Thank you all for taking the time to meet with me about your child’s first report card. I am very excited about the group of students we have and all the growth and development that has already happened this school year.

Halloween Bash! Our party on Friday was a ton of fun. The children enjoyed showing off their costumes to each other, as well as parading around to all the preschool classrooms. During our party, students drew large portraits of themselves in their costumes. We decorated pumpkins, sorted m&m’s, made sparkling spider webs, and danced to some spooky holiday music.

Our next holiday, Thanksgiving, is quickly approaching: . We will be having a Thanksgiving feast on the last day of school before the holiday break. On Tuesday, November 23, we are asking families to bring in different items to prepare for our feast. There is a sign up list posted in the hallway. The feast will take place at lunchtime, so there will be no need to pack your child any lunch that day.

Last week, we finished our first chapter book: Charlotte’s Web. We had a celebration in the Digital Discovery Center and watched the movie version of the book. Throughout the movie, students made comparisons of the similarities and differences between the movie and book. We already have begun a new chapter book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Roald Dahl has been one of my favorite authors since I was a child. Sharing one of my favorite books with the children has been so much fun already. As we read a chapter a day, the children are each given a journal page containing the title of the chapter. While I read, they draw a picture of something happening in the story. So far, the children are so excited about this book, and their illustrations are interesting. They frequently ask me to read more chapters every day. The vivid language and creative plot has really captured their attention.

STARS, MOON, SKY: This week we began our theme on the stars, moon and sky. We started our unit brainstorming anything that we knew about outer space. Many of our students know quite a lot already! They have really enjoyed the new selection of books available in the library center. Watch for the early construction stages of our rocket ship in the drama center. After the rocket is completed we will create a space mural fitting for space exploration in our newly equipped rocket. We will be painting stars, creating the planets, doing paper mache, and building smaller rockets using 3D art materials.

Next Monday, we will be heading to the Lake Erie Nature and Science Center for a planetarium program specifically designed for kindergarten students. Please let me know if you are able to drive to this trip. We will be at the location for just about one hour.

WRITER’S WORKSHOP: We are ending our unit on Small Moment stories this Friday with a Writer’s Celebration. The kindergarten class will be reading their books to Miss Robyn and Miss Sue’s preschool class. During this writing unit, the children have learned how to writie about events in their own lives. They have begun to expand on their stories, add emotion into their work, and write with more confidence. This week, each child selected one of their stories to turn into an actual book. We sat together and typed up their story. After they add their illustrations, their story will be complete. The process of typing up their work has shown them the beginning stages of editing. They were able to leave out some words that did not make sense, and even add a little more detail. By creating detailed pictures, they are also reinforcing the concept that the picture helps to tell the story. I am really looking forward to the students reading aloud their work to other children. (Hopefully, families will be invited to our next writer’s celebration in December!)