Category Archives: Newsletters

News of the Week—Jan 11-15

Hooray for the hard working kinders!! We are working hard to make smart choices at school (keeping hands, to self, using kind words, following school rules, etc) while being ready to learn AND to listen when others talk. The kinders are also working hard to put their eyes on the teacher so that all directions/instructions are heard.  

MATH: This week we practiced counting things, writing the number of objects and then using an equal or not equal sign. We worked hard on noticing five groups. We looked at numbers 1-10 and noticed if there was a group of 5 within that number. We found the 5 group and circled it as well as drew 5 groups. We practiced adding and subtracting numbers.  The kinders played SCOOP UP THE SNOWBALLS, a game using paper snowballs, because real snowballs would melt in our room on Friday.  The game focused on writing and the identifying = and not = symbols. I am sorry about not being able to show you a picture but here are the directions.  Scatter paper snowballs on the floor.  While counting up to 3, have 2 people pick up as many of the snowballs as they can hold in their hands.  Lay and count the number of snowballs each person picked up.  Write each number and write = or not = between the numbers to compare the numbers.  Ask your kinder….they can show you how to play. It was as hit!! 🙂

 

PHONICS/LITERACY: We read a popcorn word book, highlighting the popcorn words we know! We listened for middle sounds in words and placed the picture by the correct vowel. We gave Mabel (our phonics stuffed elephant) encouragement to try and write words. We helped her by writing sentences and then showing her how to write some popcorn words!

POPCORN WORDS:   MAKE       SAID        We found them in our day’s messages and within our popcorn books.  We met Flippy the Dophin (a beanie baby used for a visual reading strategy) to learn about “Magic e” who quietly tells the hard worker (vowel) to say their letter name (long a) instead of their letter sound (short /a/ sound) in “make”. We had fun playing with letters to create more words using -ake.  We also learned to look for “talking” lines (quotation marks) to let us know that a character is talking.  Identifying “said” helped making this task easier.  Many kinders noticed that “ai” in the word said made the  short /e/ sound but in other words like rain, sail, “ai” work together to say a.  How silly and sometimes confusing! 🙂

WRITING:  More HOW TO….writing took place this week.  Our topics were How to wrap a gift, How to go shopping, How to make a PB and J and How to make a sundae. We are writing as a class, remembering to include capital letters, spaces, sentence stoppers and to use as many popcorn (sight) words as possible.  We are really enjoying this kind of writing!

READING: This week we learned that careful readers check their reading.  They ask themselves “Does it make sense?  Did it sound right?” If not, they don’t just keep going. Readers try to fix it. Wise Owl, a beanie baby, is a fun visual reading strategy the kinders met to help them remember this. They also learned that PATTERN POWER doesn’t only help you read the words in books but patterns can also help you think about your whole book.  Does the ending go with the pattern? What is this book really saying?  It is a good thing that we know our letters & sounds because that helps readers read words and figure out unknown words.  The kinders used ABC books to be encouraged to think, talk, play and sing the alphabet.  They were able to get to know all of the fun ways that letters and sounds go.  We also were reminded that we can activate our sound power in a bigger way to try a word they may not know by looking closely at the beginning sounds in it. Then think, “What word could this be?”  It is so exciting to see the kinders becoming readers!

We used the pattern and the ending to understand our books…

We used our sound power to help us read – we looked at the first letter in the word and the picture…

We also enjoyed reading Move Over, Rover! by Karen Beaumont, a fun story about animals climbing into Rover’s doghouse. We made a text to text connection between these two books by noticing that animals climbed into a mitten and a doghouse.

BREAK TIME:  The kinders had fun playing rhyming games, addition puzzles, building with shapes and lacing alphabet beads to make their names & words.  A fun way to take a brain break!  

FUN TIME DURING CHOICES:  Enjoy the pictures of these fabulous kinders.

REMINDERS:

WINTER GEAR: It looks like we might get some snow again this weekend along with cold weather.  Please remember to send your kinder with snow pants, boots, a hat, gloves/mittens and coat every day!  We want them to stay warm! 🙂

*BACKPACK SNACKS & WATER BOTTLE:  Don’t forget we take a snack break 2 times each day…morning & afternoon.  Please include your kinder in choosing their snacks so that they like them.  Don’t forget to give your kinder a healthy breakfast.  Many are very hungry by snack time because they have not eaten breakfast.

