November 2012 Newsletter
Dear Parents,
It is hard to believe it is November already. The students have been working very hard in the classroom, and we are very proud of them. We would like to welcome Tara Akbari, sister of Ava Akbari in Room 3, to our classroom. Tara is 3 years old and is already making friends with the other students. We would also like to let you know we have a new Tuesday and Thursday afternoon teacher, Dorothy Walters. Mrs. Walters is beginning to teach and expand upon the Mandarin Chinese the children have been already learning in the class.
We have been busy learning many new things these past few weeks. In geography, the children had the introduction to the continent of North America. Kindergartners learned names of countries situated on the continent and the Isthmus of Panama. Students who are interested in making a push pin map of the countries on the continent can start one. We introduced to the class the USA and Tennessee. Kindergartners are asked to make a map of the USA. The map is a good way to learn the name and the location of all the states. This is a work that requires details and perseverance. The skill of using a pin to push out shapes that they practiced in their first year is becoming so useful to help shape the fine and curvy line of each state. They will be proud of their finished work. The class was shown collected objects from places around the continent and the USA. Interesting objects from around the world are fascinating to the children and a great tool to teach different cultures. Our class is building up some collections from different continents. If you have objects to add to our collection that you can donate to the class, we will greatly appreciate it. We would like to thank Drew Kachinko who brought us 2 postcards from his recent visit to Hawaii, and Zizo Alkayyall who brought the class a miniature of the rock-cut architecture of Petra, a historical site from Jordan. The next continent we will study about is Europe. As we are moving on to different continents, we also ask parents to come in and share their knowledge about the places of their origin or where they have spent time in. You will surely enjoy sharing your experience with the children.
In science, the class has been studying leaves, the change of the seasons, weather, and the water cycle. Kindergartners made leaf collections and we identified the leaves. If we could not identify the leaf 100%, we classified the leaves according to their edge, or margin: smooth, wavy, or toothed; and their veins: pinnate, palmate, or parallel. All of the students went to play with us in the leaves, and we talked about why the leaves change colors in the fall. It is because they stop making food and the lack of chlorophyll causes them to stop being green. For the water cycle, we learned that water evaporates from bodies of water, condenses into clouds as it cools in the air, and then the water falls to Earth again as precipitation--rain, snow, or hail. The kindergartners identified a diagram of the water cycle with the vocabulary words: evaporation, condensation, and precipitation.
We talked about harvest time and had apple tasting at group time one week. The students tried Braeburn, Fuji, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Honey Crisp, Granny Smith and Sweet Tango apples. They really enjoyed using their sense of taste to distinguish between the different flavors of apples. Last week we made apple pie with Granny Smith apples. Many young students helped peel, mix, sprinkle spices, and roll out the pie dough themselves. Many of them tried and liked the lightly sweetened pie. Our class has so many adventurous eaters who like to try new things!
Coming up we have several events to put on your calendars:
Wednesday, November 14, at 11:00 is our Thanksgiving program in Room 4, followed by the Thanksgiving Feast at 11:30. Friday, November 16, school ends at 11:15 and the Skating Party will be from 12:00-2:00. The week of November 19-23 is our Thanksgiving Break.
We also would like to remind those who have not returned the report cards being sent home during the parent conference. Please sign on the back of the card and return it to us as we will use it for the next performance evaluation.
Thank you for another wonderful month working with your children.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Carlson and Mrs. Chintanaphol
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