Weekly News Nov 28-Dec 2

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving and enjoyed some down time and lots of laughter with loved ones!  This next month is such an exciting one to experience through the eyes of a child. We will continue to be busy in Kindergarten, but will certainly be taking time to enjoy the  magic of the season.

Important Dates and Reminders:
November 28: Packer Wear Day
December 6: Kaukauna Christmas Parade
                    NDLC will have a float and families are invited to ride/walk along.  We will     
                     communicate a meeting point for the parade as soon as we are assigned our float 
                     position.
December 8: Pajama Day and PJ's and Publishing Family Night 5:30-7:00pm
December 13: NO SCHOOL
December 14: College Gear Day (wear your favorite college team clothing)
December 22: Holiday Color Day (wear red, white and green)

Here is a link to our new homework calendar.

Here is the learning that will be keeping us warm this week:

Reading: As readers this week we will be giving our reading super powers an extra boost!  We will work to strengthen our pointer power so we are always pointing under the first letter, using our sight word power to help us read sentences correctly and we will work to make the most of our sound power by using initial letter sounds and pictures to solve new words.  We will also be introduced to reading mats to help us stay focused and organized during reader's workshop.

Writing: This week we will really work on word spelling strategies to make our writing even better.  We will work to add a vowel sound to every word we write, will push ourselves to use the word wall to spell sight words correctly and will use our writing partner to help us to reread and revise our stories.

Math:We will continue to really focus on addition and subtraction equations and the many ways we can see, solve and draw them.  We will be introduced to a new math tool called a break apart stick that will be used to break apart groups of objects to see the partners that join together to create that number.  We will also be working more on fluency with +1 and -1 equations as we illustrate and write equations to go along with addition and subtraction poems we learned last week.
Our math centers will be:

• Making a +1 poem book
• Making a -1 poem book
• Using break apart sticks and cubes to see partners of numbers and write equations
• Building numbers with tiles and using a backward count sequence to solve larger subtraction problems

Science: This week we will begin to discuss and explore the body coverings of various mammals that have fur.  We will compare the function of fur to that of our skin and will also bi doing some experiments to learn more about body fat and camouflage.

Word Work: We will be introduced to the following sight words this week: come, like, look, my, to.  One way to help support your child's reading at home is to go on a sight word hunt before reading a book so they can be ready and waiting to read familiar words quickly.