This week was another full 5 days of learning and growth! We took some big steps in Daily 5 as we now have 4 choices open: read to self, read to someone, work on writing, and work with words.

We also launched some flexible seating! Students take turns having the option to sit in different kinds of chairs and other seats that allow them the freedom to be comfortable and move as they need or want to. When we don’t have to use our energy to keep our bodies still, we can use more of our energy for learning. We all do school better when our bodies are more comfortable. These flexible seating options were donated to our class and I am so grateful!

I’m grateful for every day I get to spend with your children! I’m looking forward to sharing some highlights with you in our conference this coming week!

---

Important Dates

• October 21 & 22 Parent Teacher Conferences- I’m looking forward to meeting with you!
• October 23-25 No School-Professional Development and CEA convention
• October 29 All students will begin attending Tuesday afternoon. If you would like to add any additional afternoons, you may also do so. Please email me about any changes by October 23. Thank you!
• November 1: Grandparents Day- (9:10 Welcome, 9:15 Chapel, 10 Coffee 10:20-11:30 Visit Classrooms 11:30-12 Lunch with Grandchildren *sack lunch available for purchase)

---

Curriculum

Bible: This week we continued talking about Abraham. God made a promise to Abraham that he would give him many children and grandchildren and that he would bless Abraham’s family. God’s plan of salvation was already taking place! 

Genesis 28:15 Yo estoy contigo. Te protegeré por dondequiera que vayas, y te traeré de vuelta a esta tierra. No te abandonaré hasta cumplir con todo lo que te he prometido.

“I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. 

This coming week we will continue the story and begin talking about Joseph.

Literacy: Our letter of the week was a consonant for the first time! This meant that we began to combine consonants and vowels to form syllables! We even combined some syllables to form words! We made some exciting and powerful steps toward reading this week!

In grammar this week we learned about a special ending some Spanish words have, -ito or -ita. This ending is used to speak lovingly or to show that something is small. For example, a small dog (perro) or a puppy might be called perrito. A cute kitten (gato) might be called gatito.

• Reading strategy: Making connections
• Word wall word: la mamá (mom) y (and)
• Read aloud: Así Vamos a Escuela
• Vocabulary Words:
  • disfrutar (to enjoy)
  • techos (roofs)
  • las zancadas (steps)
  • la campiña (countryside) *Some of our Kindergarten friends made connections between this word and where they live!
  • el titubeo (hesitation)
  • apurados (rushed, hurried)
  • los patines (skates)
• Phrase of the week: Ya terminé. ( I’m finished.)
• Letter of the week: Mm
• Words on the wall so far: el, él, no, la, si, sí, mamá, y

Math: This week in math we taste tested 3 different colors of apples: red, yellow, and green. As a class we graphed our preferences. Then we compared the results. Most kids in our class like red apples!

Writing Workshop: The kids are spending extra time in writing workshop drawing their stories during daily 5. We also did a round of more structured writing workshop and every child drew what they did before school. On Friday I introduced the concept of writing labels in our drawings. We learned about labels by labeling Maestra Haak with sticky notes. 🙂

Exploring God’s World: We continue to work through our PBL on maps. On Friday we worked together to draw a map of our school.

Up in Lights:  Beau was up in lights this week! Thank you for sharing your favorite book, Pig the Fibber! We loved seeing your Bumble Bee costume as well! Beau, we’re so glad you’re in our class and we love you!

Andrew and Brendon have also been Up in Lights in the last couple weeks, but I wasn’t able to upload their pictures. Thanks for being up in lights, boys!