Dear Parents,
I hope your children had a fabulous week off & that you were able to enjoy some family time. The upcoming month will be very busy as we prepare for conferences, and then meet with you all March 10-21. I am looking forward to discussing your child's progress with you.
This week's letter is Dd. The new Alphafriend is Dudley Duck. We have a new high frequency word, for. Continue reviewing those high frequency words posted on our website with your children. Remember that you can also use http://www.spellingcity.com as a fun way to review the words, as I have posted our list on the website. You can encourage your children to play games on the website to become more familiar with the words. Check it out! There is a link to the right on this website with login information so that you can get to our kindergarten list. There is also a Spelling City app for the iPad, if you are interested. Additionally, for those who prefer iPads, Lexia Core 5 is also available as an iPad app. Use the same login information as previously provided to you.
We will continue the math topic on numbers to 20. Again, this topic is not simply about how these numbers look and identifying and counting up to them. This topic also includes building these numbers out of different combinations, especially focusing on tens and ones. We will spend the next several weeks on this topic, along with additional review on both addition and subtraction.
We will have a writing assessment this week. I will share the results of this assessment with you at your parent-teacher conference. Children will be expected to write one complete sentence without assistance that covers the given topic. Your children have been doing well with their journals, so I anticipate some good results!
We have an Art Vista lesson this week. This is one of our more exciting art lessons-- we will make prints using a fish! Please dress your children accordingly (not a favorite outfit) as we will be using fabric paints with the fish. Please contact our Art Vista docents if you are able to help with this lesson. Additionally, please send in either a t-shirt or canvas bag for your child to make a print on.
The p.m. class has a Wacky Wednesday this week. Class runs from 10:00 to 1:20.
This week's sharing is song, poem, or nursery rhyme. Children can sing a favorite Alphafriend song, recite a poem, or even share a poem in a native language.
We will begin a new science unit on Wood & Paper this week. This is a really fun unit where we will be discussing different types of wood, what trees provide the wood, and how different types of wood are manufactured. We will also be discussing some of wood's byproducts and conducting different experiments with both wood and paper. The children love this unit!
I wanted to congratulate everyone on the fantastic job that they did with the President's Reports before break! We had a great variety of sentences, and I think we learned a lot about Lincoln & Washington because of this. Also, the kids needed very little prompting, and they spoke very confidently! It was really enjoyable to watch them.
Upcoming Events:
2/26: February's Wacky Wednesday
3/10: "Helping Your Child Succeed in School" Part 2, 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
3/13-3/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/26: March's Wacky Wednesday
3/29: Bocce Ball Tournament & Auction @ Campo Di Bocce
4/4: Spring Fling
4/7-4/11: Spring Break
4/16: Field Trip to Emma Prusch Farm: Wacky Weds. for p.m. class
4/30: April's Wacky Wednesday
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Week of 2/9
Dear Parents,
We are looking forward to a fun & educational week ahead with our President's reports all week, two spirit days, and Valentine's Day on Friday! Wednesday is "Winter Olympic Sport" spirit day-- very similar to snow day a few weeks ago. Children can wear winter-themed clothes if they'd like to participate. Friday is also another school spirit day for Valentine's Day-- wear pink, red, purple, etc. to show your school spirit!
Our President's report homework is due tomorrow, in the Blue Bags as always . Our sharing this week will be to state the one sentence about Lincoln, and the one sentence about George Washington that your children wrote on the back of the dot-to-dots. We would like them to have each sentence memorized, but we expect that a few may need some prompting. There will be no homework this Wednesday due to the upcoming vacation.
This week's letter is Qq. The Alphafriend is Queenie Queen. We will introduce two new sight words, or and but, and we will review is and here. We will continue our math topic on numbers to 20 for the next several weeks. Please continue reinforcing recognition of all numbers between 1 and 20, as well as reinforcing the sight words. This is the greatest "push" at this time!
Our art projects this week will center around President's Day and Valentine's Day. We will be learning more in class about both Lincoln and Washington as we have many interesting books on these great presidents.
On Thursday evening, we will have the special guest speaker at the school, Julie Fowlkes, "Helping Your Child Succeed in School." I think this will be a very informative evening, and babysitting will be provided, so why not come? It is from 6:00 to 7:30 in the cafeteria, and the topic will be getting the most out of reading with your child. The second part, which will be held on Monday, 3/3, will address writing.
We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Friday in class. Remember to only have your child sign the valentines and leave the "To" box blank. This helps us save time during the distribution of valentines as it is less confusing for the children during the passing out process. Although this is not a formal party, we will be passing out valentines and having some valentine-themed activities.
I hope you all have a great week off next week!
