Snack Changes Due to Snow Days

Brr! Hope you are all staying warm!

Because of these unexpected weather days, I've adjusted the snack calendar:

Wednesday - Deven & Wesley - Birthday Celebrations - each bring 1 snack
Thursday - Lauren & Grayson - each bring 1 snack
Friday - Aubrie & Canden - each bring 1 snack

Report Cards are in mailboxes (since Friday) waiting to go home :)
Pink Parent Surveys are with Report Cards - Please complete and return as soon as possible.
Library tomorrow - be sure to return your library books!!

Hoping to see the students tomorrow!

Valentine's Party & Class List

Valentine's Party Sign-Up

Thursday, February 13th - afternoon

24 Bowls—Lauren

24 Napkins—Cyle

24 Spoons—Lily

1 Carton of Vanilla Ice Cream—Akira

1 Carton of Vanilla Ice Cream—

Chocolate Syrup—Grayson

Carmel Syrup—Akira

Strawberry Syrup/Topping—Miley

Sprinkles—Madelyn

1 Can of Redi-Whip—Wesley

1 Can of Redi-Whip—

Parent Volunteers—Thursday, February 13th (afternoon)

Gail Cook

Brandi Shepardson

Tiara Valle

As part of our Valentine’s Party, students will be able to exchange valentines.  We have 19 students in our classroom (8 boys & 11 girls).  Filling out valentines is a great opportunity to practice handwriting. J

Below is a list of classmate’s names for filling out your valentines.

Girls                      Boys

Angie                  Deven

Madelyn             Drew

Ayla                    Coleman

Avery                  Dylan

Miley                   Grayson

Lauren                Canden

Aubrie                 Wesley

Akira                   Aiden

Carlee                Cyle

Anna              

Lily       

Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 20th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, Jan. 24th—Report Cards Home

-Thursday, Feb. 13th—Valentine’s Parties,(Jump Rope for Heart—1st-4th Grades), & Parent Teacher Conferences 4:00-7:00

-Friday, Feb.14th—No School/PD for Teachers

-Mon., Feb. 17th—No School/Presidents Day

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Cyle Torry.  Cyle  enjoys playing with his trucks and his puppies.  He also likes to run fast (Mileage Club) and ride his bike super fast!  Cyle’s favorite place to go is to the Pumpkin Patch and when he grows up, he aspires to become a Hockey Player.  Congratulations to Cyle on being our Student of the Week!

REPORT CARDS & SURVEYS:  

Report cards will be coming home with students this Friday.  As indicated on the report card, a √ means they ‘meet the standard’ and any skills that your child receives a — or a √— are skills they need to work on.  It is absolutely amazing to see their progress thus far and so exciting to look ahead to all we have yet to learn in Kindergarten!  Also, with report cards you will find a pink Parent Survey to fill out, with a note explaining the purpose:)  Please take a few minutes and fill it out; you may send it back in a sealed envelope if you wish to remain anonymous! :)

READING:  

Our focus text for this week is The Three Little Kittens which we will use to practice summarizing.  Our focus letter for this week is Kk and our new sight words are little & have.  We have two new beanie babies to meet this week, both for Comprehension: Repair Bear is a strategy that reminds us to monitor our comprehension as we read; if we realize that we aren’t understanding what we are reading, we need to stop, go back, and re-read to try to figure it out.  Digger the Dog reminds us to dig for the ‘big idea,’ most important details, and the author’s purpose in the texts that we read.  We will practice both of these strategies this week during whole group reading and read-to-self time.

WRITING: 

We will finish up our I like . . . pattern books this week and read some mentor texts that make a see-saw pattern.  We will also take some time to write about something in the world we would like to change (I have a dream), and complete a journal page about fun things to do on a snow day.

MATH:  

This week we will reinforce 2-D/plane shapes and work with a new manipulative—tangrams, before introducing 3-D shapes next week.  We will continue to practice writing our numbers and identifying missing numbers 1-20.

 SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

We will continue our study of Winter this week—as we learn about the different things animals do during the Winter months.  We will also continue to learn about ways to keep our bodies clean and healthy and the importance of good nutrition and healthy choices.  We will take some time to learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his commitment to promote equality, fairness, & justice—values that we embrace today!

Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 13th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, January 15th—Library

-Thursday, January 16th—Early Dismissal (1:45)

-Friday, January 17th—Early Dismissal (1:45)

-Monday, January 20th—Delayed Start

-Friday, January 24th—Report Cards Home

ASSESSMENTS:  

The end of the marking period is fast approaching; we will be assessing many skills and concepts during the next two weeks.   Students will also be reassessed on DIBELS (letters, sounds, segmenting, & blending) and AIMSWEB (math concepts) to monitor their progress.  Please be sure that your child is well rested and remind them to ‘always’ do their best at school.  Also, attendance is so important; in Kindergarten so much of what we do is hands-on and oral instruction, and they miss out on so much when they are not here! Report cards will be sent home Friday, January 24th.

