Thanks, Mrs. Stanley!

Thursday when you set your Thanksgiving table,  your child has a perfect decoration for your table: a Thankful Turkey.  Mrs. Stanley came to school yesterday and made the Thankful Turkeys with the children - from start to finish.  We had done a bit of brainstorming before she arrived on things the children were thankful for, but then they narrowed down their lists for the turkey's feathers. 

I hope the turkeys may be a good lead-in to a discussion about thankfulness at your tables this holiday.  I personally am very thankful for the children in my class, the unjaded, fresh eyes through which they see the world and help me to see mine; I am thankful for the help and support I've received from 'my' parents this year; I am thankful for the great school I work at and the family we have here; and I am so very thankful for my family.  Without family, we have nothing.  That goes for a "Class Family", as well. 

Happy Thanksgiving, my Class Family!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish all of my families a very happy Thanksgiving Holiday!  Enjoy the time with your family and friends and I'll see all my little ones back on Monday morning!  Please check out the Lewis Carroll Kindergarten website for a calendar for all of kindergarten.  Details about activities in December will come home next week in your child's folder. 

Parents, the winter holidays are just around the corner, but we will be working hard the next three weeks. The end of the semester tests are upon us! I am going to keep the really exciting topics for the last week before school is out.  Please help your child stay calm during this time period.  Remember that little five and six year olds do not have a very clear understanding of time.  So saying something is in "three weeks" is like saying it is tomorrow to them. 

Enjoy your holiday and please know that the Homelearning packet I sent home is NOT due Dec. 2nd.  It is also not mandatory (homework) to work on throughout the holidays.  If you CHOOSE to work on some skills during the holiday, great!  If not, that's fine, too. 

For your information, your child will be expected to know (MINIMAL expectations):

• the first 16 sight words by the winter holidays (end of the semester)
• blend together words (3 letter - CVC) using M, A, S, P, T, I, N, C
• identification of letter names (upper case and lower case) of 22 letters, including the letters above)
• sounds of the letters listed in the second "bullet"
• how to compose/decompose the numbers 0-10  (all combinations of numbers to make the number, for example: 10 is the same as 9 and 1, 8 and 2, 7 and 3, 6 and 4, 5 and 5, 10 and 0).  One great way to practice this is through playing games using dice or dominoes.  The card game WAR is great for understanding MORE and LESS.  The website, Illuminations is wonderful for building this skill.  There is a link to it from the KIDS' page or my Sitehoover page.
• how to write the numbers 0-10; identify numbers 0-10
• know names of the shapes and be able to describe using words like "sides" and "vertices" (corners).  (We will be doing a lot of work with this in December.)
• how to build and extend AB, AAB, ABC patterns, and growing patterns

After the Feast

Thanksgiving Feast

Our Tipi

During journal writing today, one of the students wrote about the "hi-low-glifics" that he had painted on his Native American vest for the Thanksgiving Feast.  (Gotta love that 'kid-writing'!)  His journal writing led perfectly into our next activity which was to make "skins" with picture writing storytelling.  Each student wrote a story on their "skin" using pictures and then shared the story with the class.  (Some were better at telling 'stories' than others.  Some just wanted to say the names of the pictures they drew.)  After sharing, we put the "skins" on the outside of the tipi.

We learned that not all Native Americans lived in the same types of homes.  The Wampanoag tribe which was the tribe in Plimoth at the time of the Pilgrims, lived in round topped wetus.  They were made of dried reeds/plants that had been tied together.  The tipi was used by tribes that had to follow the animals in order to survive.

As the Wetu Turns: A Plimoth Plantation Blog
The First Thanksgiving: Daily Life: Housing
Building a Home - Plimoth
Native American Homes (This site shows many types of homes of the various tribes.)

One little, two little, three little indians.....