Thanksgiving - Day 2

We are still celebrating....

Thanksgiving - Day 1

Thankful for happy and funny children!

So Thankful!

Hope your schedule allows for you to spend a little time with Room 114 this week.  We have been busy getting things ready to dress up as Pilgrims and Indians for lunch on Wednesday and Thursday.  There is no program or special activity...just lunch with some outstanding people.  Our lunch time is 10:40-11:05.

Our Thanksgiving Crafternoon is Friday.  We will be celebrating Thanksgiving.  Join us at 1:00 to prepare the classroom or 1:30 when the students return from specialists.

The book fair continues until Thursday.  Please label money for the book fair.  Nancy's Italian Ice is Monday for $1.00.

Our poetry journal this week is about a Thanksgiving tradition that many families know.  Check binders on Friday afternoon to see if your family has this tradition.

We have a book in our classroom that helps us learn when to call 911.  When we read the book and practice calling 911, we have to give our address.  Please help your child work on learning your address at home.  It is a skill that is tested for report cards.  


With all the technology children have access to, it amazes me how excited children get by things that require no plug ins or animation.  They had so much fun (and endurance) in making their Indian necklaces.  We made them early enough to enjoy wearing them in the classroom before next week's special lunches on Wednesday and Thursday.   Be sure to compliment us on our patterns and color schemes when you visit us for lunch.

The letter Ii is our focus for this week. We will be focusing on the initial and medial sounds the letter Ii makes.  He and for are the sight words for the week.  We are learning that vowels are in every word.  Glue holds things together.  Vowels are like glue in that they keep words together.  Show us a word and see if we can pick out the vowels.  Give us help if needed and remember that learning how letters work is hard business. 

In math, we will finish up with  comparing the same, greater than and less than.  This is a skill we will work on all year.  It is  easier for children to identify the greater number as opposed to saying what number is less. To practice this,  place some counters (pennies, buttons, game pieces, match box cars...) on a table and tell your child to tell you a number less than what they count.  Don't be concerned if this is difficult for your child, just keep practicing.

We are making a special book about Thanksgiving.  Check binders on Friday for it.  Keep the book available during the Thanksgiving week to share with visiting family members and friends.  Your child can read the book to others and tell the story of the Mayflower, Indians, and Pilgrims.  Here is sneak peek of one of the pages.


The last couple of weeks, Room 114 has had some quick tears, fussing and short on patience for others.  I don't know if we are physically tired or just tired of one another (which does happen if you are in close quarters with 18 other people.)  This week we are going to refocus on the five life skills of respect, being responsible, patient, careful and helpful to one another. Last week we learned a song called Fight. It is to remind us of how Room 114 works.  You may want to sing it at home, if the situation ever arises:
F-I-G-H-T!  We don't fight!
F-I-G-H-T!  We don't fight!
Talk it over, walk away, find another game to play.
Talk it over, walk away, find another game to play.
F-I-G-H-T!  We don't fight!

I hope your Thanksgiving is full of delicious food, the love of family and friends, tender and unhurried moments with your child and a good book.   I want you to know that every day I give thanks for your child and that I was chosen to be his/her teacher.  I know you are trusting me with your greatest treasure.  Your support of our classroom is priceless to me and motivates me to be a better educator.   Thank you for loving our classroom and school.  Have a wonderful week off.  I look forward to December 2 when Room 114 gets back together.  Contact me with any questions or concerns.

Upcoming Events:
11.22  Room 114's Thanksgiving Crafternoon 1:30-2:45  (come at 1:00 to help set up)
11.25-11.29  Thanksgiving Holidays - no school
12.19  Room 114's Christmas Party at 1:45-2:30
12.20  Kindergarten Polar Express Movie Day - wear pajamas
12.23 - 1.3  Winter Break
1.6  Resume learning in Room 114
1.9  Goodnight Moon at ASF - wear yellow field trip t-shirts

Room 114 In November Is A Busy Place

November is a busy place in our classroom.  We are full into the routine of school.  We are learning to read and understanding how numbers are put together.  We are learning to put our thoughts and ideas on paper.  We are learning to be helpful, responsible, respectful, careful and patient.  We enjoyed learning about the multiple meanings of the word gobble from last week's poem.  The poem Llama, Llama was used as an introduction to punctuation.  Hopefullly, as Llama Llama was read aloud, you heard inflection in your child's voice.  Be sure to return the poetry journal on Monday for a new poem. 

Since there is no school on Monday, Nancy's Italian Ice will be sold on Tuesday.  Since this is a short week, send only $4.00 for snack/juice.   We will miss our library day this week.  Return the book on Tuesday and I will send the children during the day to get a new book.

In reading, we will investigate the letter Cc.  We continue to work on we, my and like for our sight words.  

In math, we continue to work on one-to-one correspondence using the words greater than, less than and the same.  We are also working hard to read the number words from zero-ten.

It is always a great day when paint is involved.  Enjoy the concentration and smiles.



The book fair starts Friday.  Proceeds from the book fair helps the library to purchase new library books.  Please send any money labeled for the book fair in an envelope that is labeled "book fair."  More titles are available at the book fair then what was listed on the flier that went home last Thursday.  I do not go with the children to shop at the book fair.  My editorial:  The book fair has a table that is full of inexpensive (and possible poorly made) treasures and trinkets (toys) that tend to be very popular with children.  You may or may not want your child to purchase those items.  In my household, only books are allowed to be purchased at a book fair.  Please discuss with your child any expectations you have for book fair purchases.  You are invited to come up to the school and shop with your child at the book fair.

