Happy Halloween!

 A look at our learning...

Fundations: we learned the name, sound and correct formation for lowercase p and j.  This tied in nicely with the pj party we earned this week!  

Please use the verbal prompts below:

p-dow...n, up, around

j-dow...n, curve up, dot

When your child is doing their optional handwriting homework at home, please remember their pencil should start at the dot. They know this, but I wanted to remind families as well.  This helps them start with correct letter formation. 

By the end of 1st trimester, which is now, your child should be able to:

*identify 40+ letters of the alphabet (uppercase and lowercase combined)

*name at least 10 letter sounds correctly

Math: we have finished unit 2 and will begin unit 3 on Monday.  Please check your child's Friday Folder on what unit 3 will cover and how to support your child's learning at home.  

By the end of 1st trimester, which is now, your child should be able to do the following basic skills:

*count to at least 30 by 1's and 10's

*identify numbers 0-10

*write numbers 0-10

*identify circle, square, rectangle, triangle

*count a set number objects, with one to one match, up to at least 10

Spirit Wear Monday's: I LOVED seeing all of the kiddos in their spirit wear, or blue and green, on Monday!  Keep it up every Monday!  If you don't have spirit wear yet, no worries, I am told by PTA that an order form will be coming home in the near future.  

Class Rewards: we enjoyed pajama day on Thursday for meeting a class goal.  The next goal we are working towards is a "fuzzy friend" day aka bring a stuffed animal from home day!  The entire Kindergarten grade level also earned an extra recess this week from Dr. Woods, Mrs. Nickens and the lunch/recess supervisors for following expectations during lunch and recess last week better than any other grade level!  Way to go!  They will be awarding an extra recess for a grade level once a week to encourage better behavior during lunch and recess!  

Heroes Day: Aubrey and Bailey shared with us about the special veteran in their life.  Be sure to check out the hallway as you come into school and head toward the playground to see all of the veteran's pictures displayed next week.  Next week we will be learning about Veteran's Day and why we have this special day and celebration.

It's not too late to send in a photo of a veteran you know!

 

Fall Party: we had a blast at our first school party!  Thank you to Kayla Hagedorn, our classroom room parent, for organizing and to all the families who sent in treats, party supplies, goody bag items and assisted with the party in any way!  It is greatly appreciated! We did a ghost craft, played ring toss, toss the eyeballs into the ghost, had a photo booth, ate yummy snacks and ended with a fun Halloween story!  I sent home many happy kiddos today! I tried to get around and get pictures of everyone, sorry if I missed anyone, it was busy!!  I hope you have a fun and safe Halloween!

October Citizen of the Month

 Yay Quinn!

She was chosen, by her peers, as October Citizen of the Month!

We are so proud of her

Chickens!

 Chickens!

We have a chicken coop at Beulah Ralph!  Many schools around CPS are doing this, as a way to encourage Place-Based Learning.  It ties in nicely with our living and non-living science unit. It is located within the kindergarten playground at the front of the school.  You can learn more at this website https://flashsegg-cademy.weebly.com/

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we learned the correct name, sound and letter formation for lowercase r and e this week. 

Please use the following verbal prompts (and make sure your child is saying these verbal prompts as well) when practicing at home:

r-down, up, curve

e-across, over, around, open

Some have asked for guidance on how to properly make the letter sounds.  I appreciate you wanting to reinforce their learning at home!  Check our class Facebook page for a video we made this week that models the correct sounds.  It is easier to post on there, than within this blog.

Writing Workshop: we are working on organizing our thinking and writing this week.  We made this anchor chart to help us know the steps of the Writing Process. I'm seeing more and more children trying to add labels and words to their stories! 

Ask your child what they wrote about during writing time this week!

Math: this week we focused on circles, rectangles, counting to tell the number of objects, organizing the things we count to make sure we only count an object once and using 10 frames to make numbers in different ways (example: 7 red counters and 3 yellow counters in a 10 frame makes 10, but so does 5 red and 5 yellow, etc.).

Friday Craft: we made Candy Corn Bandits!  Watch out!  These sneaky guys like to steal your Halloween candy!  The kids loved these guys!

Social Skills: we read the book A bad case of tattle tongue. We've had a bit of tattling occurring in our classroom, so we are learning the difference between tattling (telling a teacher to get someone in trouble) and reporting (helping someone who is hurt/sick or if you are hurt/sick).  Sometimes it's hard to understand which is which in Kindergarten.  We are working on using our words if it is a kid size problem and knowing when we should get an adult. 

Heroes Day: we have been sharing about the heroes special to us as students have been bringing them in to display for the upcoming Heroes Day.  You can still turn these in next week if you know a veteran and would like their picture displayed for Heroes Day on November 5th. 

Science: our new chicken coop has tied in nicely with our living and non-living science unit!  The Kindergarten chicken has officially been named Cotton Candy, lol.  Our class voted for Oreo to be the name on the ballot representing our class, but Cotton Candy was the most popular vote in the final election among all Kindergarten students at Beulah Ralph. 

It was also an exciting week because we were able to "chick sit" baby chickens from Ms. Cohen's 3rd grade classroom for a short time on Thursday!  Every year, third grade students hatch chickens and are kind enough to let us see them for a bit!  

STEM activity: today we did a fun STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) activity in the Media Center with Mrs. Fitch! We listened to the fun book Room on the Broom and had to figure out how to balance the witch and all the animals on the broom!  They had to draft a plan and work with a partner to try out their plan.  If the plan didn't work, they had to revise and try again.  Great teamwork and problem solving skills during this time! 

Ask your child to tell you about this and what materials they used!  Room on the Broom was also turned into a short movie and available through various streaming services if you want to watch it at home! 

Pumpkin decorating: it was so fun seeing all of the creative pumpkins that families decorated to display in the media center this week and next!  We had two of our own families participate!  Missed out this year?  No worries, Mrs. Fitch does this every year!

Life is more fun with friends!