HEADPHONES:  Please send in a pair of headphones for STEAM if you have not done so already.  See previous posting for further information.

UPCOMING DATES:

*Monday, January 18— MUSIC

*Tuesday, January 19—GYM

*Wednesday, January 20—ARTTAKE HOME BOOKS & LIBRARY Don’t forget ALL of your books!  Homework packets due

*Thursday, January 21—STEAM 

*Friday, January 22—MUSIC. Report cards come home

*Friday, February 5: Fast Friday (early release day)

*Monday, February 8: Winter Break

Have a great weekend.   Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Jan 4-8

 

Oh, it is good to be back with my kinders.  I missed seeing them:)  We jumped right into learning this week by talking about setting goals for what we might want to learn or do this coming year.  We thought of goals that we can accomplish at school. For example: to add numbers, to be kind, to learn more popcorn words, to read books, to share. We made a fun Happy New Year craft. Our ‘party people’ will come home soon but for now they are decorating our room for the first part of January.  Welcome 2021

 

POPCORN WORDS: WAS    AT    THAT    We added three more words to our growing list of popcorn words that we are working on identifying in a snap. Many of the kinders noticed right away that “at” is hiding in “that” and that they rhyme. We also talked about how some letters make different sounds like in “was”. We read 2 books using these words and added the books to our blue book bins.  The kinders are doing an amazing job identifying “new” and “old” popcorn words.  We even noticed that -at words were inside our shared reading poem My Cat has a Hat.

MATH:  The kinders used common shapes to make new shapes. The kinders practiced sorting and classifying objects while giving reasons why they classified the items that way by using pictures of shapes and animals/people. We also practiced our teen numbers. We learned about how there is a “hidden” 10 behind teen numbers. For example, in the number 13 – there is a 10 and 3 extra ones. 

 

HANDWRITING:  We focused on learning the proper formation of the CLOCKWISE upper letters P,B,R,D,J in their booklets. The kinders are doing a super job writing letters in isolation but transferring the proper formation during ‘regular’ writing time is not consistent.  Extra encouragement as they write at home is always helpful. 🙂  The kinders were excited to see that I exchanged their names on their pencil boxes to include their last name. They will now begin adding their last name to their papers, working towards writing their full name by memory.  

READING: We began a new unit called Bigger Books, Bigger Reading Muscles. The kinders learned that some books are considered challenging because they have more words and more lines, longer words, new words and surprise endings.  That is when persistent power needs to be activated!  Books that contain patterns makes reading fun so PATTERN POWER is needed! We learned that when readers figure out the pattern it makes reading easier. We also found out that sometimes the pattern changes at the end giving us a surprise! The kinders were encouraged to use a new tool…a reading mat to organize their books as they read.  They begin by stacking their books from easier to hardest and then placing their books on the side with the green arrow because it tells them where to start reading. The kinders move their books to the other side when they are finished reading them. Once all of the books have been moved to the finished side, the kinders can move the books back to the green arrow which will allow them to go back and re-read their books again. I am so proud of how hard the kinders are working during reading.

LITERACY:  The kinders worked on identifying ending sounds in words, putting words in correct sentence order, reading CVC words and identifying and writing popcorn words. The kinders practiced making more words by taking away “th” from “that” and adding different beginning letters to “at”. (cat, fat, sat, mat, etc).  Have fun at home using your Cat slider to practice this skill. 

WRITING:  I am so proud of the kinders and their writing. This week we began writing HOW TO…. stories.  We shared what we thought we could teach others to do with our partners.  Some examples were: how to ride a bike, how to read a book, how to play football and more. We learned that writers write about what they know, use mentor books to help them write, ask themselves “Does this make sense?” when putting pictures in order and have partners ask questions while deciding the steps. Our writing topics were How to Get Ready for School, How to Make Cookies, How to Build a Snowman and How to make a Root Beer Float. We did some cutting and pasting (instead of drawing) to put the pictures in order of First, Next, Then, Last and then wrote words to tell the steps. The kinders did a marvelous job! We will write more HOW TO… stories next week.