READING:  

Our focus text for this week is Ginger which we will use to practice determining ‘cause and effect’ relationships. Our focus letter for this week is Ii and our new sight words are do & not.  Since our letter of the week is a vowel, we will be using Chunky Monkey to practice reading and writing words with the ip, it, in, & ig chunks/word families.  We will also learn that ck makes the /k/ sound with short vowels and we will introduce a new Beanie Baby for Accuracy—Flippy the Dolphin.  Flippy reminds us that vowels have both a long and a short sound and if we come to a tricky word, while we are reading, we can ‘flip’ the vowel sound and try both the long and short sounds to see which one makes sense.

WRITING: 

We will continue to work on writing Pattern Books;  this week we will begin ’I like . . .’ books.  We will work on following directions as we ’Draw a Rhyme Snowman’ together and discuss the importance of ’details.’ We will also complete a couple of journals related to snowmen. 

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will read several books related to Snowmen and begin learning about ways to keep our bodies healthy.  We will also read several informational texts related to freedom & equality in anticipation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day next week.

MATH:  

This week we will work on creating patterns  using pattern blocks and play several patterning games.  We will practice counting on from any given number and we will learn how to use a calculator.

We have been using a new app called iXL Math, if your child has a mobile device at home I would recommend downloading it; it has great math activities by grade level.  You can also go to their website www.ilx.com and click on Kindergarten to do the same activities.  

Check it out!

 **Please remember to return your library books on or before Wednesday!

Snack Changes Due to Snow Days

Hello All,

Due to these 2 snow days, I've updated the snack calendar so that no one misses their turn to be the helper:)

Wednesday - Carlee & Lauren - each one brings in 1 snack
Thursday - Anna & Aubrie - each one brings in 1 snack

Lunch Menus are in your child's mailboxes, waiting to go home:)
Lunch for Wednesday is - Fishsticks, Hashbrowns, Green Beans, Sliced Pears, & Milk

I'm an anxious to get back to school and so excited to see the kids!  We have a lot of catching up to do! :)

Stay Warm!

Sherry Brinks

Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 6th

Welcome Back!  I hope you had a restful break and Happy Holidays with friends and family!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, January 15th—Library

-Thursday, January 16th—Early Dismissal (1:55)

-Friday, January 17th—Early Dismissal (1:55)

-Monday, January 20th—Delayed Start

-Friday, January 24th—Report Cards Home

ASSESSMENTS:  

The end of the marking period is fast approaching; we will be assessing many skills and concepts during the next two weeks.   Students will also be reassessed on DIBELS (letters, sounds, segmenting, & blending) and AIMSWEB (math concepts) to monitor their progress.  Please be sure that your child is well rested and remind them to ‘always’ do their best at school.  Also, attendance is so important; in Kindergarten so much of what we do is hands-on and oral instruction, and they miss out on so much when they are not here! Report cards will be sent home Friday, January 24th.

BOOK IT/HOLIDAY HOMEWORK:  

Please be sure to return your child’s December Book-it Calendar so that I can award pizza certificates.  Also, please be sure to return your child’s initialed Holiday Homework, if they chose to participate. :)

READING:  

Our focus text for this week is No, No Titus which we will use to discuss setting and plot.  We will also be reading The Napping House and practice retelling the story in order.  Our focus letter for this week is Nn and our new sight words are my & we.  We have lots of review and assessing to do in preparation for report cards—rhyming, letter naming, letter sounds, sight words, segmenting words into sounds, & sounding out words.  This week is  exciting because the students will begin shopping for their own ‘good-fit books’ to add to their book boxes.  They will learn what a ‘good-fit book’ is, as well as how to shop for/select ‘good-fit books.’  Students will then practice building their stamina and using their accuracy strategies while reading their ‘good-fit books’ during Read to Self time.

WRITING: 

We will continue to work on writing Pattern Books throughout this month, beginning with I See . . . books this week.  We will also complete a couple of journals— “This year I will . . . “ & “This is a picture of me dressed to go outside.” This is my favorite time of year because the students’ abilities and confidence for writing just seem to blossom.  It is so exciting to see them begin to be more independent as they apply what they know and have learned—sounding out words & using their sight words while reading and writing!

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will read several books related to Winter and snow.  We will also be discussing appropriate winter clothing for staying warm, while having fun in the snow.

MATH:  

This week we will practice adding and subtracting using a number line and we will play a new game called Top-It (a.k.a. War).  We also have a lot to review and assess for Math in preparation for Report Cards and AIMSWEB.