Mrs. McCord's Kindergarten

November 14-18, 2011

This week we will be working with the letter B.  In math we are still working with the numbers 10-20.  Of course, the main focus will be the Pilgrims, Indians and Thanksgiving!

The final day of the Book Fair is Tuesday, November15.

On Wednesday, besides our Friends and Family Lunch, we also enjoyed a wonderful presentation by "Firefighter Jacob" of the Cobb County Fire Department. I hope your child told you all about it.  It was informative and well delivered in a way that 5 year olds can understand and enjoy.

As you can tell, it has been a busy week; and I’m pretty certain it will continue that way now for the next few weeks!

As you know, there is no school the week of Thanksgiving.  When we return, we will be working on the letter G; learning about our 5 senses; and starting lots of fun activities as we start our final four weeks before winter break.  Since the second quarter ends in December, I will be doing a lot of assessing for the next report card which will be sent home in January.  One of the areas you might want to focus on with your child would be the vocabulary word cards I gave you at our conference in October.  They need to know a minimum of 20 words at this point in order to get a “3” on their report card.  Some of them know all 40 already!  Also, if you could spend some time working with coins; identifying and trading pennies for nickels and dimes, this would be very helpful.

We want to wish Herbie a very Happy Birthday on November 21!  He is only our third friend to turn 6 years old!  It is still a very select group!

I’d like to wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  One of the many things that I am thankful for is the opportunity to work with your child every day.  As I have said many times, we have a great class this year and Mrs. Saeger and I enjoy them very much.  I won’t be sending a newsletter next Friday since there is no school the following week. I hope you get to spend good times with your families and just relax and enjoy the holiday.   

When we come back, we will begin the month of December!  That’s when the real fun begins!  Things are going to get pretty busy !

 

November 7-11, 2011

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the outpouring of appreciation I received today!  All the sweet notes, candy, cards, gifts--it was amazing!  I did not realize (or more likely, I forgot) that it was Teacher Appreciation Day, so I was taken completely by surprise as the kids came in with their cards and gifts.  I am very sincere when I say that this year I feel so blessed to have such a great class.  It is a wonderful group of kids--and it is no coincidence that wonderful kids usually have wonderful parents.  Thank you so much for all the support you have shown me this year.

Next week we will be working with the letter S.  In math, we are going to turn our attention away from shapes and focus on numbers 10-20.  Many of the kids are still writing them backward (10, 11, 21, 31 ,41, 51 etc.)  Hopefully we can get that straightened out before we start working on the "20's".

Our Social Studies unit will be on American Indians, Pilgrims, and of course, Thanksgiving.  This will be a two week unit with lots of fun activities.  For one of these activities, we once again are in need of toilet paper rolls (empty). If you could save these as they become available in your house we would appreciate it.

Just a reminder….no school on Tuesday (for students!) ;)

On Wednesday, Cobb County Fire Department will be here in our classroom to present their safety program.  This is a terrific program that they do each year for Kindergarten.  Be sure to ask your child about it.

Wednesday, November 9 is also our annual Friends & Family luncheon.  Our class' lunch time on that day will be 12:00-12:30.  I hope as many of you as possible will be able to join your child for lunch that day.  Information on this came home Thursday in your child’s folder.  This is always a big event, so plan to arrive early to find a parking space.  If you would like to take your child home with you after lunch, please be sure to let Mrs. Saeger or me know, and be sure to sign them out.

The book Fair will be open during the Friends and Family Lunch. This would be a great opportunity to stop by if you would like to purchase any books for your child.

On Friday we will be celebrating Veterans Day.  I would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You to any veterans in our students’ families.  If you have any veterans or anyone currently serving in the armed forces in your family, please be sure to tell your child about them so they can share their story with the class.

There is no school the week of November 21-25 (Thanksgiving week).  After that there will be only four weeks of school before our Christmas break!  The school year will be half over already! We have a lot to do before then!

Enjoy the weekend.  Bundle up--it is supposed to get chilly at night.  Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour Saturday night.  An extra hour of sleep on a cold night--it doesn't get much better than that!

 

October 31-November 4, 2011

I can’t believe it is the start of a new month already!  We will be focusing on the letter C, and talking about night time and nocturnal animals.

In math, we will be learning about plane shapes (circle, squares, triangles etc.) and solid shapes (spheres, cubes, cones).

I really enjoyed meeting with each of you during this past week.  Hopefully you found it as useful and informative as I did.

Tonight is Spooky Bingo here in our cafeteria.  I hope you can be here.  We do not celebrate Halloween here at school, so please do not send your child in with a costume on Monday.  Halloween is a holiday some families choose to celebrate and others choose not to.  We will continue to enjoy some fun fall activities.

Looking ahead…Tuesday, November 8 is Election Day and there will be no school.  Wednesday, November 9 is our annual Family and Friends Day.  This is a day when we encourage families (and friends) to come and enjoy a Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria with your child.  We will have a different lunch time on that day.  I will let you know as soon as I know what time it will be.

I hope this wonderful fall weather lasts a long time.  We will go out every day after lunch, so please have your child wear sneakers and play clothes.