November Highlights- So Much to Be Thankful For!

To the Families of Cantiague Room 4 (...and beyond!)

November was certainly a month with lots to be thankful for! We spent this month exploring and learning and continuing to expand our ever growing minds!  The students of room 4 are learning more and more each day and it shows with every raised hand, new discovery, a-ha moment and accomplishment great and small!

In writer's workshop we began the month by officially ending out first writing unit!  We published books entitled "My Happy Book" that are all about memories, activities, people and more that make our children happy.  What an inspiring topic for our young author's to write about as we continue to celebrate the #yearofhappy at Cantiague.  Pride filled our classroom as we had a wonderful writing celebration where authors got to share and compliment each other's published pieces.  

The end of one writing unit marks the beginning of another and we wasted no time!  We began our "List and Label" unit where we spend a lot of time practicing our new skill of "stretching" our words.  We have been using a magic rubber band to help us say the words slowly and hear all of the sounds.  

We learned that authors label their world to help their readers understand even more about their writing.  We have had a lot of practice labeling and even labeled our classroom.  We've now begun the list section of this writing unit, where the students will be generating a variety of lists of different topics.  Stay tuned for a published piece at the end of this unit which will encompass all aspects of this engaging and exploratory writing!

 

In Math we finished our second chapter where we learned even more about numbers!  We completed studying our numbers 0-9 and practiced ordering them.  We also learned the concept of comparing numbers using words like more, less and same.  We played math games, ordered numbers, explored with manipulatives and we are truly becoming number experts!  We are headed into our next chapter where we will begin developing an understanding of how numbers can be made in different ways, by composing and decomposing numbers.

In reader's workshop we are becoming more and more POWERFUL readers each day.  We have added several Reading Powers to help us read our just right books, and its amazing to see these emPOWERed readers practice their craft.  Our readers are using PICTURE POWER: using a picture to help us read the words, FIRST LETTER POWER: looking at the first letter of a word as a clue to help solve it, and PATTERN POWER: identifying repetitive patterns in a book.  Combining these powers with their first POINTER POWER certainly enhances their reading ability and they are using them constantly in their just right books!  Please continue to remind your reader to use these powers when they bring home their book in a bag, or when reading together!  They will certainly feel SUPER showing them off!

We were the luckiest Kindergarteners on the planet this month because we got a change to meet the amazing famed author Alyssa Satin Capucilli!  Alyssa is the author of many books, with her most favorite character being a puppy named Biscuit.  Alyssa spent quality time with our class sharing about her writing process, that she keeps her own "treasure keeper" of ideas, how she communicated her ideas with her illustrator and so much more.  She had our class hanging on her every word. We even wrote titles for our very own Biscuit books and got a chance to conference with Alyssa to help develop our ideas.  This was a truly special experience!

November is a month when we celebrated many holidays that honor our country and make us proud to be Americans!  In the beginning of the month we learned all about Election Day.  We learned that our country has rights that allow our citizens to vote for the people who make decisions for our city, state and country.  Although you have to be 18 or older to vote on election day, we voted in our classroom for a favorite snack.  We registered to vote, voted anonymously in a booth and tabulated the results to establish that although both the Cookie and Pretzel were worthy candidates, the Cookie won by a landslide!

We also learned about Veterans Day in November.  Through shared reading, we learned that a veteran is anyone who formerly or is currently a member of our armed forces.  Some words the children used to describe veterans are brave, strong, and caring.  Veterans fought to keep us safe so it's important that we thank them on Veteran's Day and every day.  We spent time with our 5th grade buddies writing letters to veterans to thank them for their service.

We participated in a lot of turkey themed activities to celebrate another holiday; Thanksgiving.  One highlight was another activity completed with our 5th grade buddies.  We disguised turkeys so that they didn't get eaten on Thanksgiving.  The creativity during this activity was amazing as the children transformed their turkeys into minions, disney characters, sports stars, animals and even food!  Check out our disguised turkeys, currently hanging outside room 4!

Curriculum night was an amazing success thanks to the fabulous participation of our children and families.  It was a rainy Thursday evening, but there was a bright and warm feeling inside the Cantiague Cafeteria.  Together our families worked on several Thanksgiving STEM activities.  It was wonderful to watch parents and children collaborate on building a Mayflower, hiding a turkey and creating a Thanksgiving table.  Thank you for being active participants in your children's learning!

 We learned about the first Thanksgiving in 1620 and how it looked very different than the Thanksgiving we celebrated just last week.  We learned how the Pilgrims escaped their country on the Mayflower for freedom, and when they landed in America, the Native Americans taught them how to grow crops and find food. Thanksgiving now still involves a big feast, but it is a feast with family, turkey, and warm feelings of thankfulness for what we have.  

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd like to take time to tell the readers of this blog how incredibly thankful I am for the students and families in our class.  I am thankful for the students' smiles, laughter, hugs, motivation, creativity, and pride.  I am thankful for the families of room 4 for the constant support, love, care and sinyou provide for your children.  Without all of this your children could not learn and grow in the amazing ways that they continue to every day.  I am thankful for Cantiague and the wonderful, warm and positive environment where the children come each day to explore and develop their learning and passion.  As members of this amazing community, we all have so much to be thankful for.  So to close out this amazing month I'd like you to take time to reflect on all you have to be thankful for with your children. This does not need to be reserved for Thanksgiving, because being thankful for who and what we have is a sentiment that should exist all year long!

Peace, Love and Kindergarten,

Miss Grossman