This post is going to be quite long, so I will start out with important announcements and upcoming events first. I will try to make this a habit from now on, so you don't miss anything!
*** Our
field trip to Stillwater Prairie Reserve will be on
Tuesday, Oct. 22. As of this posting, the forecast is calling for sunny but
chilly weather. Since this is a nature reserve, most of the trip will be held outside, so please dress your child appropriately - jeans, tennis shoes, and a jacket or coat!
*** We have been having some problems with money being sent to school that is not in an envelope with the child's name and reason for the money. Please know that *I* know whose folder that money came from (unless it was dropped on the floor, and that
does happen!). However, *I* cannot take the money to the office, because I cannot leave the room.
Your child takes their own money to the office or cafeteria. If our secretary or cafeteria worker is not immediately at their station, and the child lays the money on the desk without an envelope, that worker has no idea who the money should be credited to. Then they have to spend extra time and effort trying to track down whose money it is.
This is why we ask everyone to place all money in an envelope, clearly marked with the child's name and reason for the money. Also, due to this process, there is no guarantee that you will receive the envelope back! It might be a good idea, next time you are at Walmart or the grocery, to pick up a box of envelopes just for this purpose. If that's simply not an option, you can improvise by folding the money into a piece of paper - just make sure you write the child's name and reason for the money on it!
*** Conference time request forms were sent home last week. If you have not returned yours, please do so immediately, for the best chance to receive the conference time you need.
We require 100% attendance at conferences, which will be held Wed., Nov. 6, Thurs., Nov. 7, and Fri., Nov. 8. On Wednesday, there will be a
1-hour Early Dismissal, and on Friday there will be
No School.
On to what's been happening around here lately ...
Wow! Lots of things going on this past couple of weeks!
First of all, congratulations to all the students who made their Family Reading Goal for the month of September! Our assembly was held on Tuesday, Oct. 8, and the following students were recognized for their achievement:
Camryn, Allie, Brady, Ethan, Madalynn, Garrett, Nickolai, Jaylen, Abigail K., Kylee, Ian, Kasey, Chloe, AaJay, Jayden, Tiara, Troy, and Dietrich!
Every month the class with the most students reaching their Family Reading Goal gets to keep a stuffed Clifford or Toto dog as a mascot in their room. With 18 out of 22 students reaching their goal, guess whose class Toto is spending this month in?! Great work, parents - let's go for 100% in October!
Also at our monthly assembly, each student who reaches their Family Reading Goal has their name put in a jar for a drawing for a Nicklin T-shirt. This month,
Dietrich was our t-shirt winner. Congratulations, Dietrich!
We also choose one student who displays the social skill introduced at the previous month's assembly. Since this was our first assembly, the teachers were asked to choose a student who displays all-around good behavior. For the month of September, our
Star Student was
Chloe! Way to go, Chloe!
This past Thursday, Nicklin held our first (of the year)
Big Pumpkin Family Literacy Night. Students and their families who attended enjoyed a re-enactment of the book
Big Pumpkin, by Erica Silverman.
They also received their very own copy to take home! Those who brought a pumpkin with them received pieces to decorate it with, and a special writing paper to write a story about their pumpkin. They also received a coupon good toward five free entries on their October Family Reading Log. Here are some of our friends with their pumpkins!
If you missed Family Literacy Night this month (or even if you didn't!), there will be another in March (Dr. Seuss theme) and one in May (our annual Puppet Show). You won't want to miss either one!
Last week we did lots of learning activities based on apples. The students were introduced to the five senses as I passed out samples of different kinds of apples. They got to
touch them,
see (look at) them closely,
hear (listen to) them (we found out they don't make any sound!),
smell them (mmm!), and of course,
taste them (double-mmm!)
Of course, my favorite part of the whole week is watching their faces when they taste green apples - too funny!
When we finished, we graphed the results of our favorite apples. 11 students liked red best, 8 liked green best, 2 liked yellow best, and 1 doesn't like apples at all. We also used our choice for favorite apple to do a writing assignment. The students cut out the appropriate words, and glued the sentence in order, then drew a picture to match.
And finally, we did math using apples! We used our Smartboard and "fuzzy sticks" (green pipe cleaners with red beads - sorry, no picture!) to act out addition story problems with answers up to 5. We pretended the fuzzy sticks were apple trees. When we put the red beads at the top, they were "in the tree", and when we put them at the bottom, they "fell out of the tree". We found out things like 2 apples in the tree plus 3 apples on the ground makes 5 apples altogether. And if one more apple falls out of the tree, we still have 5 apples, but 1 in the tree and 4 on the ground.
And finally, here are some of the stations we've been working on:
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| Roll the dice and color the correct number |
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| Find and color all the Dd's |
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| Roll the dice and write the number in graph form |
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| "Pokey-pin"-ing our sight word "the" |
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| Using Playdoh to form letters |
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| Educational activities on the iPad |
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| Using the Smartboard |
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| Computers |
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| Matching rhyming pictures, and coloring the correct boxes |
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| Listening to the letters and their sounds, and writing them as well |
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| Working with Mrs. K. on individual needs |
Have a great week!
