Many thanks to everyone who helped make our Halloween Party a success. Your time, effort and creativity are greatly appreciated! The children and teachers had a wonderful day. The next unit we will be learning about is Thanksgiving. During this unit, we will be preparing for our Thanksgiving Feast. This event will be held on Friday, November 16th at 10:15 a.m. It will be a time for the children to gather, celebrate and give thanks. Our class will be making the pudding and dressing up as pilgrims.

• Conferences

Conferences will be held Monday, November 19th through Friday, November 30th. During this time, your child will not attend school every day. The morning students will meet from 9:00-11:30 on

Attached is your scheduled conference time. Please return the proper form and indicate whether or not you will be able to attend. At your child's conference, we will discuss how s/he is adjusting to kindergarten, goals for your child, and the PALS assessment that was conducted in October.

• Letter of the Week

The upcoming schedule for Letter of the Week is as follows:

• Math

Halloween was such a fun time to do math! During the month of October, the children made Halloween graphs, estimated pumpkin seeds, counted, measured and sorted various objects. We wrapped up Chapter 1: Position and Classification. In November, we will be starting Chapter 2: Sort & Graph and Chapter 3: Explore Patterns. In December, we will begin to really focus on each number and practice writing them the correct way.

• Science

In Science Centers, we have finished our first unit on color. You will be seeing a packet come home in your child's folder with the experiments we completed last month. This will allow you to discuss what we have been learning and possibly do them again with your child for further reinforcement. Our next units will be Simple Machines & Toys and Weather.

• Language Arts

The children continue to write in their journals 3-4 days/week. With the help of our Word Wall and print found in the classroom, as well as increased letter-sound associations, the students are doing most of the writing. At this point, I encourage them to display at least five different colors in their pictures, count the number of words in their sentence (writing a line for each word), and begin writing their sentence. As they are sounding out the words, Mrs. Irey, Mrs. Marchei and I walk around to help them. These concepts can be practiced at home by encouraging your child to write notes to relatives and family members, shopping lists, etc. Offer various writing utensils (markers, gel pens, crayons) and paper to keep it fun.

We continue to enjoy reading many Fall stories together. Prior to reading, I activate prior knowledge, take a picture walk, and have the students make predictions. After each story, the children complete a story map, discuss the beginning, middle, and end, or retell the events of the book. Sometimes they have a project to go along with the book.

Please continue to read to your child every night! The children fully enjoy and benefit from the experience.

• Library

The children have been doing a wonderful job returning their library books each Wednesday! This is good practice for when we start visiting the SRS library. The school librarian has ordered books that are kindergarten appropriate. As soon as the books come in, they will be ready for us!

• Centers

Thanks to all of the parents who have been coming in to help with both Literacy and Science Centers. I really appreciate all of your time and effort; without you, centers would not be as successful and beneficial for the children. Now that I have the results of the PALS testing, the Literacy Center groups are leveled according to strengths and needs. This allows me and Mrs. Saunders, the Reading Specialist, to provide instruction in Guided Reading groups based on what each child needs. Each day we have Centers, your child has Guided Reading as well as either handwriting or post office.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. I really enjoy working with you and your child, and I am looking forward to seeing you during conferences.

Miss Kremer