Halloween Fun

Thanks to everyone who helped send in food and paper goods for our party today.  We had fun this afternoon in our costumes and Officer Amanda came this morning to talk to us about being safe tonight and gave us a glow stick and bag.  We also read some Halloween books, did a monster GoNoodle, and some fun math.

We made bat and spider crowns.

Scholastic Book Fair is Coming - Volunteers Needed

The Stratham Teachers' Association will be bringing the Scholastic Book Fair to SMS the week after Thanksgiving.  We are looking for volunteers to help set up the fair, work during the day at the registers and helping children find books, and to pack up the fair at the end.  If you are interested in helping please go to the following link to sign up:  https://volunteer.scholastic.com/#/experience/signup/oZH4ELaZP

Practicing the Letters and Sounds

This is a great video we have been watching in class to practice the letters and their sounds.  The students love to sing along with it.  It would be great to practice more at home by watching the video and/or use the chart below.

Fun in Math and Playing Vet

Our dramatic play area has switched from a house with kitchen to a veterinarian's office.  Kids have been loving bringing their pets to the vet for them to help them.  I have seen lots of kids using the word cards in their to help them find words they want to write.

Top It - Game to practice counting and finding which number is greater.  It is played similar to the War game that many had already played.  We took out all the face cards and used only the number cards.  I encouraged the students to go home and teach their parents or siblings how to play if they have a deck of cards.

We also graphed pattern blocks to find which ones had the most and the least.

At another center we found many different combinations of ways to make five with unifix cubes.  Some students started to make a connection to addition.

We Are Readers!

We have been working hard in Reader's Workshop.  Students have loved reading nonfiction books and have learned how much more they can learn when they reread a book.  We are also retelling our books to partners and starting to make connections to our own lives or other books we have read.  We will be moving on to story books soon and seeing how great it is to reread the same book more than once.

Fire Safety

We were so lucky to have the Stratham Fire Department come to SMS this morning to teach us fire safety at four different stations.  Students learned about the fire fighter's equipment, creating a plan with their families, how to "stop, drop, and roll",  and how to check doors to see if it is safe to escape.  We also met Sparky.

Planting Daffodils

Today the kindergarten classes helped plant daffodils in the SMS garden.  We also took a tour around the garden and saw everything in it.

Students found some great leaves on the ground.

Open Circle

This year our class is piloting the Open Circle Curriculum, a comprehensive social and emotional learning program that support children in developing the skills they need to be successful learners and build positive relationships. Twice each week, the class will meet in a circle for about 15 minutes. Lesson topics will include listening well, including one another, cooperating, understanding feelings, teasing, recognizing differences among people, getting calm, problem solving, positive self-talk, and more. The goals of the lessons are to create a safe, caring and highly engaging classroom environment and to give children the skills they need to succeed academically, solve interpersonal problems and build positive relationships. We will begin these official "talks" this week. I'll let you know what skills we are working on in my email for the end of the week wrap up. This week will only be an introduction on how the group will come together and how we must take turns talking.