Shape Fun...

This past week we have been working on identifying 2-Dimensional shapes. The children have to be able to recognize circle, rectangle, square, triangle, and hexagon. The children are doing a fantastic job recognizing them. We went on a shape hunt around the school to see what shapes we noticed on the building. We were able to find windows that were rectangles and squares. We even saw the circle window on top of the building. We noticed the bricks were rectangles and a metal piece that looked like a diamond, but we were smart kindergartners and knew it was a square standing on its point. We made shape posters by looking through magazines and looking for a particular shape. The children worked as a team at their tables to complete the posters (I will say they did an AWESOME job working together)! We challenged the children to look for hexagons and I was amazed on the objects they found in the magazines. The children were able to find snowflakes, beehives, and a game that were all in the shape of a hexagon! We are moving into 3-Dimensional shapes and will notice the similarities and differences of the objects!

I am thankful...

Pictures of our great Feast...thanks for all of your help...I am thankful to be working with such fantastic families! There are more pictures of our feast on the following link: http://mrstahlkindergarten.blogspot.com/p/pictures-of-our-class.html

AM Class

PM Class

Our Fall Feast...

Our Fall Feast will be this Tuesday (November 23 at 9:30 and 1:15). We are very excited about our feast and activities for the day. We are asking for children to bring in one thing of nuts, fruit, and/or vegetables. We will be having the items you bring in, a little bit of turkey, and milk to drink. To make this day a success we are in need of volunteers to help on this day. If you can volunteer please come a little early to help cut and set out food. I know the children will appreciate your help and they love to see their parents at school! We would love to help Your children have been very busy creating Pilgrim hats, Native American Headbands, Necklaces, and Turkey Plates! We have been studying the various lifestyles of Pilgrims and Native Americans. We have been comparing and contrasting thier life to our ours today. We also have been talking about what we are thankful for and writing about this. This is probably one of my favorite days in Kindergarten! I cannot wait to see the children and take lots of pictures. I will share those with you all once the feast concludes!

Conferences...

We are three-fourths of the way through our conferences. I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed talking with each one of you about your child's progress. If you have not had your conference you may be scheduled for next Tuesday (Nov. 23). Your children are very important to me and I love each one of them. I have seen growth in them since the beginning of September and I look forward to seeing them continue to grow as learners and kids throughout the year. I have to say "Thank You" to all of you for helping your child. I only see them for just less than 3 hours a day and without your support at home, then the growth would not be occurring. I just continue to ask you to work through letters, sounds, and numbers. I mentioned to some of you some of the key skills we are approaching in 2nd quarter. Children must be able to count to 50, write numbers 1-10, and begin to show alphabet knowledge when writing words. Please continue to work on these skills at home. I am hoping you are seeing some transfer skills of your child beginning to do (try) to read words as you are out and about. They are becoming little readers and they are soaking up lots of knowledge! I look forward to continuing to work with you throughout the remainder of the year. If you have any questions or thoughts which arise please feel free to call, email, or send in a note. I will get back with you within 24 hours.

Cover, Uncover, Deck of Cards...

Math is upon us and I have to say it is one of my favorite things to teach; however, if you ask Miss Bailey (our student teacher) she says everything is my favorite thing to teach and read because I use this statement quite a bit (I must love kindergarten). We have been working really hard on number sense these past few weeks. We learned how to play Cover & Uncover. This is a simple game which you roll a dice and cover up the number shown. You then roll the dice again and cover up the next number. The object is to be the first person to cover up your board. Next, you then can play this with all the numbers covered up and then try to be the first person to uncover your board. The kids really enjoy this game. Another great game is using the deck of cards ace through 10. We show the kids the ace and they learn this means 1. We then take the cards and ask them to "steal" a card. Then the other person has to figure out what card is missing. It is a fun game where kids must understand numbers and order of numbers. I have to say the kids are doing a great job learning math! They are becoming mathematicians! Thanks for your continued support!

Our Feast...

Those of you new to kindergarten may not know this tradition we have and those of you who are returning kindergarten parents, it's again that time: The Annual Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast (November 23 at 9:30 & 1:15). To make this a success we need your help! We ask for you all to help supply the food we eat at the feast. We are in need of the following: nuts, fruits, popcorn, and vegetables. We ask for various types of nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews, etc.). In regards to the fruits we ask for some traditional fruits and some nontraditional fruits which kids may have not experienced. In the past we have had star fruit, grapefruit, pomegranate, and kiwi. If you can help supply any of these foods, let your child's teacher know. In addition, we are looking for volunteers to help with set-up, cutting, and serving the kids this day. There will be more information coming out at the beginning of next week!

The kids are getting very excited because we have been reading various thanksgiving books and talking about what we are thankful. We will be making a classbook of the predictable sentence "I am thankful for..." I appreciate your help and look forward to annual feast this year!

Report Cards...

Well we made it to the end of the 1st quarter :) Report cards will be coming home on Friday (Nov. 12). You will notice your child will receive one of two grades (AP or NP). An AP means your child has achieved the required goal. If your child receives an NP, then your child did not mean the required goal. We assess the children over the entire quarter on required skills and the children have multiple opportunities to meet the goal. If your child receives an AP, I would like for you to continue to work on the skill and ask in depth questions or begin working on a harder skill. If your child received an NP for a skill, then I would continue to work on the skill at home so your child can achieve the goal. We continue to work on these skills at school; however, we need your support at home too. We are working together as a team to help your children. I urge you to keep your child's report card so you can see the skills we will be working on in the 2nd quarter. Each quarter the skills become harder and more in depth. We will use the report card during your child's conferences.