Week of November 5

There are so many exciting things going on right now at school and outside of school!  Take a chance to talk with your learner about some of these special and important events!

-Election Day
Our E Time last Friday was all about who the president is, the importance of the president and the upcoming election.  Each student voted for who they wanted to be president.  Do you know who your student voted for?  We learned the names of both candidates, how to cast a ballot and what it means to vote!
-Grandparent's Day
Discuss why Grandparents are special and have your child share some special memories they have made with their grandparents and tell you why they are important to them.
-Veteran's Day
We will be discussing what a soldier is and the importance of soldiers in preparation for Veteran's Day.  On Monday, November 12, Austin Elementary will have a Veteran's Day Assembly.  This is a wonderful opportunity for you to discuss the importance of this day with your child.

Week of October 29

Now that the cooler weather has arrived, it has reminded me of some life skills that are important for Kindergarteners to practice.  Accomplishing these skills will let your child be responsible and feel prepared for their day at school.  At home, you can practice the following things with your child if they are unable to do them independently. 
-Put on a jacket and zip/unzip it.  I help them by telling them to put the hood on their head, then they can find where their arms need to go and put them in.
-Tying their shoes.
-Buttoning/unbuttoning, and zipping pants.
-Putting their folder in their backpack and zipping their own backpack.

Puppet E Time

 On Thursday, October 18, Dennis Lee visited our school!

We enjoyed his performance of "Banana Soup" with his Funky Monkeys!

Dennis Lee is a fabulous ventriloquist!

 We loved Dennis Lee so much, that our E Time the next day was all about puppets! 

We created sack puppets, stick puppets, and shadow puppets.  

We even put on shows for each other in our own puppet theatre!

We had so much fun and learned valuable lessons about Red Ribbon Week from Dennis Lee's show.

To find out more about Dennis Lee, you can visit his website:

www.dennisleeproductions.com

Week of October 15

This week, we will be talking all about the characteristics of the four seasons.  There are so many fun things to do outside in the fall!
-Take a fall nature walk with your child and collect fall leaves, acorns, rocks, and anything else your learner might find along the way.  Have your child sort and count the objects they found when you return home.
-Ask your child questions about their five sense during your walk.  What do the leaves feel like when you step on them or touch them?  What does a leaf sound like when you crinkle it next to your ear?  How does the bottom part of an acorn feel different than the top part?  What does the wind feel like when it brushes against your hair or face?

We will be reviewing our Word Wall Words this week.  You can review these words at home with your child by having them practice writing them and reading them with you.

-am

-a

-have

-I

-is

-little

-the

-to

-one

-two

-three

-four

-five

-six
In the book coming home in your child's yellow folder today, they will be able to practice reading these number words.

Don't forget that our Fall Walk is this Wednesday!  Please have your child dress in comfortable clothes, especially shoes.

Week of October 9th

This week, we will be talking all about Fire Safety!  Here are some things to talk about and discuss at home this week.
-Does your child know their full name, telephone number, and address?
-Does your family have a plan of what to do in the event of a fire in your home?
-Do you have a safe meeting place identified outside of your house in the case of a fire?

-We have been working on proper formation of the capital letters D, E, F, P, B.  Have your child show you how they can write these letters.  Can they tell you a word that begins with each letter?  These are all called Frog Jump Capitals!  See if your student can explain why.  They might even sing you a song!

Exploring our Five Sense During E Time

On Friday, October 5 during E Time, we explored our Five Senses!

We explored our sense of taste by tasting salty, sweet, and sour items.

We explored our sense of smell by smelling mystery baggies and trying to see if we could identify each smell.

We explored our sense of touch by feeling inside mystery sacks and naming what we felt without peeking inside the sack.

 We also explored our sense of sight with all sorts of fun things to look at as well as things to look through!

We also explored with I pods to record our voices as we talked, laughed and sang.  Then we listened back to our recordings as we explored our sense of hearing.



We have so much fun on Friday mornings during E Time!

Did you know that E stands for enrichment?

Storybook Character Parade

 We had so much fun at our Storybook Character Parade!

I loved all of the costumes and book selections!  The students had a blast parading in their costumes for the school and parents.  After the parade, they did a fantastic job using their props from home to retell their story.

 My storybook ladies

 And my storybook gentlemen.

Can you find your favorite storybook character?

The Tortoise and the Hare

                                                    Last week, we learned all about Fables!

Our favorite fable of the week was The Tortoise and the Hare!

After reading the book, the students were given copies of a script for a Tortoise and the Hare play.  The students worked together in groups to decide who would play each part, practice their lines together, and to create costumes!  The next day, we performed the plays for each other!

They did a great job!



Towers for Rapunzel

First of all, let me apologize for not posting in quite some time.  We have been so busy in 1D!

We have had fun the past two weeks learning all about Fairy Tales!

We have enjoyed designing slippers for Cinderella, planting wheat just like the Little Red Hen, observing and labeling the parts of lima beans after reading Jack in the Beanstalk, and building towers for Rapunzel!

The students had so much fun creating towers using marshmallows and spaghetti noodles!

I am so impressed with their creativity every day!