October 30-November 3

2017 Fall Portfolio Conference Sign Up

NDLC is using PTCFast.com to make signups as convenient as possible for our fall Portfolio Conferences. Please click on this link to sign up for a conference time.

Annual Food Donation Drive 
All food and monetary donations benefit Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry in Kaukauna. Last year, our district collected 5,846 items to the food pantry. Can we do more this year?
Donations will be accepted until November 6th. Every item helps ... get yours in today!

PSC Links

Fall 2017 Teacher Conference Meals

Fall 2017 Book Fair

Upcoming Events: 
October 30: PJ day
October 31: Orange/black

SNAP WORDS: Snap words are words that we frequently read and write but cannot easily sound out. Knowing these words in a "snap" makes our reading and writing much easier to tackle. I would encourage you to practice snap words at home with your child! 
Here are a few ways to practice:

• Write them in sand, shaving cream, or any other fun materials
• Search for them in books, newspapers, and magazines
• Write them in different color markers. We call this rainbow writing.
• Build snap words using toys, noodles, or anything you can find!  

The snap words we have worked on so far are: I, a, and, the, this, is, here, see, look, to, & you. 

Reading: Last week, Reader Man left a note and special witch finger pointers for our readers! They have been working hard to amp up their pointer power. Readers will learn that every word, no matter how long, gets just one point! We will also use our snap words to make sure we are pointing correctly in our books.

Writing: Writers will work on adding snap words to their books and writing pattern books. These pattern books might sound like "I see a yellow leaf. I see a green leaf. etc." These books help students focus on adding descriptive words and spaces to their writing. See above for more important information on snap words.

 Math:  Mathematicians will learn all about numbers 6-10 and how using a five group can help us to see and build those numbers quickly! We will use different tools to build these numbers and make equations to match. Mathematicians will also explore equal and not equal by comparing both digits to objects and objects to objects.

Social Studies: We will wrap up our School Study unit this week! We have learned so much about our school helpers. The last project we will do is create a school map. We will design pictures that show the different parts of our school in teams. We will take a tour of the school and build a map using the pieces we created.

October 23-25

It's Red Ribbon Week! Here are the dress up days: 

October 23: Sweats/team apparel
October 24: Neon colors
October 25: Wear red

I will be doing PALS testing on Tuesday and Mrs. Flanagan will be the guest teacher in our room.  PALS focuses on literacy concepts/skills such as letter sounds, beginning sounds, word identification, and so on. I look forward to sharing the results of this screening with you at conferences.


PSC Links

Fall 2017 Teacher Conference Meals

Fall 2017 Book Fair

Kindred Hearts Visit: Nov. 11 from 9-10 am.  

Families will meet at Kindred Hearts and read stories and their writing/books to residents.  Families will need to bring books/writing with them.  The sign up sheet to attend the first visit is below.  Please contact Kristin McEneany kristin.mceneany@gmail.com if you have any questions. Thank you!

http://signup.com/go/VFFJQYF

Upcoming Events: 
October 26-27: No School
October 26: Skate City
October 30: PJ day
October 31: Orange/black

Reading: This week is the beginning of our most EXCITING reading unit yet: Super Readers! Students will learn that readers are like super heroes because they can use super reader powers. After getting their very own book bins, which contain books at the student’s reading level, they will learn about their super powers! For example, Super Readers can use pointer power to point at each word while reading a book.

Writing: Here are some pictures from our field trip:

 Math:  Check your child's folder to see how they did on the Unit 1 assessment! They worked hard; you might look through the assessment with your child and ask them to explain their thinking. That math talk is SO important to their understanding!

Social Studies: After introducing the new social studies centers, students will have a chance to work in each center this week. Students will create building block structures of where our school community helpers work. We will create webs that describe the work of the school community helpers. Finally, students will look at an assortment of pictures, determine the problem, and decide which community helper(s) could be called to fix the problem!

October 16-20

Our field trip is Tuesday! We will be outside exploring at Heckrodt; please dress your child accordingly. Remember that students and chaperones need a bag lunch and drink (no lunch boxes) unless you preordered a bag lunch from school!

Here is the link to our school dress up days! I will always have them posted in the upcoming events on the blog too.

Here is the link to the October lunch menu*
*Oct 16th is Chicken Nuggets not Cheeseburger
*Oct. 19 is Mini Turkey Corn Dogs not Chicken Alfredo


Upcoming Events: 
October 16: Badger sports Wear
October 17: Grandparents, Games, and Goodies Family Night
October 17: Field trip to Heckrodt Wetland Reserve
Red Ribbon Week Dress Up Days
October 23: Sweats/team apparel
October 24: Neon colors
October 25: Wear red
October 30: PJ day
October 31: Orange/black

Reading: As we wrap up our "Old Favorite" books unit, students will be acting out the books that they know and love! We will start the week off by creating puppets and thinking carefully about how those characters look, act, and feel. Then, we will think about where the story takes place and create settings. Readers are encouraged to think about the problem in the story and how it is resolved in the end when acting out. For our celebration, readers will act our their books for Mrs. Hixon's class! Acting out stories is a great way for early readers to develop comprehension skills.

Writing: Our scientific writers will work on drawing zoomed in pictures to teach with even more detail in their writing. They will think about looking closely to show everything they notice about the object. Then, students will learn to add labels and sentences to their pages to teach through pictures and words. Writers will learn that when they want to write a sentence, they can say what they want to write and count the words. Then, write! I'm sure will will have many writing ideas after visiting Heckrodt!
Here are some pictures from last week:

 Math:  At the end of the week, students will take the unit 1 assessment. As a culmination of this unit's big ideas, mathematicians will be rotating through centers based on adding and subtracting, subitizing, number order, and number identification.  Here are some pictures of what the centers will look like:

This bingo game support subitizing. Click here to download. 

