Kindergarten News
November 23, 2009
Mrs. Donahue & Mrs. Leone
THEME: Thanksgiving
We will spend our short week talking about the holiday of Thanksgiving.
Today, the children found the outline of a ship on the rug. They sat within
that outline while they listened to The First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern.
They acted out the story to get a sense of what it was like to live on the
ship as Pilgrim children.
The children will play with plastic toys and figures that represent
Thanksgiving: a tall ship that we are referring to as the Mayflower, a
pilgrim family and house and Native American figures.
During the week, they will complete a booklet about Thanksgiving to share
with their families.
The children enjoy listening to stories, therefore, our activities this week
will consist of reading a book and completing a writing activity. They will
also create pilgrim houses using craft sticks and shredded wheat cereal.
We will read Tomie DePaola’s book entitled, “Indian Paintbrush.” The
children will learn about pictographs and create their own using oil pastels.
The children will also create a dream catcher.
HOME/SCHOOL CONNECTION: A reminder to help your child memorize their personal
information: birthday, address & telephone number.
ODDS & ENDS:
A note about winter jackets: Pullover coats are very difficult for children
to get in/out of. It becomes very frustrating for them if they can’t do it
on their own, and/or we can’t help them right away.
Please put names on all outdoor clothing.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Mrs. Leone and I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving! We are grateful for the
opportunity to spend time with your beautiful children. They are a delight
and keep us smiling!
Cardinal Class - Kindergarten News
Mrs. Donahue & Mrs. Leone
November 16, 2009
http://www.teacherweb.com/MA/ShakerLaneSchool/PaulaDonahue/
THEME: Letter L - During our week with Ms. L, we will build with Lincoln
Logs, play with links, use lacing cards, and create beautiful leaf pictures
using paints and tissue paper leaves.
SONG: We will dance to the song Looby Loo, and sing “The Leaves on the
Trees” (sung to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”).
SHARED READING: Our big book this week is entitled, The Little Lady, by
Cricket Rohman. This book looks at different things that have one, two or
three legs. We will continue to learn about punctuation including quotation
marks.
LANGUAGE ARTS: The children will practice writing the letter L in a formal
handwriting lesson. They will develop their phonemic awareness by playing a
Listen & Write Game. They will play a game where they put “L” word leaves on
a tree and “other” word leaves on the ground. They will also make their own
version of this game. You can reinforce these concepts by helping your child
identify L, M, H, P, I and A words around your home. Use environ-mental
print to help them identify these letters. Each week you and your child can
make a list of words that begin with our letter friend. Have a contest to
see which letter friend wins!
We will read Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Elhert and create and write about
a colored leaf. The children will also create a special paper about “L”
items that Ms L likes.
MATH: The children will explore sorting by attributes by playing the
game “What’s My Rule?” They will have the opportunity to sort 7 different
groups of items. We will focus on just one attribute now, and through the
course of the year, we will increase that number of attributes. The children
will also complete a cut & paste project and ask their family members to
identify their rule.
BUSY HANDS: Our parent volunteers will read a book about ladybugs and the
children will create their own ladybugs. They will also complete a hidden
picture.
DRAMATIC PLAY: So far this year, our dramatic play area has been a house, a
market and the homes of the Three Little Pigs. This week it will turn into
the scene of the first Thanksgiving with the Mayflower ship and a teepee
(though this is not the typical dwelling of the Native Americans).
ODDS & ENDS:
**Please send in a note EVERY DAY your child has after-school activities.
**Please put names on all coats/sweaters.
**Do you have recyclable items we can use at our sculpture table? See web
site for suggestions.
WEB SITE: At last, Halloween pictures are posted on the web site!
