Kindergarten News – 11/7/16
Letter and Sound of the Week:Vv – Vinny Volcano
Aa – Andy Apple
Themes of the Week: Thanksgiving and Friends
Wordsof the Week: we, look
Dear Kindergarten Families:
Today we will make a red, white, and blue turkey “thank you” card to send to the VA Hospital in Detroit in honor of Veteran’s Day. Thank you again to Mrs. Gnann and Mrs. Kalus for a super fun and organized monster-themed Halloween party for the kids! We also appreciated the parent volunteers and all your donations.
Language Arts: This week we will practice beginning “V” sounds, short /a/ sound as in “apple” and the sight wordswe, look.
Letters to review at home: Ss, Mm, Rr, Tt, Bb, Nn, Hh, Vv, Aa
Sight Words: I, see, am, a, the, by, my, like, to, can, go, an, and, we, look
“Juicy” vocabulary with the Making Meaning book, “Noisy Nora”: slam, filthy, concerned, moan
Reading Workshop: Last week we learned that following proper, quiet routines are important during our Reading Workshop. This week, our young readers will practice partner reading.
Math: Skills we are focusing on are counting with one to one correspondence to 30, recognizing all numbers to at least ten, counting to 100, and identifying coins and their value.
Science: Last week we discovered that magnets can attract most metal items. Next week we wrap up our Properties Unit comparing and grouping materials, like wood, plastic, metal.
Upcoming Dates to Remember:
-Tuesday, Nov. 8 – Voting Day – No School. Teachers attend professional development.
-Wed. Nov. 9 – Picture Retake Day
-Fri, Nov. 11 – PTO Family Science Night
-Sunday, Nov. 13 – Grosse Pointe Schools Open House 1-3pm
-Tue., Nov. 15 – Our 50th Day of School – kids can come dressed like the 1950’s!!
-Wed., Nov. 16– Evening Conferences 5 – 8 p.m.
-Thurs., Nov. 17 – NO School – All Day Conferences 8am – 8pm
-Tue. Nov. 22 – ½ day – Dismissal 11:36am – Records Day – Read-In and Feast-In (more details later.)
-Nov 23-25 – Thanksgiving Break – No School
-Sat. Dec. 10 – PTO Breakfast with Santa
-Tue. Dec. 13 – Report cards go home.
-Thu. Dec. 22 - Our Kindergarten Holidays Around the World Party! An afternoon of celebrating other cultures – more details later.
-Fri. Dec. 23 – Polar Express Day – Kindergartners come in pajamas!
-Dec 24 – Jan 8 – Winter Break! See you in the New Year - January 9!
Homework:
-Due Today! – Disguise the turkey! (It was sent home last week)
BUCKET FILLER OF THE WEEK: Drew Odell
Have a great week!Mrs. Richards
Mindfulness Weekly Update
Hello Parents! On Tuesday, we practiced mindful eating. We used each sense to inform us what it was like to eat a raisin mindfully. We observed what the raisin looked like, smelled like and even sounded like! Ask your student what a raisin sounds like, they can explain. Finally, we practiced eating slowly and talked about how eating mindfully can benefit us.
On Thursday, we learned how to walk mindfully. We began by bringing our attention into our feet and then coordinating our breathing with each step. We shared how walking more mindfully slows us down and makes us more aware. Some students said it felt calming, while others said it was hard to be patient moving that slowly. It’s a nice practice to give us perspective on our busy lives and can be a way to soothe ourselves. Mindful walking can be especially helpful if sitting down to relax doesn’t feel possible due to extreme agitation or hyper arousal.
As a reminder, if you’d like to practice mindfulness with your student, ask your teacher about signing up for Inner Explorer (it’s free!) and is a great way for you to learn more about mindfulness and what your student is learning. You can receive a link to the audio tracks the students listen to so you can practice together at home.