A great way to practice number identification.
Click here to download. 

Social Studies: We have almost met every school helper and are now working hard to create books that teach about each helper. This week, the students will be  wrapping up interviews with our school liaison, Officer Krueger! Ask your child about all of our school helpers and what they do for our school. 

October 9-13

Here is the link to the October lunch menu*
*Oct 11th is Cheeseburger not Crispy Chicken Patty
*Oct 16th is Chicken Nuggets not Cheeseburger
*Oct. 19 is Mini Turkey Corn Dogs not Chicken Alfredo


Notes:
If you are able to donate extra snack for the days when someone doesn't have one, we would appreciate it! Our healthy snack keeps our brains ready for learning:)
Don't forget to send back your child's permission slip for our field trip!

Upcoming Events: 
October 17: Grandparents, Games, and Goodies Family Night
October 17: Field trip to Heckrodt Wetland Reserve-Don't forget to send back your permission slip!

Reading: As the Kindergartners work toward more conventional reading, we will be working on learning "snap words", or words that appear frequently in books but are not easily sounded out. Our current snap words are I, is, and, the, & a. Another strategy for beginning readers is to look at the picture, think about what would make sense, and then read! If you have any pattern books at home, give your child the pattern on the first page and then watch as they use the pictures to read the rest! 

Writing: I will be sending home work from the last writing unit. If you are able, look through it with your child. They worked really hard! We begin a new writing unit this week and I believe it will be extremely exciting for the kiddos! The writing unit is called Looking Closely: Observing, Labeling, Listing. Students will learn that writers are like scientists because they look closely at what they are writing about. We will be taking nature walks, gathering items, and writing about what we find. Using Fall objects will be a great way to integrate science into our writing. Hopefully the weather corporates! 

 Math: In math, we will work on adding, subtracting and number order. Students will use pictures to tell addition and subtraction math stories. They might see a picture of three cars. They could say, “There were three cars. One drove away. How many are left?” Try doing these story problems at home too!

Social Studies: The students have been interviewing school helpers and creating books about each person we interview! It is great to visit the different offices in the school to learn about what our school helpers do. This week, the students will be writing and illustrating books about our school nurse, administrative assistant, and lunch helpers! It is exciting to see how things we are talking about in writing, such as speech bubbles, are transferring to the work we do throughout the day, especially in these books!

October 2-6

I wanted to let everyone know that we will have Mrs. Flanagan as a guest teacher in our room on Friday. Feel free to call the office if you need anything on Friday!

Here is the link to the October lunch menu*
*Oct 11th is Cheeseburger not Crispy Chicken Patty
*Oct 16th is Chicken Nuggets not Cheeseburger
*Oct. 19 is Mini Turkey Corn Dogs not Chicken Alfredo

Here is the link to our October school newsletter.

Notes: 

• If you are able to donate extra snack for the days when someone doesn't have one, we would appreciate it! Our healthy snack keeps our brains ready for learning:)
• Don't forget to send back your child's permission slip for our field trip! 

Upcoming Events: 
September 27: Homecoming Parade at 4:30 (4:00 line-up)

October 8: Ride to Read bike event  10:00-1:00
October 17: Grandparents, Games, and Goodies Family Night
October 17: Field trip to Heckrodt Wetland Reserve

NDLC's Ride to Read
We invite you and your families to join us for our first Ride to Read, family biking event, on Sunday, October 8 from 10-1.  There will be activities for all ages and riding abilities at the event.  Please visit the link for more information and to register!  http://www.kaukauna.k12.wi.us/cms_files/resources/Ride%20to%20Read%20Brochure.pdf

Reading: Friday, we had a celebration to mark the end of our first reading unit.Check it out using this! Students have worked so hard to learn to retell their old favorite storybooks using the exact words from the book, sounding like the characters, and using connecting words to keep the story going. As we continue to work in these "Old Favorites" in our next unit, we will learn to use the pictures and words to really think about how the character might be feeling and what they are thinking. These colorful stories provide a great base to begin that comprehension work with our emerging readers!

Writing:  Students will learn to plan their story across pages, add more details in pictures and words, and add speech bubbles to their writing. At home, you could help your child generate ideas to write about! Practice telling the story orally and asking questions to add more details. This helps students to write more vivid stories. Oral storytelling is a key component in the writing process and will help students to get their ideas on to the page. Here is how Kindergarteners are taught to think about the writing process:

 Pretty amazing work for these young writers!


Math: This week, mathematicians will work on adding and subtracting using pictures. We will continue to work writing numbers 1-5 and seeing numbers of objects in a group. Students will work on number order using dot to dots.

Phonics: As some of you may have heard, New Directions is excited to announce that we are implementing Fundations as our phonics program. This program focuses on foundational skills necessary for successful reading and writing.
To help your student be successful, you can practice letter formation at home! Check your child's backpack for:

• A copy of the verbalizations to form each letter  
• Handwriting paper in a page protector. 
• You can use this with a dry erase marker so that it is reusable! Socks make great erasers:)

Social Studies: This week, we will begin our School Study unit. Throughout the unit, we will be exploring who the community helpers are in our school and conducting interviews to learn more about what they do! We will be learning about interviews and planning what kinds of questions we are going to ask our school community helpers.We will be conducting interviews with Mr. Tom (our custodian) and Mrs. Frischmann (our principal). Then, the students will create books based on what we learned! We are excited to start this project!