What a week! Weekly Wrap-up 10-9-15

I'm going to mix all our fun pictures of learning in with the boring words, to make the reading of the words more enjoyable!

Upcoming week:
Riggs:
Continued study of new and review phonograms.  We will likely get through these new phonograms: j, k, l, m, n.  Thank you for continuing to encourage your kindergartener to slowly and CORRECTLY form phonograms as they say the NAME of the phonogram.

Saxon 1 Math:
I will fill this in when I get back to school and can look.

Core Knowledge:
We will continue our study of globes and continents.

Life skill:
Shoe tying (we will hopefully enlist the help of our eighth grade buddies to help us with this skill).  Students will learn the standard way to tie shoes, not the bunny ears tied together method.  Students who already know how to tie shoes will get better at it, and also be a great help to other students who are learning.  They will also improve their verbal and social skills as they explain, model, and help their friends.

I have found with my own kids that the most important factor in helping children become competent shoe tie-ers is giving them the time they need to be successful.  We teach them how to do it, but then they need plenty of time to correctly do it in an unrushed manner, every time they leave the house.  Build into your leaving schedule five extra minutes for shoe tying.  It can be agonizing when you are running late, but it is essential in building this life skill.  I also made my kids untie their shoes when they pulled them off, so they were sure to tie them when they put them back on.

Other:
We have one more MAP test to do (the one scheduled for Thursday didn't happen, go figure!).

HARVEST FESTIVAL!  Please come for this fun, free, family event THIS coming Thursday, harvest festival and not a Halloween festival.
October 15.  Play games, win prizes, enjoy friends, and buy and eat tasty pumpkin and apple creations.  6:30 to 7:30.  Enter our apple- or pumpkin-based baking/cooking contest.  This is a time for an adult-child team to make a tasty treat (doesn't have to be baked) to enter in our contest.  The three categories are apple, pumpkin, and dietary restrictions (paleo, gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free, etc.).  Be sure your entries are in the lunch room by Thursday at 3:30.  Flyers will be sent home this coming week.  Please remember this is a harvest festival and not a Halloween festival.  This is a GREAT time to meet the families of your kindergartener's new friends!

Week in review:
Riggs:
We studied b, e, t, h, and i.  We realized that phonograms printed in books and magazines look different than how we print them.  We learned that there are a LOT of phonograms in books and magazines!

Saxon 1 Math:
We learned how to use geoboards to make shapes (great for fine motor skills!). We studied "some, some more" and "some, some went away" stories (addition and subtraction math sentences).  We practiced reading math sentences like mathematicians:  7 - 3 = 4 ("seven minus three equals four").  We sorted by one attribute (color, size, shape, etc.) and talked about "sorting rule."  We counted pennies and learned about the images on the penny.  Kindergarteners know a penny is also called a cent.

Core Knowledge:
We learned there are seven continents, and about some animals from each continent.  We learned about the North and South Pole.  We know we live on the continent of North America (which has the U.S., which has Oregon, which has Clackamas).

Other:
We went to an assembly about the water cycle, "Where's the Water, Watson?"

We ran and ran and ran and ran in our Jog-a-Thon!  Be sure to gather pledge money and drop it off in the office or put it in your child's homework folder (in an envelope with pledge form) by October 22.

These are our tough faces!

These are our tough faces!

These are our tough faces!

We had buddy time with our fourth grade buddies, who so kindly helped kindergarteners make a list of books they would like to purchase from the book fair (open before and after school all next week for your convenience, as well as during the HARVEST FESTIVAL).

Other things going on:
Lice:  we do NOT have lice in kindergarten.  I have tea-tree oil I liberally spray in the backpack area, carpet area, and our doorway to keep the critters out.  Feel free to do what your family needs to do in this situation!  Here's something Dr. Currey wrote up about deterring lice.

Room parent(s):  I was asked if I had a room parent and realized I don't have one!  This is a position for one or two adults who can commit a few hours a month to helping kindergarten run smoothly, who enjoy reaching out to families and organizing people.  Off the top of my head, here is the job description:

• Coordinate and encourage families to sign up for weekly classroom cleaning.
• Get trained and be on lice patrol (checking heads when there's an outbreak, and periodically), and encourage a few more adults to be trained for lice patrol.
• Coordinate and encourage families to contribute to the teacher appreciation lunch/brunch/breakfast when it is kindergarten's turn to host the meal (I believe it will be many months from now), as well as coordinate setup and takedown.