Information went home on Friday about our upcoming Thanksgiving Crafternoon on Friday, November 22.  Contact the Crafternoon coordinator on ways you can assist.

We will have a school lock-down drill this week.  I've discussed with the students that when a person has entered our building and did not sign in at the office, we put the school on lock-down  to keep everyone safe. 

Another special person was celebrated last week.  The students love discovering new things about our special friend.  They also love to compare  and contrast all the new information with the past special people of the week.  We are taking a take break this week but will start up again next week with another special person.

If  you are looking for a new book to freshen up your home library, purchase   The Thankful Book by Todd Parr.   (click on the link for more information) This book is excellent to use ALL year to help teach being grateful.  This book made us laugh as we realized how easy and important it is to be thankful!

Turn in money for tickets to Good Night Moon by this Friday.

Contact me with any questions or concerns.  Have a great week. 

Upcoming Events:
11.11 No school in observance of Veteran's Day
11.13  Spirit Night at Zaxby's
11.15  Book fair begins
11.22  Room 114's Thanksgiving Crafternoon 1:30-2:45  (come at 1:00 to help set up)
11.25-11.29  Thanksgiving Holidays - no school 

Hello November!

Hello November!  It is amazing that we ended the week with the 53rd day of Kindergarten.  Zero the Hero sent us an email on the 50th day saying that he had hurt his toe and was unable to fly.  He asked us to read one of his favorite books.  It was a giant book about counting.  We love to count. Words of advice:  don't get caught up in the retailers push for Christmas to arrive.  Cherish the month of November and count your blessings.  Room 114 has so much to be thankful for and we will focus on that for the month of November.

In reading last week, we focused on a nonfiction text.  We read a book about being a nature spy.  We grabbed our magnifying lenses and decided to have a try at being a nature spy.  We were quite successful at it.  Our nature spy curiosity carried over into our pumpkin patch field trip.  Hopefully, we  will always be nature spies.


School picture money is due Monday.  Monday is also library day and Nancy's Italian Ice for $1.00.

There is a PTA meeting this Tuesday.  Return the yellow half sheet to order slices of pizza and drinks to make dinner easy for you.

Our field trip to the Pumpkin Patch was fun.  The children make me so proud by their behavior.  Thankful for beautiful weather and outstanding parents that assisted me in making sure our field trip was safe, successful and fun.  Our next field trip is scheduled for January 9 as we go to the Alabama Shakespeare Theatre to see Goodnight Moon.


I needed  more instruction time to cover literary elements of our poem from last week.  Poetry journals did not come home on Friday.  Look for two poems next Friday!

I will be testing this upcoming week on number sets from 0 to 5.  We will begin a new chapter on comparing numbers to 5 later in the week.  We will begin to use the vocabulary of same number, compare, greater and less.

We have new sight words this week of we, my and like.  We will be working with the initial and final sound of the letter Pp.   We will also dig deeper into adjectives for colors and shapes.  Look for the Family Teams handout in Monday's binder.  We are very busy with our literacy instruction.

We celebrated another classmate.  We enjoyed discovering things about him that we never knew.  We took that information and made a book especially for him.  I love the community of learners that is found in Room 114!


With the  53rd day of Kindergarten completed, I want to give you a heads up that on the 100th day of school, we do everything the 100 way.  One of the ways is to dress up as 100 year old ladies and gentlemen.  As Halloween accessories go on sale, you may want to keep in the back of your mind how to dress up your child as a member of the geriatric crowd. The 100th day of school will be in January.   Don't forget that  for our February 3 Stephen Fite concert, the children will be allowed to dress up as super heroes.  Just remember that the field trip t-shirt cannot be covered up when you are designing a super hero outfit.

This week, we will begin to make an effort of writing our names with lowercase letters except for a capital letter at the beginning.  Thanks for reinforcing this at home. 

There is a new policy in regards to birthday invitations. They can no longer be passed out at school, even if you invite everyone in the class. A class directory will  come home soon to assist in party invites and play dates.

Somehow the November book order fliers were never sent to me.  However, you can view the flier on line  here  (click on the word here.)  I am also sending home a holiday book order on Monday.  If you like to pay be check and want to order from the November on-line flier, just write down the title and the amount on a sheet of paper and send a check to school by 11.8.2013.  Or you can order on-line.  The books will arrive in time before we leave for Thanksgiving break.  Our code to order on-line is GL88R.  Book orders are optional.   Look under links to the right of the blog and find Scholastic to order on-line.

When Halloween falls on a Thursday, it is hard to concentrate knowing the excitement of the evening.  We did a lot of quick activities that kept us moving and the day flew by.


My first grader has requested my attendance on her upcoming field trip.  I will be out of the classroom all day on Thursday of this week to be a mom.  The children will be in good hands during my absence.  Contact me with any questions or concerns you may have.  I'm thankful for your support!

Upcoming events:
11.4  Picture money due
11.5  PTA meeting at 6:00
11.11 No school in observance of Veteran's Day
11.13  Spirit Night at Zakby's
11.22  Room 114's Thanksgiving Crafternoon 1:30-2:45  (come at 1:00 to help set up)
11.25-11.29  Thanksgiving Holidays - no school