Parent Teacher Conferences are tomorrow!

I look forward to seeing some of you at Parent Teacher conferences on Thursday.  Please see below for your assigned time.  See you soon!

         Thursday, November 1st 

                        

                        3:45  Olivia

4:00  Gray 

4:15  Zac                        

4:45  Luke

5:00  Anthony

5:15  Jada

5:45  Sadie

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from all of us to all of YOU!

We would like to thank all of the parents for a spooktacular Halloween Party today!  Thank you for all of your help whether it was assisting with costumes, setting up our room for the party, being our personal photographers, planning a craft, game, or a spooky treat, or just for popping in for a moment or two.  

Spooky Slime Bottles

Zany Spiders

Yummy Mummies

Jack-o-Lantern Fruit Cups ~ How fun!

We finished our assignment from Zero the Hero!

Check out our SweeTart Graph!

We found out a lot of interesting information about our SweeTarts.  We found out that purple and blue were equal with 20 each.  Pink and orange were also equal with 14 each.  Green was all alone with 17:(  We had a lot of counting and tallying to do today!  Ask your child what it means when something is equal.  Also consider asking your child about the weather graph in our classroom.  What facts do they remember from our weather graph?

Celebrating the 40th Day of School!

It's a bird!  It's a plane! It's ZERO THE HERO!!!

 

Zero the Hero came to school today to help us celebrate our 40th day of school.  The children counted, sang, and enjoyed a counting book with Zero.  Before Zero left, he gave us an assignment!  He gave us a bag of SweeTARTS candy that we have to graph by color.  We think he chose this particular candy because it is shaped like a ZERO and it comes in a lot of colors!  We are going to get busy with our graphing this afternoon:)

Halloween Reminder

Our Halloween party is on October 31st.  The school-wide parade begins at 2:15 and our party will immediately follow.  We will have parents setting up for our party at 1:45 while we have an early recess.  We will put on our costumes at 2:00.  Any parent who would like to come and help with costumes would be greatly appreciated!  Kindergartners do not wear his/her costumes to school but if one wears part of the costume, it helps with the process of getting ready.  For example: If your child is going to be a black cat, he/she could wear the black shirt and black pants to school.  At 2:00, he/she could then add the ears, tail, whiskers, etc.  Please be aware that scary masks and weapons of any type should be kept at home and not brought to school for our parade and party.

Sharing for next week...

Homework for the week of October 31-November 4: Bring in 6 candy wrappers (with candy removed) for a writing activity.

Looking ahead...

Sharing Homework for November

Homework for the week of Nov. 5 - 9: Bring in a picture of a “hero” in your life (armed forces, police, fire, community worker, etc).  Write a sentence to go with the picture. THURSDAY Sharing Friends: Choose M, T, or W to share.

Homework for the week of Nov. 12 - 16: Draw a picture of what you are thankful for in your life.  Be prepared to share with the class.

Homework for the week of Nov. 19^th and Nov. 20^th: Bring in one sharing item of your own choosing.  Short week so choose Monday or Tuesday to share.

Homework for the week of Nov. 26 - 30: Mystery Letter!  Choose any letter of the alphabet and choose an object that begins with that letter. Write 3 clues about your object to share with the class. For example: Starts with the letter B. You can bounce it. It is round. Answer: BALL!  Place your object in a bag so your friends cannot see it!

Writers, Writers, Everywhere!

The Colors of the Rainbow was read to us today from this author.

We had a new author come to the Author's Chair today!  This author helped us get ready for Halloween with A Spooky Book!

A Few Authors Slipped on by...

 We enjoyed a little review of math facts with this author's  First Flashcards Book: 1, 2, 3

This author is back with another Rapunzel adventure!  This book is called Rapunzel 2!

Our First Field Trip!

Fun was had by all on our first field trip of the school year!  We went to Steffens' Orchard in Sparta and thankfully missed the rain.  Thank you to all of the parents who drove on this field trip.  Your help is appreciated:) 

While at the orchard, we enjoyed taking a shuttle ride through the apple orchard and picked an apple from an apple tree. We were able to pick Fuji apples.  We all remembered to twist and pull when picking our apple!

 The children enjoyed many apple and pumpkin non-fiction books and sang a song about apples and pumpkins.  The children all enjoyed an applesauce cookie and cider in the barn!

 We also explored the pumpkin patch to find just the right pumpkin or gourd to take home with us.   A fun-filled afternoon brought our learning of apples and pumpkins to life.

The Author Chair is HOT!

Six Little Friends was a delightful story that was shared by this author!  

We loved chiming in with how many friends were left:)

We are enjoying this author's science fiction trilogy.  Today, she shared Star Wars 3 with us.  Her storytelling has become very detailed and we LOVE hearing all of the important story details!

Our Author Chair is the Place to BE!

With Halloween around the corner, this author shared her latest book, 

Tyler and Mollie: Spooky Halloween Story!

We enjoyed Rapunzel 1 from this author, who is back with another story!

This author returns with a new book called Read a Book 1 and 2.  It was very informative:)

This friend wrote Birthdays.  

We could all relate to her story since we all LOVE our birthday!

Mom and Dad Go to the Birthday was read to us by this author last week.  

Kindergarten friends really enjoy books about birthdays!

This friend shared her non-fiction story with us called Things I Like to Draw.  

We learned a lot about this author after hearing her read us her story.

This author has been busy at work with another story!  

We listened to Pinkalicious last week.

 

Our Latest Happenings!

Field Trip on Tuesday, Oct. 23rd
Please send in your child's BOOSTER seat on Tuesday.  Be sure to dress your child for the weather on Tuesday.  It looks like it might be a rainy day so boots will be a must!  We will be outside for the majority of the time walking through the apple orchard as well as the pumpkin patch and it will be muddy.  Be sure your child wears a coat, has a hat, and gloves/mittens if necessary.

