Chet went to Vermont

I had such a great time in Vermont with N and his family. When we arrived in Vermont, we couldn't believe how beautiful the fall foliage looked. The leaves were so many colors. We saw orange, yellow, and red leaves and we had fun trying to identify the different types.
I really liked the cool crisp weather with my thick coat. We wasted no time
starting our adventures. We went to Stowe, Vermont where I met a bear friend right away!


We had fun throwing the leaves and rolling down hills. I also liked walking on the covered bridges with N. We saw the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen! I really liked hiking in the mountains, canoeing down the Laomille River where I saw beaver dams, and fly fishing
where we caught fish and even spotted different animal tracks. After all the activities we did, N's parents let us have lots of treats. We went to an Apple Cider Mill where we had delicious cider and apple cider donuts! One of my favorite stops was the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory-yummy! Can you believe that just in time for the beginning of the holiday season, we even saw elk. I had a wonderful trip but I am glad to be back at school with all my friends and I am looking forward to my next adventure!

Compare Card Game

This past week the students learned a new card game called Compare. If you have ever played the game of War, then you already know how to play Compare. The students played with a partner. They learned how to shuffle the cards then pass them out to each other. One for you, one for me is the saying that helps with this process. It is not quick but they are learning how to deal. Once all the cards have been passed out, then the students keep their pile face down in a neat stack. Each student flips over one card. Each student has to call out their number, then together they have to decide which number is higher. The person with the highest number gets to keep the cards in a separate pile.


They continue to play until their original stack of cards has been finished. If both students flip the same card, then they flip one more to see who gets all the cards. There are no winners, so there are no losers. We encourage you to play this game with your child at home. Just use a normal set of cards, taking out the face cards. If your child is advanced and is not challenged with flipping over one card, then each of you can flip two cards and add them together to see which set of cards is higher.

Pumpkins

This is the story we read today about the life cycle of the pumpkin. Please have your child take a picture walk through the book and have a discussion about what they learned.

Science Unit on Pumpkins

We started a new pumpkin unit in science today. We are going to be learning the steps to growing a pumpkin from seed to pumpkin. We will also learn interesting facts about the pumpkin. Today's fact was: Pumpkins we mainly see are orange, however pumpkins can be blue, tan, white, yellow, and green.


We sent home a letter asking for pumpkins for us to use in the classroom. If you are able to find an unusual one we would love to have it. Even though we show the students pictures of the other color pumpkins, sometimes seeing is believing.

Roll and Record

We introduced the game of "Roll and Record" last week in Math Workshop. The students love to play this game in class. Here is how it works. The students need a dot cube or dice and a recording sheet. The recording sheet is a chart with 9 rows and 6 columns. The numerals 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 are printed in the bottom row of each column. This creates a chart with 6 numbered columns and eight empty boxes above each number in the columns. The first thing the student does is roll the cube.


Next he or she counts the dots they see. The next step is to write the number they rolled in the appropriate column on the recording sheet. They repeat these steps rolling the dot cube and recording the number in the column.



The numbers begin to stack on top of each other in the columns. They continue to roll and record until one column is filled. This is a great time to talk with the students about their chart. "Which number did you roll the most times?" , "Which number did you roll the least?", "How many times did you roll a three?". After the student has talked about the chart, they can continue to play the game until they fill all columns. When a column is full the child should skip the record part and roll again. This process will help the children practice writing and recognizing the numbers. To make this game a little more challenging, two dice can be rolled. The recording sheet would have eleven columns with numbers 2-12 in the columns. The student would roll the two dice and add them together before recording their combined total. "Roll and Record" is a perfect game to play with your child at home. Try It and let us know how it goes.

Skills Block

During Skills Block last week, the students had the opportunity to compare their work from the beginning of the year to what they are able to produce now. It is amazing the growth everyone has made. It ranges from being able to write their name without help, to writing the beginning sound, to writing the first and last sound they hear, to finally writing down at least three sounds they hear in a word. We can see the difference but the most powerful thing is that the students can see the difference. That is why we use the document camera daily in our room. We would like to take all the credit for teaching your child but often the students learn from each other. Here are a few samples from that lesson. When you look at the work on the left in each photo, it is the sample from the beginning of the year. The pictures are not very detailed and you will only see the beginning sound for each picture. The sample on the right is the most current work. You will notice the pictures have more details, the students have at least the beginning, ending and a few middle sounds.

Reading With Our Mouth

This week we have focused on a new reading strategy. "Get Your Mouth Ready" is what good beginning readers do when they look at text. As your child looks at a word, they should notice the beginning sound and get their mouth ready to make that sound. Have you ever noticed how your mouth gets ready to make the "m" sound? Does your mouth look different when you make the "r" sound? This strategy makes students look at the beginning letter in words, decide what sound the letter makes, get their mouth ready to make the sound and then make the sound that they are reading. Using letter flashcards, practice this strategy with your child in front of a mirror. It will be lots of fun.