Upcoming Events:
2/13: "Helping Your Child Succeed at School" 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
2/14: Valentine's Day celebration-- bring cards that are signed by your child
2/15-2/23: President's Week Vacation
2/26: February's Wacky Wednesday
3/10: "Helping Your Child Succeed in School" Part 2, 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
3/13-3/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/29: Bocce Ball Tournament & Auction @ Campo Di Bocce
We are looking forward to a fun & educational week ahead with our President's reports all week, two spirit days, and Valentine's Day on Friday! Wednesday is "Winter Olympic Sport" spirit day-- very similar to snow day a few weeks ago. Children can wear winter-themed clothes if they'd like to participate. Friday is also another school spirit day for Valentine's Day-- wear pink, red, purple, etc. to show your school spirit!
Our President's report homework is due tomorrow, in the Blue Bags as always . Our sharing this week will be to state the one sentence about Lincoln, and the one sentence about George Washington that your children wrote on the back of the dot-to-dots. We would like them to have each sentence memorized, but we expect that a few may need some prompting. There will be no homework this Wednesday due to the upcoming vacation.
This week's letter is Qq. The Alphafriend is Queenie Queen. We will introduce two new sight words, or and but, and we will review is and here. We will continue our math topic on numbers to 20 for the next several weeks. Please continue reinforcing recognition of all numbers between 1 and 20, as well as reinforcing the sight words. This is the greatest "push" at this time!
Our art projects this week will center around President's Day and Valentine's Day. We will be learning more in class about both Lincoln and Washington as we have many interesting books on these great presidents.
On Thursday evening, we will have the special guest speaker at the school, Julie Fowlkes, "Helping Your Child Succeed in School." I think this will be a very informative evening, and babysitting will be provided, so why not come? It is from 6:00 to 7:30 in the cafeteria, and the topic will be getting the most out of reading with your child. The second part, which will be held on Monday, 3/3, will address writing.
We will celebrate Valentine's Day on Friday in class. Remember to only have your child sign the valentines and leave the "To" box blank. This helps us save time during the distribution of valentines as it is less confusing for the children during the passing out process. Although this is not a formal party, we will be passing out valentines and having some valentine-themed activities.
I hope you all have a great week off next week!
Upcoming Events:
2/13: "Helping Your Child Succeed at School" 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
2/14: Valentine's Day celebration-- bring cards that are signed by your child
2/15-2/23: President's Week Vacation
2/26: February's Wacky Wednesday
3/10: "Helping Your Child Succeed in School" Part 2, 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
3/13-3/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/29: Bocce Ball Tournament & Auction @ Campo Di Bocce
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Week of 2/2
Dear Parents,
I hope you are having a great Superbowl Sunday.
The 100th day of school is this Wednesday, and we will have lots of fun projects and activities in class in celebration of the day! We have 180 total school days, so we are more than half-way through the year. Spring conferences are rapidly approaching (March) and I sent out those sign-ups in a separate e-mail last week. Thank you to so many of you for already signing up-- if you haven't done so already, please select a time.
This week's letter is Kk, and our Alphafriend is Keely Kangaroo. We will be learning a new word this week, here. We are now up to 20 sight words. Please check the sight word link on the website and make sure that your child knows the words we've introduced, as this is a heavy emphasis at this time. If your child is struggling with these words, a good website to go to is http://www.spellingcity.com
and log in under my name for the "40 Word List" of all the sight words we're covering this year. Last week, we learned a new vowel, Ii, and met the Alphafriend Iggy Iguana. Now we can read and spell CVC words with both short a and short i.
We will begin a new math chapter on numbers to 20 this week. In this chapter, not only will children learn to recognize and write numbers to 20, but they will also learn how to decompose these numbers into parts. For example, nineteen can be 10 & 9. Decomposing numbers is a common core strategy to create innate number sense. Although we are done with our chapter on subtraction, it will not be forgotten! Both subtraction and addition will continue coming back, as it is a real emphasis in kindergarten math.
Our art activities this week will center around Chinese New Year and 100 Day.
In celebration of 100 Day, this week's share is 100 Day collections. Please have your child bring in 100 of the same item that they'd like to show on his/her share day. This is a fun counting activity at home, plus a fun way to see the many ways 100 can look. I will probably ask your child how they counted out their items (by 1s, 10s, 5s, etc.), so have him/her prepared to talk about the process. Remember that it can be as simple as 100 cheerios-- whatever your child has 100 items of that s/he would like to share. If they want to glue down the 100 items and make a picture out of them, that's fine, too.
