November 13, 2014

"It's not happy people who are thankful.

It's thankful people that are happy!"

Each week we are lucky enough to have Mrs. Riley come into West K to talk to us about different feeling words.  One of the best so far has been the feeling of gratitude or thankfulness.  Why?  Well, Mrs. Riley showed us that if we feel grateful for something, it usually comes with another feeling....being happy!  Your children talked about what they were thankful for and you would be proud.  The "things" in their life were not what they said they were thankful for.  Their responses were more about the wonderful people in their lives that they do things with.  

Important Dates:

-11/14 - Noon dismissal for students

-11/17 - 11/21 Book Fair at Bookies

-11/21 - GO GREEN WITH GRALAND and Spirit Day

-11/24 - Scholastic Orders Due

-11/25 - Noon dismissal for Thanksgiving

-11/26-11/28 Thanksgiving Break

-12/1 - Back to school

-12/3 - CAP Parent Workshop 6:00 - 8:00 (more info to follow)

Content and Curriculum:

Next week during Writing Workshop we will begin a short writing unit.  We will learn all about writing letters.  We will even get to write our first letter to our pen pals!  We will do a shared introductory letter to our pen pals.  We will be pen pals with one of the Kindergarten classes at Lancaster Country Day School (my old school).  Throughout the rest of the year we will correspond with our pen pals.  Each day we will also check the temperature there (like we do here) but now we can compare the two temperatures side by side each day!

During reading lessons we continue to talk about reading tools and strategies to use when we come to a word that we don't know.  We need to be brave readers!  We can't just give up!  We will make a Brave Readers Shield and add our strategies.  We will also focus on carefully noticing the details in the stories that we read.  We will practice doing this by visualizing what is going on in the story.

We will begin Chapter 7 of Math In Focus looking more closely at 2-D and 3-D shapes and their attributes.  Look for a letter about Chapter 7 to come home either in their backpacks or Take Home Folders next week.  These letters are not meant to be homework, merely suggestions if you would like to reinforce some of the activities or topics that we are focusing on at home.

Below are pictures of our first few family presentations, math activities, a buddy choice time and a roller derby presentation.  This morning, Mrs. Brennan, the Head Librarian, and her roller derby team demoed and taught the lower school students about the roller derby.  Mrs. Brennan shared how hard she had to train to make the internationally ranked Rocky Mountain Roller Girls.  Ask your child what they learned!

Please read the post below about snow gear protocol!  Have a great weekend!