December 18-21

I hope you have a wonderful break full of family, friends, rest, and laughs.
See you next year!

Here is the link to the December newsletter.

Upcoming Events:
December 21: Pajama Day

December 22-January 2: No School 

Reading: Kindergarteners will work on making predictions, rereading, and using book talk power to become stronger readers. All of these skills help readers to really think about what is happening in the story; developing deeper comprehension. We will not be sending book bags home over break. Instead, cuddle up and read some of your favorite holiday or seasonal books:)

**We will not be bringing book bags home over break.

Writing: Writers will publish a true story this week. They will bring all of their writing home on Thursday! Ask your child to read their stories to you by pointing under their words and checking the pictures to remember what their story was about. You might see who was in the story, where they were and what was happening. Writers also added what the people in the story were thinking, saying, and doing. Way to go true story writers!

Math: We will work on teen numbers this week. As mathematicians, the most efficient way to see teen numbers is to see the group of ten and the extras. We will create teen number books to practice building ten and the extras. We will also work on finding the partners of the numbers 2-6. Mathematicians will listen to story problems on the iPad and then use pictures and equations to solve them. Finally, mathematicians will use math tools to solve both addition and subtraction problems within 5.

Snap Words: Here is a list of the snap words we have learned and practiced at school:
I, a, the, is, and, it, me, here, can, we, see, in, you, look, like, come, to, and, this, with, & said.
Keep reading and writing these as much as you can!

Social Studies: To wrap up our Holiday study, Kindergartners will participate in different games and traditions from holidays we learned about. We will create Kwanzaa mats and play the dreidel game. Ask your child about a holiday we learned about! You could encourage them to use their hand, putting the main topic (holiday) on their palm and sharing key details (the things they learned) on each finger. This is a fun way to organize our thinking about nonfiction!

December 11-15

Please remember to send warm winter gear to school with your child each day! If you would like any of the gear to stay at school rather then travel back and forth, please send me a note or an email!

Here is the link to the December newsletter.

Upcoming Events:
December 12: No School
December 13: Holiday wear
December 15: Orchestra performance

December 21: Pajama Day
December 22-January 2: No School 

Reading: As I have been meeting with readers this past week, I am amazed at how they are able to figure out their patterns and solve unknown words--they really are turning into readers! As their books become less patterned, they will need to amp up some of their strategies! Readers will learn to go back to fix up their reading if it doesn't make sense. They can search the entire picture to figure out tricky words and rely on snap words--even when they have endings! We call these snap words in disguise! Search through the books your child brings home for snap words in disguise. For example, seeing, looked,.

Writing: Writers will work on elaboration this week. Whenever we are writing true stories, we can add more details by showing in pictures and writing in words. Writers think about what more to add by asking the following questions:

• Who was there?
• Where is the story taking place?
• What happened?
• What did people say? (speech bubbles)
• How were they feeling?

Math: We begin Unit 3 this week, which focuses on identifying 10 groups in teen numbers, finding partners of a number (i.e. partners of 5 are 3+2 and 4+1), and addition and subtraction. When working on teen numbers, we want students to understand that a teen number is made up of a group of ten and extras. These are fun teen number puzzles to work on identifying the digit and quantity it represents. You could also work with teen numbers with toys at the house using this as a guide.
Here is an easy way to practice working on partners of a number.


Social Studies: We have been using close reading to learn and think deeply about our holidays unit. So far, we have read books about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Cinco de Mayo, and Memorial Day. This week, we will learn about Earth Day, Christmas, the 4th of July, and St. Patrick's Day. When we close read, we talk about vocabulary and discuss what the author is trying to teach us. We have learned so much about these holidays already!

December 4-8

We have a busy week here at NDLC! We hope to see you at the parade on Tuesday night and family night on Thursday. What a wonderful time of the year to come together and celebrate our bright learners!

Thank you to everyone who made Afternoon with Astronauts such a fun time! See below for a few pictures!


Upcoming Events:
December 5: Kaukauna Christmas Parade
December 7: Pajama Day
December 7: Pizza and Publishing Family Night
December 13: Holiday wear
December 21: Pajama Day

Reading: As these readers are growing stronger at reading conventionally, they will need to start to zoom in on letters and sounds to help them figure out unknown words on the page. This week, readers will learn to notice the letters at the beginning and end of words and think, "What could this word be?" Although letter sounds is a powerful strategy for figuring out unknown words, readers can't forget to think about these questions when reading:

**Please send the book bag back to school every day to exchange the books!

Writing: Writers have learned about so many ways to make their true stories easy to read. We will work with partners and use the following chart to make our writing the very best it can be! We can't wait to share their work on Thursday's family night! Hope to see you there!

Word Study: Here is a list of ways to practice snap words! Here is our list of snap words.

Math: As a culminating review the big ideas of the unit, students will rotate through the following centers during our math workshop this week:

• Nearby Numbers: This game encourages students to think about number order. Here is a link to play at home! Ask your child how to play without having to print the board.   
• Break Apart Stick practice with chip which looks like this:
  
• +/- Dice Game-Place a chip on a number line. Roll a dice with +1 and -1 on it. Move your chip accordingly and state the equation.  

5-1=4

• Five Frame Subtracting-Fill in all five spaces in a five frame.  Roll a 0-5 dice. Cross out the number & write equation that matches. 

Social Studies: Kindergartners will begin studying holidays from around the world this week! We will begin our inquiry by looking at a calendar and brainstorming different holidays. We will watch a short video that gives an overview of each holiday and then choose which 8 we plan to study.