Week of 10/15

We had a very busy week last week! It started with a wonderful trip to the Campbell Heritage Theater to see a darling play, Elephant & Piggie, then we had our first clay project & Cornerstone lesson, and the week culminated with the walkathon. It was so awesome to see nearly all Grasshoppers out on the course today. It was a great day & huge kudos & thanks go to our own Grasshopper parent, Kassie Gray, for chairing the entire event. 

The school book fair continues this week through Wednesday. It opens at 11:00 on Monday if you want to go before class, and is open after school (2:30 to 3:30) on both Monday & Tuesday.

Language Arts
Our letters this week are Qq and Rr. Our sight word is to. Our story this week is Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds, and his follow-up book, Creepy Pair of Underwear.

Our guided reading groups are meeting with a teacher for differentiated, small group instruction four days a week. During this time, children are working on phonics, reviewing sight words, and working on reading fluency & comprehension. There are five different reading groups and children work on different books and activities depending on their reading ability.

Math
We have two weeks left in our first module in Eureka math, and then we'll review a bit before we move onto our next module. We have been learning about numbers to 10, writing those numbers, and learning what one more and one less than a given number would be. We are also learning to recognize the dots on a 10 frame by sight as the number that they represent.

Upcoming
Halloween:
The planning & organizing for our Halloween party on Wednesday the 31st is well underway. Thank you to Erika, Mary, Ruby & Claire for heading up this event The school-wide parade is at 10:00, on the primary blacktop (near rooms 7, 8, and 9.) Come out and watch the fun! We will have pizza at around 10:45, and then our classroom party will follow at approximately 11:45. It will be center-style, with four party stations.

Conferences:
I am looking forward to meeting with each of you beginning Monday, November 5th for your child's conference. All conferences will be held in the office conference room, except for the after school slots, which will be held in the classroom. The conference room is located in the main office, 2nd door to the right after you walk through the swinging half-door.  To confirm your conference time, please click here.

Thanksgiving Feast: I have purchased pillow cases for our upcoming Thanksgiving Feast.  These will be turned into Pilgrim costumes with some simple cutting (no sewing is involved).  Now, I need to have volunteers who can cut these at home.  This is a great project for those who would like to help out but are unable to due to work commitments.  I will send home pillowcases and a sample shirt for you to replicate. You will need a pair of pinking shears (zigzag scissors) for this project.  Please let me know if you do not have a pair-- I have an extra pair myself that I can loan out.  I will not need the pillowcases back until a few days before the Feast (which is on 11/16).  Please let me know if you can help!

To give you an opportunity to plan ahead, this Friendship Feast will be on the 16th at 1:30. If you can take some time off work to join us, this is a pretty fun and special event.  We ask each family to send in a dish for the event-- either a traditional Thanksgiving dish or a dish from your family's cultural background.  We always enjoy the wonderful mix of foods that we get.  Both K1 & K2 kindergartners come together for this event.  The children from our class will be dressed as Pilgrims, and the children in K1 will be dressed as Native Americans.  The children will sing a couple of songs when they arrive in the cafeteria. No need to provide any costumes-- those are what parents in our class will be busy cutting in the next few weeks. This event is definitely a great photo-op!
 **Please send in your child's blue bag Monday.**

This Week's Helpers & Activities:
Monday: Return Blue Bags (Yvonne), Daily 5, Centers (Elena & Nisha)
Tuesday: Daily 5, Centers (Damon & Sarah)
Wednesday: Recess 101, Trip to the Makerspace, Blue Bags go home
Thursday: Daily 5, Centers (Brandie & Pablo)
Friday: NO SCHOOL, Staff Professional Development Day

Upcoming Events:
Friday 10/19: No School: Professional Development Day Wednesday 10/31: Halloween Parade & Party
11/5-11/15: Parent-Teacher Conferences
Monday 11/12: No School: Veteran's Day
Friday 11/16: Friendship Feast
11/19-11/23: Thanksgiving Break
Thursday 12/20: Nutcracker Performance
12/21-01/04: Winter Break