Oct. 21

Today was orange day!
Morning Meeting-We sang the Mimi Mouse song. We shared about our pumpkins for our quick share.
Specials-We had music today.
Read Aloud-We read "Pumpkin, Pumpkin" and "The Biggest Pumpkin Ever".
Shared Reading-We read a poem called "Orange Pumpkin"
Reading Activity-We made our orange mini book. We finished our color book today with our orange page. The students brought home the color book.
Writer's Workshop-We spent some time practicing stretching out our words to sound them out and write them on white boards. We spent 15 minutes independent writing. I am meeting with individual students to go through the work they have done so far. If I have met with your child, he/she brought home some of their writing. I saved 3 to 4 pieces for conferences and to show how their work is growing and progressing.
Rest Time-I read the story "Big Pumpkin" and we listened to the story "Yes We Can!".
MATH-We did calendar. Then we did patterns. We first did number counting patterns (1-2, 1-2, 1-2 is an abab pattern 1-1-2,1-1-2 is an aab pattern 1-1-2-2,1-1-2-2 is an aabb pattern). then we did patterns with our bodies (clap, tap, tap is an abb pattern and a turn, turn, jump is an aab pattern). Then we used attribute blocks to make patterns. We made two, three and four color patterns. We chose our favorite pattern to draw on paper. We also labeled our patterns with the letters (ABABAB).
Social-We talked about caring today. We brainstormed ways we could be caring and helpful at school. We talked about how that makes us feel good to help others. We read the story "Heartprints" by P.K. Hallinan. I am going to be looking for heartprints in kindergarten. A heartprint is a kind and caring act to another person. If I catch someone giving a heartprint to another student, I will give them a little red heart. If your child comes home with a heart, s/he did something kind at school. We talked about me not always seeing the heartprints. Eventually, I would like to have the kids give each other heartprints. I hope this starts highlighting all of the good things that kids do for others and hopefully downplaying all of the negative things.