Fall Harvest

Happy November!

Our topic this week was Fall Harvest.
Students started the week with a new calendar.  The calendar pattern this month is turkey, blue, cornucopia.  We discussed what a cornucopia was and how it helped people long ago who did not have machines collect the harvest.  

We then discussed Indian Corn and how it does not look like the corn we eat today, it is in the same family and a corn that people ate around the time of the first Thanksgiving.  We then made our own indian corn and counted how many of each color we had on our cobs. 

We also discussed scarecrows and how they help scare the birds/crows away from the crops so people can pick them, but they are only scary to the birds.  Students are really doing well at participating to at circle times, making connections, and 

We read The Silly Scarecrow, a book about Clifford thinking the scarecrow was a field monster only to discover it was a Silly Scarecrow only there to scare the birds away.  We then read There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves.  We used this book to make predictions of why she was swallowing certain things and to make connections to what we already know.  We also worked to find the rhyming words in the story.  Students are doing great!

We also had a visit from the Hortonville Bussing system to teach us about bus safety.  Even for those who do not ride the bus, it was good to have this safety training for field trips and if they are future bus riders.  


The letter of the week was Ss. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters.  Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!

Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters.  Check out these videos with you child!  Click HERE.

The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter S with Stickers with Stars, Smiles, and Super on them.  We even put Six or Seven Stickers on each S.  On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, S is for Spider.

Please visit the whole website (4k, drop down menu, Gallery) to see your child's first day photo as well as photos from through out the week.  If you would like the first day photo, please email me and I can send you the digital copy.

Reading with the Stars invites will be coming home tomorrow.  These events are really fun for the families and the students.  It allows parents to participate in their child's learning as well as children to socialize outside of school hours.  Also, our AM and PM sessions are both invited to these events so it allows them to get to know each other as well.  

Important Notes:

• 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*(students are more than welcome to bring layers daily or to leave in their lockers)  It may also be time to change out the change of clothes to make sure they are weather appropriate.  If you send a new change of clothes, we will send the warm weather clothes in their backpacks.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 
• Book Order due December 6th (paper fliers came out, online available in the scholastic tab of the website: mrsgloudemans.wix.com/stedward). WE WILL NOT BE DOING ANOTHER ORDER IN DECEMBER BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO GET THEM IN BEFORE THE HOLIDAYS.
• PLEASE CONSIDER BOOK ORDER BOOKS FOR HOLIDAY GIFTS!  Reading is a great gift to share with your child and others.  If you purchase online, you also help our class to earn points to buy books for our room.  IF YOU WANT BOOK ORDERS TO BE A GIFT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I WILL WRAP THEM DISCREETLY AND GET THEM TO YOU SO THEY CAN BE A GIFT.
• Send in those family photos!

Next Week:
Theme: Animals getting ready for Winter
Letter of the Week: Ee
Snack: Due to a technical glitch, snack for November is missing from the calendar.  If you have signed up for snack this week, please let me know. If you are unsure, we do have some left overs, extras, and donations for such situations.