PHONICS:  We will be looking closely at how parts of words work together for awhile.  We used our pointer power to remind ourselves that each word in a sentence gets one tap as we read. The kinders practiced this by writing sentences for Mabel on their whiteboards, using snap words, before re-reading the sentence and tapping each word. (Ex: I can write sentences. I can do it.) We had fun pretending to be a sentence by having some kinders stand in a line and then saying each word by pointing to each kinder.  They were reminded that it is easier to read a sentence when there are spaces between words instead of having words squeezed together.

*TAKE HOME BOOK PROGRAM:  I am so excited for this program to begin. Books and a detailed informational note came home this week. The kinders will keep and read the books at home before returning them each Wednesday.  We will exchange books and the kinders will take home new books each Thursday.  It is so exciting to see and help our kinders become readers. 

REMINDERS:

*WINTER GEAR: Please send appropriate winter gear with your kinder each day.  It keeps them warm when playing outside. An extra pair of socks, mittens or gloves might be a good idea to keep inside their backpacks if their original pair gets wet.  Please take time to label your ALL of your kinder’s winter attire if you have not done so. Often these winter clothes are easier to be transported in an extra bag (If you go this route PLEASE be sure to label the bag with your kinder’s name).  If you are in need of winter clothes, PLEASE reach out. We have many helpful resources at Georgetown.

*BACKPACK SNACKS & WATER BOTTLE:  Don’t forget we take a snack break 2 times each day…morning & afternoon.  Please include your kinder in choosing their snacks.  Some kinders are commenting that they don’t like the snacks that are packed.  Thank you!

*EXTRA CLOTHES:  Please check to see that these clothes, stored in their backpacks, are weather appropriate now that our season has changed.  

UPCOMING DATES:

*Monday, January 11—MUSIC

*Tuesday, January 12—GYM

*Wednesday, January 13—ART;  LIBRARY and TAKE HOME books due!  Don’t forget your books! Homework packet due! 

*Thursday, January 14—STEAM; If your kinder would like a sack lunch from the lunch service, please email me or write a note by Thursday, 1/14

*Friday, January 15—MUSIC; Fast Friday (Early Release) @ 12:15pm

*Winter Break: February 6-8

Have a wonderful weekend!  Mrs. Bohl

News of the Week—Dec 14-18

Here is what we did the first 2 days of school.  See the previous postings about the Holiday Party, Grinch Day and the Polar Express Day.

POPCORN WORDS:  Review Week

READING:   We used our superpowers to read a mini book about 5 Little Reindeers and looked for popcorn words.  We used our comprehension skills to figure out parts of The Gingerbread Man story such as the characters, setting, problem and solution. 

MATH:  It was fun using Santa’s sleigh to practice math problems. We added “presents” onto Santa’s sleigh and subtracted “presents” from Santa’s sleigh. We wrote the equations to go along with our math stories. We practiced seeing 10’s and extra ones in teen numbers. We played a fun elf game to practice partners of 10. We counted holiday objects and decided which group had more.

LITERACY:  We searched for and colored popcorn words on a tree. The words ended up looking like ornaments. We worked on listening for beginning sounds in words as well as spelling CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words on gingerbread men.  We worked on hearing the syllables in words too. The kinders did a fabulous job!

Stay safe and stay healthy during the holiday season. Enjoy the next two weeks with your kinder….making memories together.  If you find you are in need of some activities to do with your kinder you can refer to the red paper that was sent home or look below for ideas…..

*practice counting by 1’s and 10’s to 100

*writing numbers 1-30

*practice identifying popcorn words using your flash cards

*create and write a small moment (personal narrative) story or create a list of things

*practice writing first and last name (first letter capital, rest of letters lower case)

*read books together 

*go sledding, make a snowman( if we have snow), drink hot chocolate, have fun together!

REMINDERS

*POPCORN WORDS:            REVIEW OF WORDS         Ask your kinder to show you how to play Scramble Them Up.   (Use your letter cards to scramble up the letters in popcorn words…and then put the letters in correct order. Example:  okol  is  look)

*WINTER GEAR: Please send appropriate winter gear (when appropriate) with your kinder each day.  It keeps them warm when playing outside.  An extra pair of socks, mittens or gloves might be a good idea to keep inside their backpacks if their original pair gets wet.  Please take time over break to label your kinder’s snow pants and boots if you have not done this.