Homework is due tomorrow, and then we will have a special homework project coming home this week. In honor of President's Day, we will be doing a very simple project honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The children will complete and color a dot-to-dot of each president. There are two dot-to-dots in the packet, one of Abraham Lincoln, and one of George Washington. On the back of each of these pictures, your child is to write one sentence about each President. The children will present these facts next week for sharing. It is always fun when the children bring in little-known facts about the Presidents, so do a little research on the web and see what you can find! Of course, it is also okay to stick with basic facts such as "He was the first President." and "He was the sixteenth President." This is their first exposure to doing an oral report, so it is most important to choose a sentence that you think your child will be able to remember and present on his/her own. There will be no homework/blue bags on February 12th, due to the upcoming President's Week holiday.
On Friday, February 14th, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in class. This is not a party, but we will be passing out valentines. Just a reminder (since I know your children will be eagerly shopping for valentines soon!) in kindergarten, we have the kids sign their valentines, but we do not have them write who the valentine is "to." This makes distribution MUCH easier, since many kids cannot read the names. So please sign the cards, but leave the "to" box blank. Please send in 22 valentines so that there are enough for each child in the class. Thanks!
See you all tomorrow, Blue Bags in hand!
Upcoming Events:
2/5: 100 Day
2/13: "Helping Your Child Succeed at School" 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
2/14: Valentine's Day celebration-- bring cards that are signed by your child
2/15-2/23: President's Week Vacation
2/26: February's Wacky Wednesday
3/13-3/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/29: Bocce Ball Tournament & Auction @ Campo Di Bocce
I hope you are having a great Superbowl Sunday.
The 100th day of school is this Wednesday, and we will have lots of fun projects and activities in class in celebration of the day! We have 180 total school days, so we are more than half-way through the year. Spring conferences are rapidly approaching (March) and I sent out those sign-ups in a separate e-mail last week. Thank you to so many of you for already signing up-- if you haven't done so already, please select a time.
This week's letter is Kk, and our Alphafriend is Keely Kangaroo. We will be learning a new word this week, here. We are now up to 20 sight words. Please check the sight word link on the website and make sure that your child knows the words we've introduced, as this is a heavy emphasis at this time. If your child is struggling with these words, a good website to go to is http://www.spellingcity.com
and log in under my name for the "40 Word List" of all the sight words we're covering this year. Last week, we learned a new vowel, Ii, and met the Alphafriend Iggy Iguana. Now we can read and spell CVC words with both short a and short i.
We will begin a new math chapter on numbers to 20 this week. In this chapter, not only will children learn to recognize and write numbers to 20, but they will also learn how to decompose these numbers into parts. For example, nineteen can be 10 & 9. Decomposing numbers is a common core strategy to create innate number sense. Although we are done with our chapter on subtraction, it will not be forgotten! Both subtraction and addition will continue coming back, as it is a real emphasis in kindergarten math.
Our art activities this week will center around Chinese New Year and 100 Day.
In celebration of 100 Day, this week's share is 100 Day collections. Please have your child bring in 100 of the same item that they'd like to show on his/her share day. This is a fun counting activity at home, plus a fun way to see the many ways 100 can look. I will probably ask your child how they counted out their items (by 1s, 10s, 5s, etc.), so have him/her prepared to talk about the process. Remember that it can be as simple as 100 cheerios-- whatever your child has 100 items of that s/he would like to share. If they want to glue down the 100 items and make a picture out of them, that's fine, too.
Homework is due tomorrow, and then we will have a special homework project coming home this week. In honor of President's Day, we will be doing a very simple project honoring George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The children will complete and color a dot-to-dot of each president. There are two dot-to-dots in the packet, one of Abraham Lincoln, and one of George Washington. On the back of each of these pictures, your child is to write one sentence about each President. The children will present these facts next week for sharing. It is always fun when the children bring in little-known facts about the Presidents, so do a little research on the web and see what you can find! Of course, it is also okay to stick with basic facts such as "He was the first President." and "He was the sixteenth President." This is their first exposure to doing an oral report, so it is most important to choose a sentence that you think your child will be able to remember and present on his/her own. There will be no homework/blue bags on February 12th, due to the upcoming President's Week holiday.
On Friday, February 14th, we will be celebrating Valentine's Day in class. This is not a party, but we will be passing out valentines. Just a reminder (since I know your children will be eagerly shopping for valentines soon!) in kindergarten, we have the kids sign their valentines, but we do not have them write who the valentine is "to." This makes distribution MUCH easier, since many kids cannot read the names. So please sign the cards, but leave the "to" box blank. Please send in 22 valentines so that there are enough for each child in the class. Thanks!
See you all tomorrow, Blue Bags in hand!
Upcoming Events:
2/5: 100 Day
2/13: "Helping Your Child Succeed at School" 6:00-7:30 in the AV Cafeteria
2/14: Valentine's Day celebration-- bring cards that are signed by your child
2/15-2/23: President's Week Vacation
2/26: February's Wacky Wednesday
3/13-3/21: Parent-Teacher Conferences
3/29: Bocce Ball Tournament & Auction @ Campo Di Bocce