HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I want to take a moment to say Happy Thanksgiving to our kindergarten students and their families. I am so thankful for these beautiful little children who make each day at school a joy. We are all thankful for our school volunteers: Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Frank, Mrs. Williams, and Mrs. Glazier, who volunteer at the school; as well as Mrs. Ellis, who volunteers by doing things for us at her home. These volunteers make my job so much easier! (Did you know that Mrs. Frank and Mrs. Williams don't even have children in our class? Their daughters were in my class last year!) We are also thankful for our three college pre-interns, Ms. Best and Ms. Cox from the University of North Florida; and Ms. Brandon from Jacksonville University. As their first semester comes to a close, their time with us is coming to an end. We will miss them all. I wish each of you a very Happy Thanksgiving and a safe five-day vacation!

WE CAN PLAY HANDBELLS

Students in our class are learning to play handbells, in preparation for our December 2nd PTA program. The boys and girls are learning to ring their handbells in a circular motion and dampen the sound on their chest. As musicians, they will have to work together and pay close attention to their director. They will play several Nursery Rhyme songs at the program, plus they will sing "Feliz Navidad" in Spanish, accompanied by rhythm instruments (tambourines, maracas, jingle bells, and so forth). Be sure to attend the December 2nd PTA meeting at 7:00 p.m. to see our performance!

Patterns

Learning about patterns - identifying them, repeating and extending them, and creating our own - is an important Math skill, which is a prerequisite skill for much more difficult Math concepts. We often make patterns with "pattern blocks" like you see in these photos.

Sorting

In Math Workshop, students practiced sorting objects. In the top photo, a student is sorting by category: animals, airplanes, shells, straws, and so forth. In the other picture, students sorted by color: all the green things together, all the blue things together, all the red things together, and all the yellow things together. Students can practice sorting things at home, too. While doing laundry, children can sort by category: all the socks together, all the t-shirts together, all the pants together; or they can sort by color: all the red clothes together, all the blue clothes together, etc. While cleaning up their toys, children can sort by category: all the books together, all the blocks together, all the dolls or action figures together, and so forth. Sorting is fun - Try it.

Field Trip to a Farm

On Tuesday, November 2nd, we took our second field trip to Connor's Amazing Acres in Nassau County. Students reported that their favorite parts were the hayride out to see cattle, walking through the corn maze, and our picnic lunch! Thank you to Mrs. Akins, Mrs. Barrera, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Molina, Mrs. Smith, and our pre-intern Ms. Best, for coming along as chaperones. We all had a great time!