Blog November 5th
Happy November! I hope you all survived Trick or Treat! The kids seem to have had a great time at our Halloween party. With Halloween behind us it is time to start learning about Thanksgiving and the Pilgrims. Before you know it we will be studying “Holidays around the World,” for December.

Language Arts: This week we read the story “The Little Red Hen”. The story is about a Little Red Hen who lives with three very lazy housemates. The red hen is left to do all the work from cooking the meals to hoeing the garden. As a follow-up to this story our center work this week is:
1. Story map center: The children are constructing a story map that includes the four parts of a story. They must name the characters in the story as well the setting, problem, and the solution to the story. Wait until you see their maps at conference they are amazing!
2. Sort and classify grains: The children sorted corn, oats, rice, barley, and wheat. We also learned what foods are made from different grains. Next week we are making bread.
3. Word sort: The children cut out words and decide which category to place each word. The sort we did required children to sort words beginning with t or ending with t. We really had to use our sharp eyes to do this correctly. Lots of kids could even sound out and read the words to me.

Math: This week we continued to work with the concept of sorting and classifying. Each child had to decide how to sort the pictures in different ways. They then had to explain to me the criteria they used to make their sort.

During Buddytime we played a game with shapes. Each team was given a shape to search for outside. When they found their shape in nature they took a picture with a camera. We are making a class book with the pictures. To complete the lesson we made sculpture shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows. The kids did a great job working with their buddies.

Service Project: Our class will be collecting food items for low-income senior citizens who live in Melrose Towers on Melrose Ave. The items they have requested are crackers, canned soup, tuna, Vienna sausages, applesauce (small containers) and oatmeal. Many of the people live month to month on social security checks. I am hoping we can help make a small difference in their lives. We will be doing this until December10th.

General Information:
1. Don’t forget to look at Quick Notes for school wide information.
2. Remember the yard sale is this Saturday from 8-1 o’clock.
3. On December 8th our class would like to invite you to come and have lunch with us. It is pizza day. Our class will sing a song and perform the Little Red Hen. Before or after lunch you are invited to attend the bookfair. You can get some holiday shopping done. Watch for more information to come home.
4. Remember conferences are next week. Please bring your child with you. This is a time they get to shine and share with you all they have learned.