*CLEAN OUT BACKPACKS:  Please take a few minutes and empty your kinder’s backpack of unnecessary items.  Many of the backpacks are full of extra items (stuffed animals, blankets, etc).  It is hard to find space for folders, shoes, lunch boxes.  Thank you!

*The  JANUARY calendar  is posted under CALENDARS at the top of the blog.  A paper copy was sent home this week.

*The January lunch menu is available to read under the FOOD SERVICE tab on the side bar.

UPCOMING DATES:

*Monday, December 21 – Friday, January 1:  NO SCHOOL, Holiday Break. School resumes on Monday, January 4!

*Monday, January 4—Back to School; STEAM

*Tuesday, January 5—MUSIC

*Wednesday, January 6—GYM;  LIBRARY Don’t forget your book! 

*Thursday, January 7—ART Birthday celebration for Marissa

*Friday, January 8—STEAM

*Friday, Jan 15…Fast Friday (Early Release) @ 12:15pm

~~~I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; hoping that you spend time making family memories that will be remembered fondly.  I look forward to seeing my kinders on January 4. I hope that you enjoyed the gifts your kinder made for you! Thank you for sharing your sweet kinder with me each day! 🙂  Mrs. Bohl 

Polar Express Day!

Wearing comfy pajamas was just right for boarding the Polar Express today.

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The day was filled with reading the book The Polar Express, finding rhyming pictures based on the Polar Express, watching the movie, making CVC words, drinking hot chocolate (with and without marshmallows), writing teen numbers, solving addition & subtraction stories using marshmallows and so much more!

 

The day ended with a package delivered to our classroom!  Inside were silver jingle bells from Santa Claus!!!  They were super cold…probably because they arrived right from the North Pole.  WE BELIEVE!!

Holiday Party!

 The kinders and I had an awesome time today!  We had so much fun learning while doing special holiday activities while wearing holiday wear…shirts, sweatshirts, socks and more.

CHRISTMAS BINGO

MAKING CANDY CANES FROM BEADS

“THE BEST TREE EVER” CRAFT

A MATH GAME & LITERACY

SNACK: REINDEER PUDDING, CHRISTMAS COOKIES (thank you Marissa) & JUICE BOXES

News of the Week—Dec 7-11

What a week!  A few days of at home learning and a few days of in person learning at school.  It feels good to be back with friends!  I just need to say it one more time…THANK YOU, THANK YOU for supporting your kinder in so MANY ways while we were at home learning!  🙂

POPCORN WORDS:     WHAT.   IT

MATH:   The kinders worked on solving addition and subtraction math stories, writing out equations, building teen numbers, writing teen numbers and seeing 5 groups within 6-10.

WRITING:  The kinders wrote a small moment story of their choice.  They did a fabulous job including capital letters, finger spaces, sentence stoppers, sight words and detail drawings.

LITERACY:  The kinders did activities that focused on parts of a sentence (putting the sentence in order to make sense), word families (rhymes), syllables, beginning sounds and identifying and writing popcorn words.

READING:  The kinders celebrated being readers!  They learned what it means to retell a book after reading.  It is important to understand what we are reading and we can practice this by retelling our books. The kinders read stories to family members, stuffed animals and friends.  They reviewed using their super powers to help them be the best reader they can be!  🙂

HOLIDAY FUN:  We enjoyed reading some different versions of The Gingerbread Man.  We found out that 14 kinders like gingerbread cookies and 5 do not.  The kinders were excited to make stockings for Santa and super excited to use glitter to write their names. 🙂

KOOL KINDER:  A new round of being the Kool Kinder has begun.  This time the kinders will need to use their writing skills (draw a picture and write a sentence) to show what they like to do as a family.  We found out that families like to ride bikes, go camping, go hiking and go to Great Wolf Lodge. We can’t wait to see and hear what fun activity you do, as a family, to create memories!

REMINDERS

In preparation for snow session, please remember. When snow is on the ground, please have the following in your kinder’s backpack and don’t forgot to label!!

  1. Snow pants
  2. Boots-designed for the snow (consider velcro closing if purchasing new)
  3. A Warm Coat
  4. Mittens/Gloves
  5. A Hat

SNACKS – Please remember to send your kinder with 2 snacks and a water bottle each day. We have a morning and an afternoon snack. Due to COVID restrictions, we can not use our drinking fountain.

