Hi JK parents.

We are having fun learning more about the Pilgrims and their new life in New England!  We did talk about using fish as a fertilizer when planting crops, and how the Native Americans also taught the Pilgrims to build and use canoes to fish and hunt along the water.

Fine Motor:
The children made their own teepees by coloring different Native American symbols in bright colors on paper bags.  They were excited to make mini models of the teepee we saw (and had story time in) at the pumpkin farm field trip!

We decorated our December calendars.  It's hard to believe it will be December when we come back from Thanksgiving break!  We read a poem about giving and the children talked about all of the ways we can give this holiday season, no matter the holiday or celebration.

Literacy:
We are all really working on the scale and formation of our letters.  Some letters require a frog jump where the children need to lift their pencil and jump up to begin the second half of the letter.  These foundational letter formations are critical to prevent bad habits from forming.  It's easier to correct now so we spend a majority of our "Handwriting Without Tears" time talking about the exact letter formation. 

Our reading buddies chose books from the library and read them to each of their reading buddies.  The children all completed a "Response to Reading" page and illustrated it, along with using inventive spelling to write about the story.  We love our third grade buddies!  This is an amazing time to build a sense of school community and also learn from older peers while working on letter sounds and word recognition.

We are sequencing and talking about the beginning, middle and end and anticipating what we think will happen next.  These are all great comprehension learning strategies for literacy/reading.  We are also telling group stories, where I start a scenario with a character and we take turns adding to it.  It's such a fun group project and the kids LOVE it.

Math and Science:
Which pumpkins have the most seeds?  What coloring could give you a clue about the number of seeds inside a pumpkin?  We made predictions and read the book, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin, as we studied the science behind the lines in a pumpkin and the coloring in relation to the number of seeds.

We are beginning to talk about groups of ten and counting by tens, as we also count and use manipulatives to count to 100. 

Social/Emotional:
We read about filling buckets all around the world and how different cultures fill their buckets.  It was interesting to see all of the different traditions and how kindness is represented throughout the world.  I am hoping they are filling your invisible buckets at home!

Have a lovely week and a wonderful holiday!  I am thankful for all of you and your amazing children.

Ms. Massey

Hi JK parents.

We have finished Van Gogh and are now moving on to Giving Thanks!

Find Sebastian!  :) . 

We are learning about the pilgrims and their journey from England to America.  The children were surprised to learn there were 100 people on the Mayflower, and that it only traveled at two miles per hour!  That's a slow moving ship.  We asked them which four items they would take on the Mayflower and it was amazing to hear what they would take...everything from a chicken for eggs and a cow for milk so they could make scrambled eggs (Zach!) and an iPad and cell phone.  :) . We grouped items from either long ago or present day.  All of the children thought that pilgrims had cell phones.  GPS would have come in handy, and New England might have been Key West.

Math and Science:
The children mixed, measured and baked this week as we made Pumpkin Muffins and homemade bread.  Not exactly like the pilgrims did it, but it was all delicious.  For the muffins, just a can of pumpkin and a box of cake mix.  No eggs or oil etc.  It makes the most yummy muffins and is a good way to incorporate pumpkin into a dessert.  Not exactly healthy but just an element of nutrients. Mrs. Dinelli helped out in our classroom while Ms. Yonan was off Wednesday and the children loved having her.  We are so lucky to have her at Roycemore.  Her extensive background in early childhood allows her to engage incredibly with the children at any given moment on any given theme.  Pumpkin theme, apples, thanksgiving, all covered.  She's just a joy and we all love working with her.  They were also so sweet and made sure to save a pumpkin muffin for Ms. Yonan-who is amazing as well.  Lucky kiddos.

We continued to work on the tricky teen numbers, grouping, categorizing, patterns, and correct number formation.

