Red Ribbons...a Field Trip...Spiders

A new nine weeks means new crayons.  The last thing we did on Friday was open up a new box of  crayons.  We went from eight crayons to twenty four.  The students were disappointed that it was time to dismiss because they wanted a big piece of paper to try out all those new colors.

This week we will be studying the letter "Ww" as in "worm in a wagon."  The word wall words are:  eight, to, do, am.

In math, we will be playing a lot of games to help us understand the vocabulary of more than and less than.  This is a hard concept so we will be revisiting it often.

This nine weeks, I will be working with your child to write his name with only a capital letter at the beginning.  Please reinforce this at home.

Our field trip to Dreamfield's Pumpkin Patch will be this Wednesday.  The weather forecast appears to be perfect.  If you are joining us at the patch, please get there ahead of the bus.  You will need to pay your entrance fee before the bus arrives.  You will know when we have arrived because we will be dressed in our yellow t-shirts.  Jeans may be worn on this field trip.  I have a parent bringing bottles of water for the students.  Please let me know if you can volunteer to send crackers (goldfish or Ritz cheese crackers -  no peanut butter crackers) for the children to refuel.  If you are chaperoning on the field trip, you will be able to check your child out from the pumpkin patch if you desire. Lunch was included in the price so DO NOT SEND A LUNCH on Wednesday.

Did you listen to your child read the poem over the weekend? I can assure you  that Lazy Jane is not a member of Room 115.  Our classroom is filled with hard workers who are trying their best every day.  Did you notice that I used a different font for Lazy Jane?  We talked about how the lowercase a can be written in a different way. Help your child recognize the different ways you can find the letter a in books. 

Red Ribbon Week, celebrating healthy choices for our bodies, is this week. Something special is planned each day.  Since we have our field trip on Wednesday and I don't want to keep up with nineteen hats, I  will allow hat day to be combined with Thursday's sunglasses day.  Please do not send a hat to school on Wednesday.  Refer to the handout from last Wednesday for the full explanation but here is a cheat sheet:
Monday:  We will decorate our door with a red chain.  Wear a red uniform top (not spirit wear) if you have one.   
Tuesday:  Wear crazy socks
Thursday: Sunglasses and a hat
Friday:  Your favorite team jersey/t-shirt

This week our writing center turned into a book publishing center.  It was a busy place in our classroom!  You can tell that Room 115 is an expert at books because there was not a shortage of ideas in the writing center.  We discussed that authors write about what they love.  We had books about family, cats, friends, fairies,bicycles, and pumpkins to name just a few ideas.  Please refer back to the writing handout I gave you at the small group meeting for Room 115.  In that handout, you will see the different stages of writing.  Each one of those stages is normal for a Kindergarten student. Do not be upset if you are not seeing traditional words in your child's writing. All that will come with time.  Rather, listen to your child share the writings he brings home and celebrate the thought process of the story.  Remember I told you that writers are thinkers.  Your child's writing is a concrete example of his thinking.  I encourage you to have an area in your house with writing tools and paper for  your child to have access for the endless thoughts in his head.  As beginning writers, children often write stories.  Don't spell words for them, rather tell them to write the sounds they hear.  If your child writes down the beginning sound and moves to the next word, that is perfectly normal.  Refer back to that handout for reassurance.  Your job is to celebrate and encourage your writer!!!



Monday is  Nancy's Italian Ice for  $1.00.

We rotate to P.E. on Monday.  I will not be taking the children to the playground for the next three weeks since they will be seeing Coach everyday.

I will  be out of the classroom on Thursday morning.  My youngest daughter has a Halloween parade at her school so I will be wearing my mommy hat.  I will be back in the classroom by 11:30.  I have an excellent substitute arranged so the learning will continue to take place.  I will flip  flop the schedule and teach reading in the afternoon.

Friday is a special "spidery" treat for Room 115.  You should have received an email from the room parents with more information.   I will let the children in on the treat, closer to the date.  You are welcome to join us as we celebrate October's learning.  Thank you so much for loving our classroom!

The best part of last week was celebrating a very important birthday.  Happy Birthday to a very sweet member of Room 115!

Upcoming Events:
October 26:  Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch  (wear yellow t-shirts and jeans)
October 26:  Spirit Night at Nancy's Italian Ice
October 28:  Room 115 Celebrates Miss Spider's Tea Party at 2:00.
November 1:  Deadline for Just Give Campaign
Novcmber 8: PTA meeting
November 11:  No school:  Veteran's Day

Contact me with any questions or concerns.