HOT LUNCH–It is FREE to ALL students through June 2021:)  If your kinder orders milk with their home lunch that is a charge.

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, Dec 14—ART. Wear Red, Green and White

*Tuesday, Dec 15—STEAM Wear a Holiday Hat (Santa, antlers, etc)

*Wednesday, Dec 16—MUSIC; Library–Please help your kinder remember their library book.  Homework packet is due   Wear a Holiday shirt, sweatshirt, etc

*Thursday, Dec 17–-GYM Grinch Day..Dress in Grinch style

*Friday, Dec 18—ART Polar Express Day. Wear pj’s. (no stuffed animals or blankets please)

*Dec 19-Jan 3–Holiday Vacation

*Monday, Jan 4–Return to school

 

News of the Week—Nov 30-Dec 4

You did a GREAT job with our “Learning at Home” this week!  I hope you found the learning packets helpful as you navigated through our google classroom’s daily assignments. Thank you for all of your flexibility and patience with our kindergarten team as we maneuvered through this change in learning.  As of today, we will be returning to in-person learning on Wednesday, Dec. 9.  However, with the current climate of constant change please be sure to stay tuned to our class blog and Georgetown blog for any updates.

It was SO WONDERFUL to see your kinders join in on our daily meetings!  I LOVED seeing them bring their cozy items every day and work with me on our Daily Morning Work Packets. Being able to read stories and have some laughs with telling jokes was enjoyable too.  It was AWESOME to see the kinders really “lean in” to our online learning time together and engage in the meetings.  THANK YOU, parents and grandparents and cousin, for all of your help! 🙂

Please have your kinder return the following items to school on Wednesday, Dec 9.  We will need them as we learn and work at school.  Thank you so much!

Specials “to-go bags”

Learning Packets, Homework, any papers completed by your kinder while at home.

December Morning Work Packet

Gym shoes

UPCOMING DATES

*Mon. Dec 7 ONLINE LEARNING DAY

  • 8:45am Morning Meeting
  • 12:15pm Afternoon Meeting
  • ART

*Tues. Dec 8 ONLINE LEARNING DAY

  • 8:45am Morning Meeting
  • 12:15pm Afternoon Meeting
  • STEAM

*Wed. Dec 9 IN PERSON LEARNING 

  • Please bring back supplies listed above
  • STEAM

*Thurs. Dec 10   MUSIC

*Fri. Dec 11   GYM

Virtual Learning Information

I hope that you had a relaxing Thanksgiving and enjoyed your day together as a family.  I am truly thankful for all of my sweet kinders and you, as families!  To be able to start our year together and have 12 weeks of in person instruction, building a classroom community and learning has been a gift.  I cannot thank you enough for sharing your kinder with me!!  

I also what to thank. you for your patience, understanding, and flexibility during these last two weeks.  You have been given A LOT of information.  PLEASE KNOW that if at any point you have a question, wondering, or need, email me and I will help. 

Google Classroom:  Our online google classroom work will begin on Tuesday, December 1.  Please reach out to me if you have any questions on getting into our google classroom. I will do my best to help you. A link to our Google Classroom is on our class blog listed under the  CURRICULUM heading on the right.  You can also find the Daily Online Learning Schedule under our CURRICULUM heading tab as well.  I hope that you will find the “At home learning” bag helpful during this time.  All of these tools are printable as well under our CURRICULUM tab too.

Daily LIVE meetings:  PLEASE know that if you cannot make these times they will be recorded for you to access at a later time that is convenient for you.  I will be updating our LIVE meeting links with a recorded version once they have taken place.  So, if you miss a LIVE time just go into our google classroom and click on the link you missed.  It will be updated with a recorded meeting for you to view.  It is my understanding that if you cannot attend a LIVE meeting you will need to call (616-797-9797) your kinder into the office as you would with an in-person absent day.   You can also email our attendance secretary, Mindy Jeltema at mjeltem@hpseagle.net.  Attendance will only be taken during our morning meeting and afternoon meeting times.  

Meal Information:  Free meals are available for all children 18 and under.  You must place an order ahead of time.  You can click this link to go to the order form.  You will be able to pick up these meals at:

