This is such a fun time of year!  The kids made these beautiful pumpkins last week. 

 Today your child is bringing home a new pet.  Don't worry. It only eats sight words which the kids will feed to it every day.  We made sight word flash cards and when it gets hungry, the kids must read the sight words on the cards and feed the monster.

 Tomorrow is our community helper parade.  The kids can dress to match the community helper dolls they made and we will walk through our school and the Intermediate School to show off our costumes.

At the end of the day we will have our Halloween Party.  It starts at 2:30 and all parents are invited to attend.  If you are helping to set up, please be here around 2:00.

The Pumpkin Patch

 The class had so much fun at the Pumpkin Patch. The first thing they got to do was a hay maze.

 Then we had a train ride.

 There was a tug of war between the boys and the girls.  The boys won once and the girls won once.

 They listened to a lesson about how pumpkins grow.

 Everyone got to decorate a pumpkin.

 By the time we got to eat lunch they were so hungry.

 There were rubber duck races. The kids had to pump water to make the ducks move.

 We ended the day with a hay ride.

We all had a lot of fun. 

Writing Ideas and the Alphabet

 The class added ideas to their writing notebooks again this week.  The topic was Foods I Love. 

 The next time we write, they will choose an idea from this page.

 About once a week I like to use the ABC Rainbow.  The yellow cards have the ABC's printed on them and the kids match the blue letters to the letters printed on the card. 

 When we did this on Monday, I gave the kids a 2 minute time limit.  Only 2 kids were able to complete the activity in 2 minutes.  Several others were very close.  I know the next time we do this, I will have more kids beat the time limit.  This is a good activity to help them become more knowledgeable about the sequence of the alphabet.

 After everyone gets the alphabet in order, then we spend some time spelling words.  I can have them spell a word like got, then I will say something like, "Change 1 letter and make got say hot."  They have to really listen to the sounds and figure out which letters to keep and which ones to change.  We can also practice rhyming words.  With the word got, I can show them that words that rhyme have the same endings,  so they have to keep the ot and change the beginning sound.  I love to watch the looks on their faces when they finally understand what I am asking them to do.  They get so excited about making rhyming words.

 We did a little finger painting yesterday.  If you wondered why you child had an orange hand when they came home, this is why.  They mixed yellow and red to make orange.  We will use this paper later in the week to make pumpkins. 

 About a month ago, the whole Kindergarten decorated these dots in our Friday art class.  They were put all together and displayed in my room for a while.  I thought it turned out really nice and the kids learned that we can all be artists. 

I'm excited about our field trip tomorrow!  It should be a lot of fun.  Don't forget to send a lunch to school with your child unless you asked me to order one from the cafeteria. 

Pumpkin Patch in Salado

 We had a great time at the Pumpkin Patch today. 

 They listened to a story and some of the kids got to help with a skit.

 We were served pumpkin juice and a cookie for a snack.

 Everyone got to pick out a pumpkin to take home.

 When we got back to the classroom, they decorated their pumpkins.

 If your child did not bring one home today it is because the pumpkin was too wet.  It will come home on Monday after the paint has had time to dry.

Letter Sounds and Monsters

 We are moving right along with learning letter sounds.  Even though we focus on one letter a week, I want them to know all the letter sounds as soon as possible so everyday we practice all the sounds. 

 I've been reading monster books to the class.  Since monsters aren't real,  we can really use our imaginations when we think about them.  I explained to them how making a monster is so different than making something like a zebra.  If I asked everyone to make a zebra then everyone would make an animal with black and white stripes and 4 legs, but if I ask them to make a monster, we would all make something unique and unusual.  We have had a great time looking at the different ways illustrators have used their imaginations when they draw a monster.  The kids made monster faces last week and it was fun to see how creative they could be.

Tomorow we will walk to the Pumpkin Patch here in Salado.  The bus will bring us back to the school.  We will leave here after lunch around 11:45. If your child brings $2, they can buy a small pumpkin.  It should be lots of fun!

Reading Homework

 Since it's Thursday, the kids have reading homework tonight.  Reading folders will come home every Wednesday and Thursday night.  The little books they bring home in the folders can be kept at home.  They don't need to come back to school.  If you don't get to listen to your child read on Wednesday or Thursday, please send the blue folder back anyway.  That way I will have it for the next book.

Don't put any notes or things you want me to see in the blue folders.  I don't check them for things like that.  The only time I open the blue folder is when I'm putting a new book in it.  When you send something to school that I need to see, it needs to be in the red folder. 

You can remind your child when they are reading to you to use their fingers, eyes, and voices all at the same time.  They hear me say that all the time so they will know what you mean.  

 

Thursdays are also computer lab days. Some of you have put headphones in your child's backpack and I just want you to know that we are using them.  I want them to stay in the backpack until we need them.  I think that is the best place to keep them so they don't get lost.  

We will go to the library tomorrow.  All books need to be turned in by tomorrow morning so everyone can check out a new book. 

Remember, the books they are checking out now are one that you should read to them.  I want them to hear good stories with great vocabulary.  Later in the year they will check out books that they can read themselves and the vocabulary will be very limited.  So now is a great time to expose them to words they may not have heard before. 

1st Thursday and Twinkie Day

 Once a month, we have 1st Thursday Assembly.  The purpose is to introduce the character trait of the month and to recognize accomplishments of our students. 

 Our class will be responsible for introducing the character trait to the school in the spring.  The kids will do a skit and have a song to sing.  I'll be sure to let you know when it is so you can come if you would like.

 They are learning how to be a good audience by giving their attention to the speaker and being good listeners.

 Today we also learned about our Fall fundraiser for the school and guess who forgot to put the information packets in the red folders? 

 Sorry, I'll send them home tomorrow.

 We didn't just have twins today, we had octuplets!  Pretend like I'm in the picture and there will be 8.

All the kids got one of these cute little pointers today to use for reading homework. Thank you Kathi Walrath for making them for us!

When your child is reading to you, I want you to make sure they are looking at the words and the pointer (or their finger) is actually under the word that is coming out of their mouth.  This takes coordination between the eyes, voice and finger.  It sounds easy but is really quite difficult for new readers.  I've been telling them that if they are not using all 3 together (eyes, voice, finger) then they are not reading.  Memorizing text and repeating it over and over is not reading.  Don't be impressed by their fabulous memorization skills. 

Pleas continue to work on sight words at home.  Week after next, they will get a new list of words for Unit 2. 

Tomorrow is Red Out Day and a half day of school!