With all of the power outages and changes in our regular schedule, it is nice to be back on track.

Halloween festivities came together nicely because everyone helped out wherever they could. Parents volunteered and everything went smoothly. Thank you all. It is great to be part of such a wonderful community.

Our class learned about voting on Tuesday. The little voters signed in at the polling location in our classroom and entered the voting booth to cast their ballot. In our class the results were in favor of Mitt Romney. It was a close election with 8 votes for Romney and 6 for Obama. It was a great lesson in civics and government. In our Trophies reading series we will begin our unit called “Around the Table”. In this unit the children will read and learn about the fun in working together to grow, prepare, and share food. Some of the concepts we will work on in this unit are: syllables, events and sequence, different genres, and picture details.

“Around the Table” ties in perfectly with our Thanksgiving Sharing Stew and Friendship Fruit Salad for our feast. Please look in your child’s folder today for the letter listing what your child needs to bring in to make our stew and fruit salad. Items should be sent in by Friday, November 16, 2012. We will prepare and cook on Tuesday, November 20, 2012 and have our feast on Wednesday, November 21, 2012.

In our Fundations phonics program the letter Aa was introduced this week. We talked about how special vowels are because each word has a vowel. Each day we practice the letter sounds. We always begin with a run through of the flash cards, and then we either practice writing the letters or use the magnetic letters to manipulate the sounds. Thank you for your support at home.

Math lessons revolved around reading, writing and counting the numbers 11-20. Please practice this whenever you can with your child at home. We also talked about 100 chart, ten frames, and counting by 10’s. We will continue working in school and will assess when the children are ready.

In science we continued investigating wood and water. After each investigation our scientists create a page for our journal. Our next investigation will explore wood shavings and sawdust. With the colder weather upon us, we are in need of warmer “extra” clothes for the classroom. Please send in a cold weather appropriate outfit, (pants, top, underwear, socks) to replace the warm weather clothes you sent in at the beginning of the year. I will send home the extra set when the new set arrives. Make sure the bag has your child’s name on it in permanent marker. Thanks again. As a reminder – we DO go outside for recess unless it is below freezing. Please be sure to send your child with a weather appropriate coat and accessories every day. Thanks! I hope you all have a great weekend keeping safe, warm and “lit”!

Kindergarten Happenings

Week of November 5, 2012

I am sending a hard copy of this newsletter home with everyone as a convenience (especially for those who may still not have power).

Next week, we will go back to electronic copies only.