Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful day today. We went to church where Father Chris reminded us to use a simple two word prayer often. That prayer is "Thank you."I hope you hear your child say "thank you" often. Praise them when they do and remind them to if they do not. We made stone soup with our magic stones this am and enjoyed the smell throughout the day. After reading another version of Stone Soup we got together with Mrs. Hacker's class and enjoyed the soup, corn bread with butter and apple cider. Ryleigh Plunkitt found the magic stone in her soup. Congrats to Lucas Lahey for being First in Math on Monday and Tuesday this week. Friday folders are full of important information and surprises so be sure to go through it with your child. We met our goal of bringing in cans of food for the needy of our parish. Thank you!    Towels did not come home because we were so busy we didn't have time to get them in backpacks so do not send one in on Monday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mrs. Catton

Chores for Change

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!! The kids met their goal of filling up the jug for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. As part of religion class today one of our sixth grade students who had leukemia when he was in kindergarten came down to visit us and thank us for working so hard doing chores to help others in need. Putting a face with the activity really was meaningful for the kids and me as well. This student was in my room as a kindergartner and I know the fear he and his family dealt with daily but he is a happy and healthy boy now.( Check out the email sent with the picture of JJ and the kids. It was sent this afternoon.) We then went to see Mrs. Ahonen to present her with the jug and the poster the kids made. She was overwhelmed and really appreciated their efforts to help her team in training. Thank you so much for helping with this activity.

Respectfully,
Mrs. Catton

First In Math

Henry, Easton, Mackenzie, Lucas and Allison were the First In Math VIP this week. Good job kids! Towels will not be coming home today due to the short week next week. There is no need to send in another towel on Monday. Contributions to our stone soup are due on Monday so we have time to prepare the potatoes and carrots for our soup on Tuesday. Girls bring in one large potato and boys bring in one large carrot.

Chores for Change

Only two more days to earn change for chores! We are so close to our goal of filling the jug given to us by Mrs. Ahonen, one of our first grade teachers.  Mrs. Ahonen is part of a team in training to run a marathon for the Leukemia &Lymphoma Society. We would like to present her with a FULL jug and a poster that the kids have been creating with their names and what they did to earn their change on Friday. PLEASE help us reach our goal by giving your children a few more chores to earn that change. Today at Mass Father challenged each of us to thank five people today and then thank God as well. I would like to THANK each of you for all you do to support me and your child with school and I thank God each day for your kids and you.

Stone Soup

We read a version of the story Stone Soup with Mrs. Hacker's Class on Monday and we will be reading another version of the story later this week. On Monday we will do a Venn Diagram to discuss the similarities and differences between the two stories which is a state standard in language arts. As an extension of this activity we are going to make stone soup and share it with Mrs. Hacker's class on Tuesday. The children will also make butter during science on Monday. I would like all of the girls to bring a potato and all of the boys to bring a large carrot on Monday as their contribution to our stone soup.

Daily Five and Book Buddies

Daily Five is going really well. My goal is that your child is working on reading for 90 minutes. On Thursdays we will get extra reading practice because we have paired up with Miss Hill's second grade class for Book Buddies. During this time your child will have a second grade book buddy that they will do the part of Daily Five called Read to Someone. During Read to Someone the pair sits EEKK (ask your child what it stands for) with a book from your child's book bag. They are using books from their book bag because it is a good fit book for your child. They will listen to their second grade book buddy read (fluency). Stop frequently to check for understanding (comprehension) from the kindergartener. Because the kindergarten children are all at different reading levels some will be reading sentences with their book buddies, some words, and some may be will be looking for letters but they all can read the pictures when it is their turn to read.  We set procedures during our first time together because we know that when the children take ownership in their learing they will be more successful. Miss Hill and I were so impressed with their ideas about what would make Book Buddies run smoothly and effectively.

Math

We have math centers everyday after Daily Five in the morning. On Wednesdays we have math throughout the school day due to Mass in the morning. We will be finishing up a unit on comparing lengths, quantities, numbers and ordering this week. In this unit the math vocabulary consisted of longer, shorter, same, more, less, fewer, least and greatest. You can help your child at home by using this vocabulary as you are speaking with them.