This Week

Letters of the Week: K-P

Words of the Week: and, we, I, see

Reading Focus: We are reading Growing Pumpkins by Melvin Berger and lots of fiction and non-fiction stories about apples and the plant life cycle. We are also reading stories about the five senses.

Comprehension Focus: We are learning to make inferences and identify the difference between fantasy and realism in stories we read.

Writing Focus: We will practice forming letters correctly, using the D'Nealian style of writing. We are writing facts we learn about pumpkins, and labeling pumpkins.

Math Focus: We are learning basic counting and number identification skills with numbers through 10.
Science: In kindergarten, science is often integrated into our English Language Arts curriculum. For the next couple of weeks, we are studying the life cycle of plants.

Social Studies: This month we are learning about making new friends and what makes us special.

Theme Question: How do I use my five senses?

Billings Gazette

A reporter from the Billings Gazette visited Beartooth today, to talk about overcrowded conditions in our school.  They spoke with our kindergarten teachers about our classrooms, and took some photos of the kids.  They may or may not be featured in the Gazette this weekend - just wanted to give you a heads up to check it out!

Donors Choose, We Love You!

Thanks to the generosity of one donor, our Donors Choose project has already been funded!  We are super excited to receive our new iPod Touch and beginning using it in our classroom to explore fun learning activities using QR codes.  A huge thank you to our benefactor, Greene Tweed, for his generosity and support.  We can't wait to get started!

Apple Graph

We loved taste testing apples and graphing our favorites.  Most of the kids enjoyed the yellow apples the most.  Thank you to everyone who brought in apples - we are looking forward to using the rest to make some yummy homemade applesauce tomorrow.  We will write a recipe for the applesauce, and then write about the applesauce using our 5 senses.  Yum!

We Love Apple Pie

Today we read The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall.  We talked about how apples grow and how to make pie.  Then we ate a delicious apple pie from Audrey's grandma and wrote about how it tasted and smelled.  Thanks for the yummy pie!

I Love Apples!

Tweet With Us

Piltz kindergartners are tweeting about what we have learned, and making observations about different stories and concepts.  Follow us at @MrsPiltzK .

Center Time

Kids love doing all kinds of activities at our centers.  Here are some snapshots of what we do in our morning centers ...

Book It!

Our class has begun participating in the Pizza Hut Book It! reading program.  Click the image above to be taken to the parent portion of the Book It! site for lots of great ideas to do at home.  An October reading log was sent home last week.  Track your child's reading progress, and earn certificates for free pizza.  You can also use RAZ-Kids reading to count towards your Book It! goal.  Happy reading! 

Star of the Week

Evan did a great job on his Star of the Week poster and brought a yummy snack!

American Indian Heritage Day

Thanks to Mrs. Rusche-Nicholson, we had a wonderful assembly today with traditional Native dancing.  The kids really enjoyed it.

Teddy Bear Picnic

We had an "indoor picnic" today because of the weather.  The kids loved having their bear friends at school with them.  Thanks to Mrs. Brammer, Mrs. Nevin & Mrs. Stenberg for the treats.  Have a "beary" good weekend!

Sorting Teddy Bears

We spent some time sorting our teddy bears by different attributes.  We also sorted gummy bears.  The students did a great job of identifying new and interesting ways to sort the items.

Field Practicum Student

We are lucky enough to have a junior field practicum student from Rocky Mountain College in our class this semester.  Her name is Brianna Bauer, and she will be working closely with the students this fall.  I am hopeful that we will be able to use her help to start some small groups, such as Language for Learning and Handwriting without Tears.

Comparing Stories

This week we have read many versions of the classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears story, as well as Mo Willems' Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs.  We spent time making inferences about the stories, and comparing and contrasting things that happened in each story.  We made a Venn diagram with two Goldilocks stories, and the students wrote about differences between the bear stories and dinosaur story.  They really enjoyed these activities, and did a great job making these comparisons!