  • Hudsonville Freshman Campus, 3370 Allen Street, Hudsonville, 49426.  Front Vestibule area (faces Allen Street).
  • 3:30 – 4:00 p.m.

Upcoming Dates

*Monday, Nov. 30. Kinders work on learning packets sent home.  No online learning today.

*Tuesday, Dec. 1

  • Morning Meeting 8:45 a.m.
  • Afternoon Meeting 12:15 p.m.
  • STEAM

*Wednesday, Dec. 2

  • Morning Meeting 8:45 a.m.
  • Flex Day, kinders work independently. 
  • NO TEACHER OFFICE HOURS TODAY.  Feel free to email me with any questions at kbohl@hpseagles.net.

*Thursday, Dec. 3

  • Morning Meeting @ 8:45 a.m.
  • Afternoon Meeting @ 12:15
  • MUSIC

*Friday, Dec. 4

  • Morning Meeting @ 8:45 a.m.
  • Afternoon Meeting @ 12:15 p.m.
  • GYM

News of the Week—Nov 16-20

We had very short in-person week in kindergarten.  Look what we did at school.

MATH: We took our unit #2 math test.  This kinders did a great job!  We also practiced putting numbers 1-10 in the correct order by playing a fun fall fox game.

WRITING: We continued to work on writing our personal narrative/small moment stories this week.  The kinders thought of a real story that happened to them.  They told the story to their partner and then worked on their OWN story by writing the beginning and middle of their story in a 3-page writing booklet. They can finish the ending at home.  They were reminded to use ALL of our writing charts when writing real stories. They learned that writers say their sentence, working hard to write word after word on their paper.  

READING:  We added another Super Power to our chart. PERSISTENCE POWER reminds us to never give up when trying to tackle unknown words.  Using our Super Powers really helps us be Super Readers!  

zPOPCORN WORDS:  AN,  CAN,  MAN,  RAN    The kinders were excited when they noticed that “an” was hiding inside of our other popcorn words.  Our shared poem and book also included this week’s word…..can.  We had fun making up a new story for when Max gets ready for a rainy day after reading how he gets ready to play outside.

HANDWRITING:  We completed learning the proper formation of the lower case letters j,g,q,p,y,  This booklet came home with your kinder.  Please refer to it as you practice at home.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS for this month 

SPECIAL TO GO BAGS: You are welcome to use the supplies inside of your kinder’s to go bags but please keep all materials inside the bag.  Once we return to school, the kinders will be asked to return the bags to school for usage during their special classes.

LEARNING PACKETS:  Please refer to the 2 learning packets that your kinder took home this week.  Be mindful of the week’s dates as you continue learn at home.

UPCOMING DATES

*Thurs Nov 19 At home learning.  Please refer to the learning packet.

*Fri Nov 20. At home learning.  Please refer to the learning packet.  Class Zoom Meeting 10:30-11:00. Link will be sent to your email this weekend.

*Mon Nov 23 At home learning. Please refer to the learning packet.

*Tues Nov 24. At home learning. Please refer to the learning packet.

*Nov. 25—Nov. 27—NO SCHOOL, Thanksgiving Vacation   

*Mon Nov 30 At home learning.  Please refer to the learning packet.

*Tues Dec 1 Virtual learning begins 

Again, thank you for taking the time to attend your kinder’s virtual conference this week.  You have amazing kinders and I am so grateful to spend my days with them.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitant to contact me at kbohl@hpseagles.net.  I am willing to help you as we navigate and learn together in kindergarten.

I am very THANKFUL for each kinder and how they make a difference in our class family.   Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

News of the Week—Nov 9-13

It is hard to believe that it is mid-November and we are looking forward to Thanksgiving.  We had some fun making some silly looking turkeys to help decorate your home.

POPCORN WORDS    OR    FOR

READING: We continued learning about our Super Reader Powers!  We learned that PARTNER POWER can help make our reading stronger.  When using this superpower, one partner reads and the other partner points to each word. We learned that PICTURE POWER helps readers figure out unknown words or tricky words.  Pictures are helpful when reading. We learned that SNAP WORD POWER helps readers read snap words (popcorn words) quickly. We practiced using this superpower by reading the nursery rhyme The Itsy Bitsy Spider. We learned that SOUND POWER is needed when readers need more help than just looking at the pictures. We looked at a pictures of a beetle and guessed what the word would be.  Then we uncovered the first letter and made that sound.  Finally we uncovered the whole word learning that it was a beetle. 

