Pony Bead Pumpkins and Scary Black Cats!

Dear Families!

We were super creative today and had so much FUN! First, we created pony bead pumpkins! To create our pumpkins, we counted beads, used our finger muscles, and had to follow multi-step directions. The results are super cute! The pumpkins will be heading home with us today! Second, we used tracers and our cutting skills to make a wicked scary black cat. Make sure you find a special place to hang him because we worked so hard to create him before Halloween. Mrs. Peckham also made us tissue paper pumpkins filled with yummy goodies. It was one of the best days ever! Thank you to Mrs. Peckham, Mrs. Giuffre, and all of the parents who volunteered time and goods to make this creative morning possible!

Love, Mrs. Dupuis' K Team

Ingaldsby Farm! The Great Pumpkin Hunt!

Dear Families,

It sure was beautiful (and fun!!!) at Ingaldsby Farm in West Boxford today! We met Tucker and Sheila the farmers and played guess the vegetable. The tractor ride was our favorite! We even sat on real hay bales. The tractor took us to see the Belted Galloway cows, also known as Oreo cows because they are black and white just like an Oreo! Farmer Tucker smashed a giant pumpkin and the cows ran over to eat every last piece. After watching the cows, we stopped at the pumpkin patch to pick out the perfect sugar pumpkin. There were big ones, small ones, round ones, and oval ones. Each pumpkin was unique. At the end of the field trip, we observed the chickens, sheep, and other farm animals. The best part....once we got back to school we feasted on apple cider donuts and drank apple cider. YUM! After that, we wrote and illustrated our own books about what we saw and learned on the farm. A good day was had by all. Thank you to the adults that came to help us today!

Love, Mrs. Dupuis' K Team

Learning to Read and Spell!

Hi Families!

Guess what?! We are learning how to read and spell! So far, we have learned the letter names and sounds for the letters t, b, f, n, m, i, u, c, o, a, and g. Because we know the sounds that these letters make, we can use what we know to read small phonetic words like "tag" and also spell words like "bit." We are also learning how to track text from left to right and top to bottom on a page. We know that when the words on one page end, we need to go to the next page. We are also using picture clues and beginning sounds to help us figure out what words say.
When we write, we have been labeling our stories with words. To write the words, we tap out the sounds we hear with our fingers. When we write "apple" we may spell it like "apl" because those are the sounds we hear. That is perfectly excellent for a kindergartener! We are really proud that we can label things in our stories with beginning sounds and the other sounds we hear in a word. Please cheer us on when we practice reading and writing small phonetic words!

Love,
Mrs. Dupuis's K Team

Colorful Fall Trees!

Hi Families!

We created the coolest fall trees! How did we do it? We had to trace our own arms and hands to create the trunks and branches. Then, we got to paint the trunks and branches brown. Our tree bark even had texture! Next, we used Q tips, red, orange, yellow, and green paint to create the leaves. Most of our leaves are found up by the branches, but some of us decided to have leaves falling or on the ground around the tree. Why did we do this art project? The painting and tracing help to support our fine motor development. Also, we talked a lot about our trees with buddies and how each looked unique based on different artists' ideas. In Science, we will learn more about the weather and  seasons. And finally, because creativity should always be practiced and celebrated. Check out our colorful creations below!

Oh yeah...and Kindergarten totally rocked the Raise Craze fundraiser! We got to help decorate the trophy and take our picture with it. Thank you all for your help! The money raised will help the teachers to plan very cool learning experiences for us.

Love,

Mrs. Dupuis' K Team