Rainbow Valley Is So Thankful

First, I would like to say that I am so thankful for each and everyone one of my kindergarten friends.
You make teaching and learning fun!
Second, thank you, Rainbow Valley parents for your kindness, love, and partnership.  You make my job wonderful.
I am thankful that I can work with such amazingly smart kids and amazingly awesome parents this year!
Happy Thanksgiving!  Gobble, gobble!

Play

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend today's Thanksgiving Performance.
The children were amazing!
Your presences at school is so important.  
Thank you for sharing your children with us!
If you have a video of the play please send it to me.  I forgot to hand off the video camera this morning to have someone record.
Please send me an email if you have video.

Thanksgiving

Our class Thanksgiving performance is tomorrow @ 10.  

Please refrain from bringing younger siblings if possible as we are very limited on space. 

Hope to see you then!

Gobble, gobble!

Reminders

Just some friendly reminders:

Homework is due on Friday's. Every time your child completes his or her homework their name is entered in the homework raffle.  Each week we choose names and they get to go to the treat bin. The more they do their homework the better their chances of winning.

Tuesday @ 10AM in our room is our Thanksgiving Play.  Your child has been assigned a certain color to wear. 
We have limited capacity.  Please refrain from bringing younger siblings if possible.

Wednesday is a half day of school.  The children will be dismissed at 10:10 and EDK will be dismissed @ 12:10.

Small group reading and math

Each day we are working on reading skills and strategies during small group time.
We are currently working on the following strategies that can easily be practiced at home.
LOOK AT THE PICTURE
GET YOUR MOUTH READY
ASK YOURSELF DOES IT LOOK RIGHT, SOUND RIGHT
DOES IT MAKE SENSE
LOOK FOR CHUNKS IN WORDS
GO BACK AND REREAD

Calling All Experts!

During the first few weeks of December we are going to begin our unit on jobs, community helpers, and economy.
Currently I have a doctor, chef, police officer, fire fighter, and solider scheduled to speak to my class.
I need at least 3 more folks to speak.  Through an interest survey the children expressed interest in addition to the above- they wanted to be dancers, football players, farmers, teachers, race car drivers,veterinarians, "video game makers" and ninjas.  
If you know of someone or are an expert in one of these areas please send me an E-mail ASAP, so I can schedule you to come in for a 15 minute presentation.  
Thanks!

Teacher Assistant Appreciation Week

Tomorrow wear blue, Mrs. Stinard's favorite color.  She also loves the Yankees and the Giants so if you have either jersey feel free to wear them.

Critical and Creative Thinking

During our math time we have been working on number boxes and sharing number talks

It has been amazing to see how many critical thinkers we have in our class.

You can check out Dreambox.com 

Today, one of the many ten frames I showed the children a 10 Frame with 9 dots. I asked to tell me how they knew it was nine.  One of the children said, I counted 5 on the top and 4 on the bottom, I counted by twos and added one, and I know there are nine and one box is empty and nine is one less than 10.  Now that's thinking!!! WOW!

Today Mrs. Mac came and did a great lesson for our gifted time.

Here was her creative thinking lesson where the children had to solve this Exemplar. 

Rainbow Valley Has So Much FUN!

Our class has started our unit on patriotic symbols.  

We are learning about the American Flag and what each part of the flag represents.  Today we learned the meanings of all the BIG words in the Pledge Of Allegiance and why we say all of those words.  We talked about those words representing patriotism for our country. 

Each day this week during snack I have been reading The Impossible Patriotism Project

by Linda Skeers.

We will end our unit tomorrow through learning about the president and what it means to be a leader in our community.

In February we will learn more about the presidents as well.

Today was also an exciting day we learned how to care for an use our IPADS.

the children explored the following apps if you would like to download them for use at home:

Millie Was Here Book 1

Doodle Buddy

Writing Wizard

Thank you Veterans!

During our language arts whole group time we started learning about the flag and what a veteran is.  
Many children shared their stories about veterans that they know and love.
Thank you to all of the men and women past and present for serving our country.  
WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Ear Buds/Phones

Parents:
Just a reminder.  If you have not already sent in a pair of ear buds or ear phones for your child please do so as soon as possible.  We will begin using IPADS shortly.
Thanks!

Book Order

Parents:
We are extending the book order time until this Friday, November 8th.
There are many awesome titles and leveled readers in this order.
We will be sending home the holiday order forms on Tues.  Books are great presents!
They are also much cheaper than at the big retail shops.
Let me know if you have questions.
If you chose to order you can do so online or through check or money order.
Checks must be made out to Scholastic.

What's The Matter?

We have started our unit on matter in Rainbow Valley. 
We talked about solid, liquid, and gas.
The children were given various items.  As a small group they had to decide how to change these items.
Some items were liquids and some solids.  
This hands-on discovery was a hit!
As you are working at home please talk about examples in your home that are solids, liquids, and gasses.
Today we learned about each state of matter more in depth.  We took ice and changed it from a solid to a liquid to a gas.  Your child is coming home with a page that they used to record their observations using their five senses.  Ask them about it!