Oct 22-24

Hello Parents! 

With a short week and dressing up this week went very quick!

We did not have a letter of the week this week due to the short week.  We continued talking about the starting letters/sounds of words from our morning routine: calendar, weather, etc.  

Our theme was Pumpkins.  We had a pumpkin cut in half in our discovery center and spent our small group time on Monday using our 5 senses with our pumpkins.  It is safe to say, most if not all of the students are not a fan of plain pumpkin.  

On Tuesday, we cut strips of paper to make our own rolly-poly pumpkins.  These are in "our pumpkin patch" above our lockers.  We also watched a short video on the life cycle of the pumpkin.  We then compared what we learned about apples to what we learned about pumpkins.   We made a venn diagram to illustrate this.  The students came up with some really great things!  

On Wednesday, we made Jack-o-lanterns with shape faces and then when you open them up are the parts of the pumpkin: the pulp and the seeds.  To know how many seeds to put in, the students drew a card 1-5, told me the number on the card, and then pulled out that many seeds to put in their pumpkin.  The students are doing great with this!

At home, I encourage you to point out and question students on numbers, letters, and rhymes that happen in your daily life.  When you connect what the students are learning at school to their home lives, it helps make learning meaningful and genuine. It is ok if they dont know the right one, just tell them the correct answer and move on with your usual activity.  You don't even need to say that they got it wrong, just say the correct answer for them.  We dont want to discourage learning, but reinforce the trying and lesson.  Always praise them for trying and making learning fun and exciting for them.  Celebrate the triumphs in their lives.  When they are proud of themselves, they are excited to do it again and again.  

Important Notes:

• Book Orders Due Friday TODAY September 26th.  Remember, if you order online you get a $5 coupon and our classroom gets a $3 coupon!  We also earn classroom points and can get more books/supplies for our classrooms.

• Conferences are coming up!  An email was sent out today with a link to sign up for a 15 minute slot on either: Thursday Nov 8 (3:00-6:30), Friday Nov 9 (9:00am -12:00pm), or Thursday Nov 15 (3:00-6:30).  If you are in extended day, please sign up for a conference with myself and Mrs. Zajicek.  Let me know if you have any questions.

• Field Trip  is coming up!  November 13.  The trip will be to Mosquito Hill in New London.  We will be talking about "What animals do for the winter."  The trip will fit into your child's normally scheduled class time.  More info to come!  

• Dress for the weather.  Please send your child dressed for the weather as we go outside as long as it is not raining or below 0*

• RSVP. If you have not done so, please RSVP for fall fun fest.  You can send me an email or you can send the form back in your child's folder.  We want an accurate count so we are able to buy the proper amount of supplies.  Since this is open to all Hortonville 4K, this number can vary greatly if students dont RSVP.  The event is on Tuesday night 10/30 from 5pm-7pm. You can wear your costumes to this event.  

• Halloween. Halloween at St. Edward is a fun time.  We will have a small class party and do fun activities.  We DO NOT wear our costumes to school, but please feel free to wear halloween colors as noted on your Red Ribbon Week flyer.  

Next Week:Theme: Pumpkins/Halloween
Letter of the Week: Dd
Snack this week: AM-Wolter Family PM-Schmidt Family

--Mrs. Gloudemans