It is that time of year when the weather changes and sickness seems to come! I know we have had friends this week who have been sick as well as myself! Please pray that God would keep our class healthy as we start to head into the winter months! Read on to see what happened this week into our kindergarten room!

Important dates:

• October 21 & 22: Parent Teacher Conferences.  Here is the link if you need it!
• 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)We will be sending home special papers for grandparents to fill out. These will be keepsakes for your child’s spiritual binders (a binder that is passed to each teacher to add to and then presented to your child at the 8th grade banquet). Please keep an eye out for the “Gifts of Being Grand.” Grandparents should fill these out and you may return to school any time.

Additional information:

Parent Teacher Conferences are October 21 and 22. I am looking forward to seeing all of you and working together to help make kindergarten a successful experience for your child.  If you still haven’t signed up, please do!

Grandparents Day is approaching quickly. It is Friday, November 1st. I will be sending a signup genius in the next few days for volunteers to help out on this special day! Here is a link for the invite for grandparents day and here is the link for a map.

The office also asked me to forward the following information. Please feel free to pass it on to anyone you know who may benefit from it.

       “There are approximately 23,660 food insecure families in Ottawa County. Ottawa Food is an organization that has created a Find Food database that helps users search by zip code or date to find food resources available within the county. You can find more information on food pantries and other food resources HERE.”

Curriculum:

Bible: This week we continued our study in the Old Testament. We read the story of Jacob’s dream and the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau. We talked about how important forgiveness is and how if we don’t forgive it hurts not only the other person but ourself as well.

Word wall words: This week we did the words, the, I and A. Normally we will only do one word a week but there are a few weeks where there will be more. As we begin to work on these words I encourage you to practice them at home.  When we begin reading out of our leveled library it will make the transition so much easier! I will be sending flashcards home in your child’s book bag very soon! We will also be practicing these A LOT at school! Ask your child about our high five hand!!!

Math: This week we worked on one to one correspondence while counting manipulatives. We also compared numbers we counted to determine greater or less than. We also worked on writing the numbers 4, 5 and 6 “the school way.”

Daily 5: This week we started a “mini” version of our Daily 5 with three activities. We worked on read to self, writing and word work. I was able to work with each child once at my table as we continued to draw stories and label them. This weekend most of your children should have brought home a book bag. (It is very possible that a few of them may have forgotten since this was the first weekend they went home!) I will be sending this home most weekends with the books we do in class with our word wall words and very soon the leveled library books will be coming home too! Please read through the books with your child and send the books and bags back on Monday! If you feel like your child needs more help with a particular word wall word, please feel free to keep that book at home to practice with!

Engaging God’s world: This week we are continuing our study of maps. We talked about how maps are usually views from above and made a map of our classroom. After we worked together, the students made a map of their own.

Handwriting: This week we began focusing on writing letters the school way. We have practiced uppercase F and E. As we continue handwriting throughout the year, you can encourage your child to write letters “the school way” but please know that this is a process. A key part for many letters is starting at the top. If a child does not, most likely the letter will be reversed. You can ask your child to try again and show him/her where to start. We will see reversals quite a bit. It is all part of the learning process.

Book of Friends: This week we added Karson Huffman to our Book of Friends. We are working hard at recognizing our classmate’s names as well as then adding them to our word wall word board!

Up in Lights: This week Ellison Brookens was Up in Lights. Ellison’s mom came to share about her and then her dad came for lunch. Ellison’s little brother Holden also came to meet the class! We are blessed to have Ellison in our class! She is a kind friend who is always willing to help those around her!

Afternoons: We continue to enjoy recess, playtime and quiet time, as well as art and music. We also did math centers and a fun literacy center this week as well as ending the week with kindergarten singing!