This week in kindergarten

Today was our last visit from Mr. Duffy, our fall artist in residence.  It was a treat to have him in the classroom over the past month telling stories, playing games, and imparting life lessons about friendship, problem-solving, and respecting everyone.  Mr. Duffy's visit was made possible by the support of families for our annual Run for the Arts.

Thank you to everyone who has returned their paperwork for our field trip to next week.  We have several volunteers, but there is always room for a few more.  This is a fun trip and a highlight of the year.

This has been a great year so far for having children arrive at school on time, and for having parents pick up their children promptly after school.  This makes a big difference in how the day flows -- Thank you!

We are running a little low on snacks -- we are still in good shape for Goldfish and fruit snacks.  We would love some other healthy, nut-free options.

We are beginning our "letter of the week" study this week with the letter M.  Our focus on individual letters is a small (but integral) part of our "big-picture" approach to literacy.  As we move in to phonics work, we will use this pool of letters as building blocks as we decode words.

Dates to note:
October 6: field trip
October 9: No School - Statewide inservice day
October 14: Late start
October 21 and 22nd - conferences

Here are a few themes for the week:
Theme book: Julius
Comprehension skill: Character
New letter: Mm
New words: a, to
Words we know: I, am, the, little
Math: sorting and patterns
Art: mixing colors

Volunteers

We have had many great volunteers in the classroom thus far including, today, my daughter Sarah.

Mr. Duffy's last visit

Library time

Texture Animals

Check out our wonderful "Texture Animals" on the bulletin board outside the classroom.

This Week in Kindergarten

Here are a few highlights for this week:

Bernie Duffy, our artist in residence, visits on Monday and Thursday.  Wednesday is picture day, and Friday we hop on a bus to learn all about bus safety.

Please be sure to return your photo form (or order online) by Wednesday.  On Wednesday be sure to dress your children in their best.  On the subject of forms, don't forget to return your child's field trip permission form for our Kruger's Farm trip.

I plan to start using photos of students on the blog this week.  Be sure to let me know if this is a problem for you.

Thank you to all the volunteers who have come in thus far.  It is wonderful to have this support.  As our centers continue to evolve, volunteers will be more and more important.

In math, we have been focusing on learning our four basic shapes.  This week we will be focusing more on numbers and number-sense.

Here are a few themes for the week:
Theme book: Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip with Kindergarten
Other books: Three Little Pigs
Literacy skill: Classify and Categorize
Letter study: T-Z review
Words we know: the, little, I, am
Math: Shapes and numbers
Weekly song: Home on the Range

A visit from Mr. Duffy