Sharing Homework
This week is free choice sharing.

Kindergarten Cooking
Thanks to Amy T. for making our first cooking activity fabulous!  We made Pumpkin Muffins on Friday and they were so yummy.  We do not have a parent volunteer signed up to cook this Friday.  Actually, we have many open Fridays needing a cooking volunteer.  Please let me know if you are interested and I will pass along the open dates.  We cook on Fridays from 12:15-1:00.  The parent volunteer needs to arrive at 12:00 to set up so cooking may begin right after lunch recess.

Halloween Parade and Party
Our Halloween party is on October 31st.  The school-wide parade begins at 2:15 and our party will immediately follow.  We will have parents setting up for our party at 1:45 while we have an early recess.  We will put on our costumes at 2:00.  Any parent who would like to come and help with costumes would be greatly appreciated!  Kindergartners do not wear his/her costumes to school but if one wears part of the costume, it helps with the process of getting ready.  For example: If your child is going to be a black cat, he/she could wear the black shirt and black pants to school.  At 2:00, he/she could then add the ears, tail, whiskers, etc.  Please be aware that scary masks and weapons of any type should be kept at home and not brought to school for our parade and party.

Conferences
Conference letters were sent home in your child's Friday Folder.  Please be sure to return the bottom portion of the sheet confirming your conference date and time.  I apologize if you did not get your first choice for your child's conference date.  I have to schedule all sibling conferences first and then schedule the remaining students who do not have siblings in the school.  I look forward to meeting with you and sharing all that we have been doing in our classroom.  Please keep in mind that our conferences are 15 minutes in length with no breaks in between.  I must start and end promptly in order to stay on time.  Due to sibling conferences, there are other teachers in the building who are depending on me to keep on time as well.  I will do my best to stay on schedule so please be sure that you arrive on time.

ROAR
I hope that you have November 3rd marked on your calendar to attend ROAR because I do!  This is Lakeside's biggest fundraiser of the year and it is a lot of fun!  All of the money raised benefits the students at Lakeside.  The PTA funds many mini-grants for classrooms each year, brings in special programs, and has purchased thousands of dollars worth of leveled books for our reading instruction.  A gold sheet came home in Friday Folders for oldest and only this past Friday sharing some of the items being auctioned.  Among those items, there are 2 in particular that your kindergartner would especially LOVE... a bedtime story read to your child at your home by ME!  Another fun activity is Baking and Books with the Kindergarten teachers at my house:)  Great gift ideas.  If you have any questions about Roar, please let me know.

Sharing Homework for October

Sharing Homework for October

 

Homework for the week of October 1-5: Mystery Letter!  Choose any letter of the alphabet and choose an object that begins with that letter. Write 3 clues about your object to share with the class. For example: Starts with the letter B. You can bounce it. It is round. Answer: BALL!  Place your object in a bag so your friends cannot see it.

Homework for the week of October 8-12: Bring in a fall itemfrom a nature walk for our science table.

Homework for the week of October 15-19: Bring in a picturefrom a previous Halloween.  Write a sentence with your child about the picture.

Homework for the week of October 22-26: Free choice sharing.  Bring in one sharing item of your own choosing.

Homework for the week of October 29-Nov. 2: Bring in 6 candy wrappers (with candy removed) for a writing activity.

We Celebrated Day 30 with Zero the Hero!

We celebrated our 30th day of school on Monday with a lot of counting, songs, and a wonderful counting book read to us by Zero the Hero. 

Zero gave the children a ZERO snack to celebrate the 30th day of school.  The children sorted their zeros by color.  They ate their zero treat starting with the pile that had the most all the way to the pile with the least.  See you on day 40, Zero!

Our Latest Authors!

This author read her newest story, Happy Birthday Lea!, to us yesterday.  We enjoyed hearing about the fun happenings of Lea's birthday.

This author shared, I Ate Emma the Apple and Phoebe the Apple: They Were Frightened!, with us this morning.  We were all a little hungry for an apple after she finished reading her story to us:)

This author is back in the Author's Chair!  She shared Star Wars 2 with us and it left us wanting to hear more about all of the Star Wars characters.

Our Newest Author!

This author read her book, My Summer Star Wars, to us today.  We enjoyed hearing about the many Star Wars characters in her book.  She even went to the office and read her book to Mr. Rich this afternoon!

We LOVE Mercy Watson Books!

Our class has thoroughly enjoyed all 6 of Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson books.  We just finished Mercy Watson: Something Wonky This Way Comes today.  Sadly, this is the last book in the Mercy Watson series.  We are hoping that the author is working on another!  

We celebrated our LOVE of the Mercy Watson series by having a Toast Party this afternoon.  The main character, Mercy Watson, who is a porcine wonder, LOVES "toast with a great deal of butter on it" as the book tells us again and again!  We discovered that most of us LOVE toast with a great deal of butter on it too!

Our Farmer's Market!

Our farmer's market opened last week!  The children worked hard getting it ready.  They collected and sorted the food, made signs, and even made money.  We have shopping baskets as well as farmer's market lists available to our shoppers.  Ask your kindergartner about our market.

Authors Galore!

We continue to enjoy many stories written by so many authors from our kindergarten class.  Each and every story is different and creative!

I Saw the Lanterns

People Walking

The Orchard, Change of Seasons, The Initial Book

Halloween

My Birthday

Keep on writing, writing, writing!  Every author has also had the opportunity to read his/her story to our class and to Mr. Rich!

Zero the Hero Returned on the 20th Day of School!

We celebrated our 20th day of school last week and enjoyed another visit from Zero the Hero!  We counted, sang songs, did a finger play, and listened to One Hungry Monster with Zero the Hero.