Tuesday: PLEASE CHECK BACKPACKS

We had another TERRIFIC TUESDAY in Kindergarten. Read two different versions of Jack and the Beanstalk. The first one had Jack and the Giant taking turns telling the story. Then after lunch I read a really old-fashion one from a book I have had for 40 years!

WE are working on counting writing and spelling 9 so we combine both math and reading. We finished up Chapter 4 and the next Math chapter is numbers through 31. Some children get stuck at 29 and after that hurdle its a breeze to get to 100.

The December Calendar went home with Book Orders today. It came home early because of Dec. 1st falling on a Wednesday and because we want to send the book order into scholastic early enough for a Christmas delivery. Be sure to read the letter on the back of the calendar, especially if you order books as gifts and want to keep it a surprise. Ordering online is set up and I included a HoneyBee catalog online that we don't get paper copies of in case you want to order for younger siblings.

As soon as the students were dismissed today, I found lunch menu's in our teacher mailbox.
I put them in the student mailboxes and they should be in their backpacks tomorrow after school In the meantime,
tomorrow's lunch is Beef Ravioli, Chicken Patty Sandwich, or a Bean & Cheese Burrito.

Thanks for all you do to help your child succeed in and out of school.
Sincerely, Carol Clapper

Last Monday in November

We had another wonderful day at school! We enjoyed a long recess in the afternoon with sunshine, snow and friends who shared and helped each other. A few children were disappointed that they could not play on the snowbanks because they did not have their snowpants. So please help them remember them for tomorrow. This snow is so much fun!!!

We got ready for the big book "Jack and the Beanstock" with the unusual,amazing Words of :
beanstalk, lad, lend, magic, naughty, and orge.
Maybe it was talking about the word naughty that helped them be so good today. It was great to start out "Nn" week with no one being naughty! In fact everyone was so well behaved that we earned the last 4 compliments and are at 100 for the year! I promised to bring cupcakes to celebrate! I am trying to get the December calendar done to go home tomorrow, so it's going to be a busy night. Just in case I don't have time to do both cupcakes and the calendar you need to know more about Friday night.

Today we practiced our song and dance for the Holiday Palooza this Friday night, Dec. 3rd at 7:00. This is not mandatory, but looks to be a really fun evening. The activities start at 6:00 and Kindergartners need to be gathering with Mrs. Hansen and Mrs. Blakeslee in the Music room about 6:50 to get ready for our performance. Before or after our song and dance, be sure to go to Mrs. Gibson's room for the Kick off for a fabulous reading program and your child can get a free book! I will be in Utah visiting my granddaughter otherwise I'd love to be there! Students can also make a special Christmas card, and listen to Santa reading Christmas stories. Cookies and cocoa will top off a fun evening at school, a gift from our wonderful PTA.

I better go, so that i can get ready for the rest of what looks to be GREAT week of learning and having fun at school!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Clapper

It's Thanksgiving week and we sang "Over the River and Through the Woods" today after watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. Mrs. Rappaport's class joined us for snacks and the movie rather than going out for afternoon recess. I know Mrs. Hansen mentioned that the children need to have their winter clothes at school when it is cold. The school guideline is that we go out, at least for a little bit as long as the temperature is above ZERO. Today they had PE in the morning then went out for lunch recess, and then we stayed in for the afternoon recess. Most of the children can independently change into their winter clothes, bu we are always available to help with the tough stuff. We also help the children tie tennis shoes and organize their clothes to keep track of it as best we can.

We started the traveling book called "I am Thankful" Sophia got to take it home today. if she brings it back another student will get to take it home for the long weekend. We hope to get it around to everyone before Christmas.

Two small green papers went home today. One reminding you of Early Dismissal on Tuesday of this week and the other explaining the Meadowlark Holidaypalooza. Be sure to read to find out why the Kindergarteners are practicing a fun dance to perform at school next Friday night! That same night (December 3rd) later in the evening, there will be a kick-off for the Read-To-Me program that Mrs. Gibson received a grant for. She will have a power point running all evening. All Kindergarten children who come in with their parents will receive a free book. There will be a quick survey and sign-up for the parent to fill out.She has enough books to run it for all of our classes if we stagger the starting dates. This is a wonderful program available to our students and I hope you can make it on Dec. 3rd to hear all about how it works.

Last but not least, we want to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Mrs. Hansen and I are so thankful for the wonderful students and great parents that we get to work with here at Meadowlark. Enjoy the 5 day weekend! When we return from Thanksgiving we will start "n" week and send home the December calendar on Tuesday the 30th.

Sincerely, Carol Clapper

Blustery Friday!

Snow is on the ground! Please be sure to have your child wear the appropriate clothing as we will be going outside. Today was fast and fun. The students put together a book and should be able to read most of it to you tonight! Yay! We made our turkey's and those will be coming home as well today. The students also worked on patterning today. Very hard. The patterns were: ABAABAAABAAAAB (etc.) These the kids really had to work at figuring out together. We wrapped up 'i' week. The students did very well. Have a great weekend! 

Thursday

Everyone got a letter today sent home with them about all the things happening in the next two weeks. Please take the time to read over the letter. Today went fast! We reread the book A Bed for Winter, completed our turkeys for next week's Math, worked on the letter "i", writing it out and sounding it out. The class did very well today even when things don't go quite as planned. Have a great day! 

Windy Wednesday

Wednesday went quick! The students had Library today and will not have it next week since we are off. Remember that next Tuesday is an early out at noon and there is no school next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We worked on our turkey books and reading them aloud, these went home today. Please do not forget the I am thankful for... homework. If you cannot find yours please let us know so that we can send another one home for your child to fill out. Have a great day! 

Tom Turkey came to school today!

We had a terrific time learning about a Tom Turkey that Mr. Gibson brought to school He was a real wild turkey before he got hit by a car. We learned that turkey's don't have any teeth but they love to eat grasshoppers and seeds. They swallow their food whole and it goes down to another kind of stomach called a crop where there are little rocks that grind up the food! We talked about the colors on the turkey and how wild turkeys are different from farm raised turkeys we eat at Thanksgiving. We also talked about how they can fly, but don't fly as far as geese or ducks and they don't fly south for the winter. The children were very polite and waited until the end to ask questions. Then we got a special treat of filing by the turkey to get an up close look at his feet, eyes, waddle beak and beautiful feathers. Tomorrow we will write a thank you note to Mr. Gibson for coming to our school and making to so interesting to learn about wild turkeys.

We also read a poem about turkeys and will make and read a special book. Please give your child a chance to read it to you, pointing to the words and telling you which words rhyme.

Slips went home today in case you want to order a sack lunch for your child for next Tuesday's Early Out day. Orders must be in by this Friday, November 19th, along with the "I am Thankful" homework! I have received 5 so far!

That's all for now, folks! Have a nice evening! Carol Clapepr