Week of October 14th

Happy Friday Pandas!

General Updates:

1. This week we celebrated a panda birthday! Happy Birthday Lucas!

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2. Please check out the specials classes update here!

3. A note from the PTO regarding the book upcoming book fair: The Scholastic Book fair in the Willow Grove Gym is from Monday October 21st-Thursday October 24th. This year we are having a cashless book fair, utilizing credit cards and Scholastic's eWallet. The eWallet can be funded by family and friends starting on September 30th.

4.  I would love to extend open arms and welcome families into our classroom! This year we will be welcoming families in to be a "mystery guest"! This is a fifteen minute time slot that you are able to sign up for to either be a mystery reader or to teach us about your beautiful cultures! Please note, there are only two adults over the age of 18 allowed into the building for this volunteer opportunity at a time. 

Some ideas of things you could share related to your culture (but are not limited to) are: photos (holidays, travels, clothing, etc), videos, music, games, stories, puppet show, art project, etc. You are also welcome to bring in any stories and read them to the class for enjoyment! If you are bringing in books, please bring 2-3 books to share during this time.

Cultural connections are totally up to you and what you are comfortable with. We can't wait to welcome you into our classroom this year! If your work schedules are tight and the time slots available do not work for you, please reach out and we are able to plan this over Zoom or you are able to send a video in that we can share with the class!

Please only sign up for one slot per family. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out :)

Click Here For Mystery Guest Sign Up

4. Willow Grove is in the process of creating a MakerSpace library. MakerSpace is a place during play where students can explore, design, and create. Students have the freedom to build and construct during our play. We are so excited to bring MakerSpace to our classroom, but we need your help! In order to have a successful MakerSpace for students to use, we are in need of donations year round. If you are able, we would so appreciate any donation you are willing provide. Below is a list of different items we would love to add to Willow Grove's MakerSpace library.

This week in literacy...

• Phonics: This week the pandas were introduced to heart words. Heart words are the high frequency words students are expected to master by the end of kindergarten. Our Countdown program refers to these words as "heart words" because students have to know the tricky parts of the word by "heart."

Sound Collection: /m/, /s/, /l/, /n/, /f/, /r/, /v/, /z/, /p/, /g/, /d/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /w/, /h/, /kw/, /j/, /y/, /ks/

Letter Collection: m, t, p, a, s, c, h, i

Heart Word Collection: the, in, my

• Reading: This week we read the informational text, Farming Then and Now. Using this text, we practiced determining the meaning of tricky vocabulary words and identifying the main topic and key details of the text.

• Writing: This week in writing the pandas continued working on speaking a complete sentence. The pandas identified the naming part (who or what the sentence is about) and the telling part (what happened) in the sentence. We practiced creating our own character and setting for a sentence.

This week in math...

• The pandas learned two new games for workplaces! The first game, Which Bug Will Win helps us count and compare numbers using the vocabulary greater than, less than, and equal to. The next game we learned, Beat You to Ten, has pandas spin a spinner to see who can get 10 cubes first! This game focuses on 1:1 counting, determining how many more to make 10, and greater than/less than.

Reminders

• Please label your child's snack daily and pack this separate from the lunchbox.

• Water bottles stay in the classroom, if you want your child to have a drink for lunch, please send a separate drink.

• If you would like your child to buy a drink at lunch, please make sure there is money in the account for the lunch card.

• Extra clothes and PE shoes should be labeled and stored in your child's cubby.

• Please see Mrs. Smith's Principal's Message for further information about Willow Grove: principal's message

Upcoming Dates

Tuesday, October 22nd- Early Release

Thursday, October 24th- Ice Cream Social and Book Fair (Pandas attend in AM)

Thursday, October 31st- Halloween Parade & Party