Thank you for the great conferences this week.  I enjoyed meeting with each of you to discuss your child's transition to kindergarten.

This week during Reading Workshop we spent time learning about story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution).  We reread Caps for Sale and made a story map to show the story elements.  During read-to-self time, the children thought about characters and shared examples with their peers.

On Thursday during the power outage at Rowe, the children had an opportunity to read with a second grade buddy or two at YES.

 

On Friday, we started our first grade reading buddies with Mrs. Boutin's class.  We will read with them once a month.

During Writing Workshop we continued our looking closely unit.  I taught the children that in addition to writing about what they can actually see, they can also use their prior knowledge to write even more about what they're observing.  On Friday, the children wrote about and shared what they will be for Halloween.

This week during Math we spent several days learning how to solve number stories.  We worked on addition and subtraction number stories, and different types of each.  We continued to work on number recognition, counting, and played dot-card games.

I hope the children have a fun, safe night trick-or-treating.
Mrs. Caron

Our Trip to Wolfe's Neck Farm

Even though the weather was a little drizzly, the children had a great morning at Wolfe's Neck Farm on Thursday.  They got to visit and learn about many different farm animals.  A highlight of our trip was our visit to the pumpkin patch to choose our own pumpkins.  The children acted out the life cycle of a pumpkin, which was a nice connection to our science study of life cycles back in the classroom. The children kept their pumpkins at school Thursday and Friday so they could use them during writing time. Thank you to all the parents who were able to chaperone.  I  appreciated having the extra sets of hands (and of course the children enjoyed having you there, too).

Back in the classroom, we launched our Looking Closely unit during Writing Workshop on Monday. The children impressed me with how excited and engaged they were during writing time.  We learned to:

• look closely at an object and draw all the details we notice using realistic colors.
• label different parts of our scientific drawings.

• use our word wall to help us write sentences about the object we're studying.

• draw the object from different angles.
• write at least one letter for every sound we hear.

During Reading Workshop we continued our work with reading pictures and retelling stories we know.  The children had opportunities to read with a buddy.  We have been building our reading stamina during read-to-self time, and the children are up to reading independently for 19 minutes!  Woo hoo!

During Math we:

• used ten frames to show different ways to make numbers.
• reviewed the characteristics of triangles and learned about the characteristics of circles.
• learned Number Top-It, a game that helps children practice comparing numbers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• reviewed "tag-and-drag" as a strategy for counting a collection of objects.
• learned that a group of objects can be placed in different arrangements without changing its value.
  
  
  
  
  
  

I look forward to meeting with all of you during conferences next week.  Have a lovely weekend.

Best,

Katie