word Study

Word study is underway in Rainbow Valley.  The children are learning to work with their word study buddy on partner sorts and speed sorts.  The children are asked to check their partners work by listening to their partner read aloud their word sorts.
We are looking to see that the children are applying in their writing what they are learning during word study.  Please remember to inital word study sheets and return them to school, so that your child gets their name in the homework raffle.

Halloween

John B. Dey is celebrating Halloween by having a Black Out Day.  This is a day where everyone is encouraged to wear black on Friday, October 22nd.

Monthly Reading

Wow!  Our tree of reading is growing.  Please return your child's reading log once they have completed it and we will send home another one.  Some of our kindergarten friends have more than three leaves on the tree. This is AMAZING!
 It is so wonderful to see them proudly hang their leaves each time they complete a reading log.  The last day for October reading is Sunday, October 31st.  All reading logs must be in my Monday, November 1st.
The November reading program will begin on November 1st.  

Conferences

I am beginning to schedule conferences for Nov. 2nd and Nov. 12th.  I will send you a note with the scheduled time.  If you would rather a phone conference instead of a face to face conference I am more than happy to accommodate that request.  If you feel as though you do not need a conference in November and would rather have one at another time I understand that as well and, I am always available to talk at anytime throughout the school year.  
I will be sending home a pre-conference form for you to fill out. Please return this in your child's folder at least a week before your scheduled conference this information will be helpful to me as I prepare information to share with you about your child.  
If we do not meet face to face or we chat over the phone I will provide you with information about your child's progress.  

Rewards

We are running low on rewards for the reward bin.  We need small stickers, small toys, pencils, and erasers for the bin.  Any donations would be helpful.

Picture Day!

Tomorrow is picture day.  Please bring your smile! 

Sorting In Science

In science the students are learning about Properties of Matter.  We have talked about sorting things by color, texture,size, weight, and shape.  We are learning how our 5 Senses help us to determine properties of matter.  Amazing right!?  
Please talk with your child about sorting. Some suggested activities: sorting items in the kitchen, sorting toys, sorting coins, etc... As I explained to the children, you can sort just about everything you have in your house.  
Many of the kids shared with me today that they know all about sorting laundry.  
Way to go Moms and Dads with helping is to make connections to what we are learning in school with real life skills.  

Progress Reports

Kindergarten does not recieve progress reports as students do in grades 1-5.  We sent home to each family a sheet that lists the skills that every child needs to work on. Please sign and return the bottom portion of that form. 
I also sent home an sheet that indicated more specific skills that your child needs extra practice on.  This is a guide for you when helping your child.  Many families ask, "What can we do at home?"  This sheet will help you.

Fun times with Mrs. Law

Mrs. Law, our Gifted Resource Specialist visits our classroom once per week.
This week Mrs. Law was teaching our kindergarten friends what things sciencetists do.
Such as observe, ask questions, infer, create experiements, etc...

Word Study

Word Study homework is underway.  Please make sure that you initial and return the word study homework sheet on the due date.  
Your child's name is entered into our weekly homework raffle, so the more that they complete their homework the better their chances of winning!  

Book Orders Are In

Many families ordered books from the September Scholastic Book Clubs.  If you did not receive your book order please let me know. 
We will be sending home another order form in the next few weeks.  
Many of these books are at discounted prices.  Far less expensive then big name book stores.
Books many great gifts and the holidays are right around the corner!

Counting On...

Please make sure that your child is practicing counting as often as possible. It is important that he/she is not skipping or leaving out numbers. Please ask your child to count from various starting points.

Also, it is important that your child is pronouncing the numbers correctly. For example, we say three, four, five and not "tree" or "free" four, five or twelve, thirteen, fourteen, not tweleve, "furteen," fourteen.

Learning About Colors

In Rainbow Valley we love colors!
We read a story entitled Cat's Colors.  Our kindergarten friends learned about color words.
After reading the story the students wrote in their Reader's Workshop note books about their favorite colors and why that color is their favorite one. 

Thinking Like Sciencetist

Mrs. Law our Gifted Resource teacher visits our classes one time per week. 
The children enjoyed making obervations of a leaf using their five senses.  Can you guess which one of the five senses we did not use?