Here are twelve school related things I am grateful for (besides my 12 wonderful students!): 

1. Our fantastic, hard working and caring paraprofessionals – especially Mrs. Howard. I love having her in the classroom with me.
2. Our new P.E. teacher Ms. Brett and our new STEM teacher Ms. Cahill who always put the kids first.
3. The school suppling crayons to us this year and not having to put them on the supply list!
4. A clean classroom that’s toasty in the winter! Thanks Mr. Ted and Mr. James
5. Seeing my students from past and present each day all around the school.
6. Knitting and Finger knitting – It’s nice to have a warm scarf and hat for door duty in winter months that I made! (And we are making progress in our finger knitting skills!)
7. Kindergartners who like to sing, play and be imaginative.
8. The ability to learn new things and use them in my daily teaching practice. (Have you tried Rose, Bud, Thorn at home yet?)
9. Mrs. Peever, my next door classroom neighbor and supportive colleague.
10. The office staff and lunchroom staff – Ms. April, Mrs. Katso, Mrs. Shena – they all make the school day run smoothly.
11. All those new and beautiful library books for the picking!!! We are so lucky!
12. The Johnson School community for continuing to be open to new ideas and practices and being supportive of our students.

Have a great Thanksgiving break with your family and friends!

Sincerely,
Ms. Purdin

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This week we are learning about animal habitats in science and the first Thanksgiving in Social Studies. It feels like we are winding up our learning at the first trimester comes to an end. Today was the 50th day of school – where does the time go??

We are having our Term 1 Coffee Chat on Wednesday, November 22 from 7:50 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. in our classroom to see all the work we have done this term. I will be sending out a formal invite tomorrow – but put it on your calendars! You don’t want to miss it!

Here’s what we are learning this week:

English Language Arts

• Fundations Unit 1 Week 9 h, l, k
• Introducing the “tools of good readers”
• Writing an opinion

Math

• Finishing up Unit 3
• shapes and attributes
• counting by 10s t0 50
• number writing

Science

• Animal Habitats
• Our first Northeastern University Marine Science Visit

Social Studies

• History of Thanksgiving
• Gratitude

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Children built ramps to see how far an apple could roll.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween last night!

We had a very pleasant and fun day yesterday full of Halloween inspired learning activities. With the help of our room parents, we were able to have our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) activities for a Halloween celebration. Children worked cooperatively to build ramps to see how far they could make an apple roll. They also decorated pumpkins and played math number and shape recognition games. In the morning, we  had some spooky literacy centers and read some favorite Halloween stories!

Please note, I know it’s hard to believe, but the end of the first trimester is coming to a close at the end of November. More info on report cards and parent conferences will be coming out soon!

Here’s what we are up to for the rest of the week…

English/Language Arts

• Fundations week 8 Ee and Rr
• Parts of a book (title page, front cover, back cover)
• Counting words in sentences

Math

• Number writing 6-10
• Number comparisons
• November calendars

Science

• finishing up pumpkins and seed unit

Social Thinking and Social Studies

• Expected and Unexpected behaviors
• What makes a neighborhood?

A Friendly Reminder…no Halloween candy at school!

Thank You!

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As a Kindergarten teacher, you just gotta go with the excitement sometimes.  Dressing up and being little is fun and far too short lived. This week is all about learning through fun, playful experiences leading up to All Hallow’s Eve. We’re reading some of my favorite halloween stories, learning spooky poetry and doing math using our pumpkins!

This week we will be learning…

English/Language Arts

• Making connections between texts (Big Pumpkin, The Enormous Carrot and The Turnip)
• Fundations Unit 1 Week 6 Dd and Ss
• Writer’s Workshop – labeling

Math

• Introduction to measurement
• number writing

Science

• Pumpkins
• Spiders

Social Studies

• Halloween safety
• Whole Body Listening

Please note: There are no costumes on Halloween. However, your child may dress festively and we will have our fall celebration at the end of the day. Thanks for your cooperation!

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This week we began our Pumpkin Unit in Science complete with Pumpkin journals. These journals will allow the children to show what they know and learn throughout the unit. Kaileigh’s mom sent in a small pumpkin for each child, which we will do something with before the end of October. Thank you Kaileigh’s mom!

As we are now into school about six weeks, the class has become more comfortable with one another, which can lead to new life lessons about how to get along. We reviewed “Words are Not for Hurting” yesterday when there was some exclusion from playing at morning recess. Please remind (and model) for your child at home about kind ways to ask for things and being a good friend. We all need practice from time to time…

Here’s what we are learning this week!

English/Language Arts

• Good writers need to think of ideas
• Fundations Unit 1 Week 5 Aa and Gg
• What makes up a sentence?
• Thematic literature

Math

• Beginning Unit 3
• Numbers and what they stand for
• number sequence

Science

• Life Cycle of a Pumpkin!

Social Thinking

• Expected and unexpected behaviors
• Modeling kind words and actions

Reminders…

Now that the weather is getting cooler (maybe?) please send your child in appropriate clothing (coat, hat, gloves.) Thank you!

Please only put WATER in your child’s WATER BOTTLE!! We’ve had a few sticky situations recently due to juice in water bottles. Thank you!!!

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