Literacy:
We wrote all of the things we are thankful for, using inventive spelling or copying words.  Each piece of our Pumpkin Pie was sectioned into a slice of thankfulness.  The children glued them together and finished them with dollops of pom poms/whipped cream.  Spin them around to see all they are thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Fine Motor:
The children illustrated their Mayflower items they would take on the ship.  It's fun to see the progression of detail in their art, along with their ability to work with all different utensils.  Some made chickens and other sculptures with modeling clay.  They are working on paper art with Ms. Stein.  Cutting and layering different sheets and shapes of colored paper to create animals, either real or fictional.  Carolyn's lion was incredible.

We are all a bit stir crazy on cold days when we are inside for recess.  They love the climber and gross motor room toys and games, and venturing into the morning room for art and legos etc.  We have had lots of fun in the snow this week too! 

We drew our self portraits for November.  They are displayed outside our room so take a look when you are picking up today!

You should have all received an email about Grandparent's and Special Friend's Day, and please feel free to attend the performance upstairs.  The classroom is reserved for special friends and grandparents, just because it gets so incredibly crowded otherwise.  Let me know if you do not have a friend or grandparent attending and we will be sure to pair your child up with someone.

Social/Emotional:
We did a compliment circle where we sit together and take turns giving a compliment and then pulling our legs in until everyone in the circle has had a turn and we are all sitting criss cross applesauce again.  I loved hearing Dean tell Beatriz that he "likes all of her smiles!".  It's so nice for the children to hear everything their friends like about them.  If we practice this a lot in JK it becomes natural for them to look for things in people to compliment.  We role play to help them work through tough situations and practice using the right words to express themselves.  

Have a wonderful weekend.

Ms. Massey


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Hi JK parents!

 Practicing our syllables and beginning and ending sounds at Morning Meeting!

We have made our way through A, B, C, D, E, F, and G...and a million other things this year!  It's November and I am thrilled with the progress this class has made.  It's going to be Thanksgiving before we know it and then Winter break.  I'm looking forward to seeing you for our conferences, and sharing all your children are learning.  Most importantly, I have gotten to know each child and seen their amazing kindness and special abilities.  This class is incredibly positive and excited about all we are learning.

We attended an all school group project art show for Dia de los Muertos, in collaboration with the Lower School and the Early Childhood children.  It was amazing to see the different pieces come together to create a beautiful collage of art by three year olds to nine year olds.

Literacy:
We are learning about the great artist, Van Gogh, and have been talking about his life as a story.  It increases comprehension when the children are asked to make predictions and discuss characters and their lives as well as their attributes.  Sequencing with our stories ie There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Pie helps children with first, next, then, finally and beginning middle and end.  We continue to learn the different sounds the vowels can make and use flippy dolphin, one of our reading strategies to use the other sound(s) when the first one doesn't make sense.  We are also using chunky monkey to cover parts of longer words to be shorter chunks that make sense to then put together with the other chunk.

Math:
We have been working on those tricky teen numbers and the one to one correspondence of moving manipulatives or a pointer for each number.  We have also been working on our vertical writing of numbers using the white board.  We played whole group number Bingo and wrote each number as it was called.

Fine Motor:
We created our own "The Starry Night".  We used pastels and paint pens first and then painted over them with water colors.  We discussed the foreground and the background and all of the different elements of the painting.  I loved that the children noticed the houses with lights on, and some chose to make their houses "sleeping" with the lights off.  We have a classroom of artists.

We have been making Thanksgiving Day pictures using glitter and cut out turkeys.  We will begin working on our Grandparents and Special Friends Day projects next week.  I hope you will have someone visiting so the children may show off their hard work.  It's such a fun day for everyone.

November 15th is the middle school fundraiser, so go do some holiday shopping and let your children come have some fun!  It's from 6-9 and is a great time for JK to get to know the wonderful middle school kids and teachers!

Social/Emotional:
We have been playing our, "Yes Please and No Thank You" game.  We pass around Thanksgiving foods and take turns either taking them or asking a friend.  It's great practice for holidays where extended family and friends are around.

We have been discussing different feelings and ways and words to use when expressing our feelings.  JKers often get frustrated because they don't know or cannnot quickly access the correct language.  Practice and role play are great for this.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Ms. Massey