We have been learning all about the Pilgrims and their journey on the Mayflower. We have read about the conditions on the ship, and what it was like for the Pilgrims when they arrived that first winter. We also have learned about the help that was given to them by the Wampanoag Indians who lived in the area. We have enjoyed making several crafts that relate to this unit - these activities also help us develop fine motor skills. We all chose woodland Indian names, made headbands, and have been busy earning feathers.
Our Skills for Learning social skills lesson was about looking at another person's face or body language for clues to how they may be feeling. It is important for children to recognize these clues - sometimes we need to look at a situation from a viewpoint other than our own and then adjust our actions or behavior. For example, if two boys are playing together at Center Time, and one boy puts his head down and has an angry look on his face, the other boy needs to think about why, and perhaps talk it out. Together, they might be able to resolve the problem -but the upset face/body language needs to be noticed first.
I hope that some of you have been talking with your children about some possible ideas for their Pay It Forward coupon. Loon Lake has received some nice emails of ways children have been doing good things in the world -  holding doors open, raking leaves, baking cookies for a neighbor, even helping with chores at home are all ways they can "pay it forward".
By now you have had a few days with the new daily note format. I hope it is giving you a little better picture of your child's day, and where any problem areas are. I know that although they take more time to fill out, they are giving me more information - and that allows me to work on those problem areas. Since we all want the boys in this classroom to make progress, it is good to know what things we really need to focus on. Thank you for your continued help and support at home!
With the cold weather here, it is important that students have hats, mittens and warm clothes on for recess, and so we will need boots and snow pants. Your child may leave his boots and snow pants here if you wish. Your child does need his name in his boots and snow pants. You may also send extra socks and pants -sometimes feet/pants get wet at recess. Please work on skills like zipping, getting jackets on, putting boots on etc. at home. We really work hard to help our students learn to be as independent as possible, and getting winter clothes on and off is great fine motor practice!
We started another new fine motor activity this week - here are some boys working on pushy pin art -ask your son to tell you about it!

And, to help get our classroom ready for winter, we are changing our "thankful" tree into a snowflake tree!

I am wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving a little early! I know that I am thankful to have all of your sons in my class - teaching them is a joy and an honor! I am also thankful to work with all of the wonderful moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas in this room! Enjoy the long weekend off and the time with your own families!

Just a reminder.... our next Parent Support group evening meeting will be on Wednesday, December 11 - we hope that many parents/grandparents can join us! We will meet from 6:30-7:30 in Room 113.

Weather, math, and feelings....

We have been talking, reading and writing about weather. On Friday we read a book called "Thunder Cake" and baked a thunder cake of our own in a crock pot. Our room sure smelled good!

We work on many math concepts during calendar time. One thing we have talked about is odd and even numbers. We always discuss why a number is odd or even. We made odd and even houses to hang on our bulletin board. We also have been practicing counting by 5's and 10's - we made some turkeys from our hands to help us count.
Our next Skills for Learning lessons focus on empathy. We will be learning how to identify emotions on other peoples' faces and talking a lot about how we are feeling and how other people might be feeling. Our goal will be to help our students express their feelings with words, especially if they need help with something.
Next Wednesday Loon Lake will begin our Pay It Forward Project. Each student will bring home a Pay It Forward card with a number on it. With your help, we hope your son will do an act of kindness for someone and give them the card. The act of kindness can be anonymous if you wish, and you can just leave the card. There is information and some videos about it on our PBIS Blog at http://loonlakeelementarypbs.blogspot.com/ .  I hope you will have fun and I hope it will be a positive way for your child to begin to think about other people.
I will be attending a special education inservice on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 11 and 12 so there will be a substitute teacher in the room with Mrs. Aldrich and Mrs. Couveau. I would much rather be in the classroom, but sometimes our district requires us to have training on new forms etc.  This is a very nice class of boys, and I know they will do a good job while I am gone.
I want to remind you that Parent Teacher Conferences are on Thursday, November 14 - there is no school for children that day. I will send report cards home with your children on Wednesday, November 13.