WRITING:  We reviewed what a small moment story was.  Mrs. Bohl explained that a really big story is like a watermelon.  We want to pick just one seed out of the watermelon and tell a seed story.  Our Fun Fall Friday could be a watermelon story so we picked one seed to write about….making our marshmallow spider webs.  We practiced writing a beginning, a middle and an end. The kinders drew pictures on each page and wrote words to on each page. They even added a speech bubble to tell what someone in their picture was saying, just like in Piggy and Elephant stories!  The kinders are taking risks writing and doing a fabulous job!

HANDWRITING:  We practiced writing SLANT lowercase letters of k,v,w,x,z
PHONICS:  We practiced hearing for syllables, sorted pictures by the final sounds, spelled sight word by movement and more.

MATH: The kinders worked on showing the -1 pattern.  They practiced identifying their shapes and learned about a new shape…a hexagon. We learned that hexagons have 6 sides and 6 corners while singing a fun song about hexagons.The kinders had to find certain shapes and color them the correct color.  We also helped Puzzled Penguin learn the difference between number 6 and number 9.  We wrote our numbers in order and helped Puzzled Penguin do the same thing. Good thing we helped him, he gets puzzled sometimes.  Next week we will be taking our Unit #2 math test.  We had so much fun playing FIND THE TURKEY when he was hidden behind numbers 1-20.

WANTS AND NEEDS:  We reminded ourselves the difference between wants and needs.  Wants are things we wish we had (doll, baseball).  Needs are things that we need to have. (food, water, clothes, shelter)  We sang a fun song about wants and needs before completing a coloring sheet.

SPLIT LIT:   This week we started our new Split Lit. center activities.  After getting a chance to assess and re-assess the kinders, I was able to create a group of activities that enables them to work on the skills they need to practice the most.  The kinders spend this time with working in small groups either with Mrs.Bynum/Mrs. DeGroot, myself or working independently on literacy activities such as identifying and writing letters, reading emerging books, rhyming words, beginning sounds and more. The kinders love using their Reading Binders.  These binders have literacy skills inside them that they get to decide what to work on during literacy time. 

REMINDERS

It was announced today through a district email, that Nov. 23 and 24 are now remote learning days for Hudsonville Public Schools.  I will be sending home a learning packet with your kinder next week for each of these days.  This packet must be completed over these days home and returned to school the following week. 

In preparation for snow session, please remember. When snow is on the ground, please have the following in your kinder’s backpack:

  1. Snow pants
  2. Boots-designed for the snow
  3. A Warm Coat
  4. Mittens/Gloves
  5. A Hat

SNACKS – Please remember to send your kinder with 2 snacks and a water bottle each day. We have a morning and an afternoon snack. Due to COVID restrictions, we can not use our drinking fountain.

Our annual P.E. C.A.R.E.S food drive ends this week. We are asking for your help in bringing in non-perishable food items for Love Inc. in Hudsonville.  Food items to consider are canned vegetables and fruits, pasta, rice, baked beans, black beans, kidney beans, peanut butter, tuna fish, etc. (please no ramen noodles) The class with the most items at noon on Nov. 18 will win a bowling trip to Hudsonville Lanes (if allowed later in the year) and a P.E. C.A.R.E.S t-shirt.

UPCOMING DATES

*Monday, Nov 16—GYM; Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences  4:00-8:00pm

*Tuesday, Nov 17—ART 

*Wednesday, Nov 18—STEAM; Library–Please help your kinder remember their library book.  Homework packet is due  Virtual Parent-Teacher Conferences 4:00-8:00pm  Book Fair Purchase Day

*Thursday, Nov 19–-MUSIC Birthday celebration for Kole

*Friday, Nov 20—GYM. Birthday celebration for Parker (11/23)

*Monday, Nov 23 & Tuesday, Nov 24–NO IN-PERSON CLASS A learning packet will come home.

*Nov. 24—Nov. 27—NO SCHOOL, Thanksgiving Vacation

Have a great weekend.  I am looking forward to meeting with you next week to share your kinder’s progress.  .    Mrs. Bohl