FOR THE WEEK OF: NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Santa's Secret Shop will be open from 9-3 from December 7-11!

Pajama Family Fun Night will be held on December 8 from 6-7:30 P.M.

Thanks to all who donated items and help for our Thanksgiving Feast! We had a great time!

***All lessons and activities are based on the Guaranteed Curriculum, which may be found on the St. Tammany Parish School System website.***

Unit 5: Animals All Around

Lesson 1: Mama Cat Has Three Kittens

Enduring Understandings:

Animals are an integral part of our world.

Animals live in our world.

Essential Questions:

Why are animals important in our lives?

Where do animals live?

Why do animals need food?

Morning Meeting Topics of Discussion:

This week, we will discuss what animals we like best, what kittens like to do, what ways we can keep pets healthy, what animals make the best pets, and which animal stories are our favorites. We will look at and read the written morning message on the Promethean Board showing the month and day. We will then circle and underline sight words we see.

Language Arts Focus for the Week:

This week, we are beginning our unit about animals. Our new letter is Oo and our new word is "is". Our focus book is Mama Cat Has Three Kittens. We will practice with syllables, rhymes, repetition, initial sounds, and picture sorting. We are reviewing our color word songs, sight words, and alphabet song. We will read a classmate's name from a name card and then find that friend. We will brainstorm lists of pets and discuss ways to keep pets healthy. We will also discuss problems and solutions in our stories. We discuss title, author, illustrator, characters, plot, and setting, daily. We will make predictions and segment words.

Journal Focus for the Week:

This week, we will write about a boy having dinner with his family. We will write about his fork, his cup, and the food he eats. We will also write about what happens at dinner and what his family likes to do. Students will work at their own levels in drawing pictures and sounding out simple words. Color words, student names, and sight words we have covered in class will be posted for students to reference when writing and drawing in journals.

Books for the Week:

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens, "Three Little Kittens", Ollie the Octopus, "Ollie Octopus Lost a Shoe", Officer Buckle and Gloria, animal stories, and holiday stories

Math Focus for the Week:

This week, we will introduce number "11", discuss what number comes before and after, count backwards, and identify the missing number. We will read "Ollie Octopus Lost a Shoe". We will read ordinal number stories and match object amounts to number cards.

Every Day Counts Calendar Math:

We turn a number on the calendar, add a paper clip for each school day, color a square on the 100's chart, add a colored number on the counting tape for each school day, and discuss calendar patterns, daily. We also sing the days of the week and months of the year using the calendar and birthday baskets. We have a new pattern for November and we will recognize that there are different types of rectangles in it. We will conclude our temperature graph, color squares on the daily depositor, and match dots to the numeral on the domino number builder. We have traced, cut out, and hung our feet from shortest to longest. We will begin our December calendar with a food graph and a new pattern.

Classroom Work Station Activities:

This week, we are using cookie cutters with Play-Doh; manipulating puzzles; looking at and reading books about animals and December holidays; listening to Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Ollie the Octopus; stamping out an amount of pictures to match the correct number; playing sight word bingo and a sight words game; making sentences with Oo words; making simple words with letter cards and a sound box; sorting animal cards by how they move; writing about favorite pets and what pets like to eat; using fish counters to sort, match, and count; count and sort seasonal objects; patterning with holiday items; making a holiday counting book; creating patterns, identifying beginning and ending sounds, and making sight words and simple words on the Promethean Board; using the websites starfall.com and educationcity.com, as well as educational CD-Roms and the Earobics program; building with wooden blocks; and dramatizing in the housekeeping station.

Home Learning:

Please read and discuss the 4 take-home readers with your child. The readers are in your child's take-home folder, along with a packet containing discussion ideas for the readers. Please also continue to review name, address, phone number, age, and birthday with your child. Review basic colors and shapes, counting and writing numbers through 11, singing the alphabet song, and practicing the /m/, /a/, /s/, /p/, /t/, /i/, /n/, /k/, and /o/ letter sounds. Frog Family Fun Packs are to be returned on Thursdays.

There will be no required homework for Kindergarten. These ideas are merely suggestions for activities you may enjoy completing with your child. As always, do whatever you feel your child can handle. We want to make learning fun and stress-free!

Questions to Discuss at Home:

Can you count 11 of anything in your home?

What animals do you like? Do you have any pets?

What comes next in this pattern: dog, dog, cat, fish, bird, dog, dog, cat,..........?

Can you tell someone in your family about a book we read in class, this week?

Can you think of words that rhyme with "is"?

Can you think of a question using the word "is"?

Differentiated Instruction:

All students are unique in their learning styles and work habits! I provide many different types of learning activities, including many opportunities for kinesthetic (hands-on), auditory, and visual learners. Most children learn in all of these ways. I provide easy writing and coloring practice, many opportunities to look at and listen to books in class and at our school library (read aloud and through headsets), many learning songs to sing, opportunities to use our hands (Play-Doh, blocks, and puzzles), opportunities to use technology (computers and Promethean Board), and opportunities to show creativity and imagination (housekeeping station, art station, weekly art class, and weekly music class). Students are allowed to complete classroom activities at their own paces. There will be many opportunities for extra learning practice and higher-learning activities. Station activities vary based on students' needs and whether or not they need more challenges.