September 17 - Newsletter

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Mon., Sept. 17th—Elem. Fundraiser Due

-Mon. Sept. 17th—Delayed Start

-Fri., Oct. 12th—K Progress Reports Home

STUDENT OF THE MONTH:

Our first Student of the Month is Rolan Bautista-Santiago.  Rolan is a hard worker and is always willing to lend a helping hand to others, without being asked:)  Rolan’s favorite color is blue, he enjoys reading books about Legos, and his favorite food to eat is French fries. Congratulations to Rolan on being our September Student of the Month!

READING:

This week our reading lessons will focus on the letters N, O, P, Q, R, S, & T. We will also review the sightwords I & can and practice identifying rhyming words in songs and nursery rhymes. Our focus story for this week is Kindergartners Can which we will use to practice our listening and comprehension skills.  We will introduce a new beanie baby—Jabber the Reteller—who reminds us that good readers can build their comprehension skills by recalling and retelling key elements from the story.

WRITING: 

We will wrap up our unit on Speaking and Listening as we talk about ‘things we know and can do.’ This week students will come up with their own story idea, practice picturing it in their minds, rehearse it by telling it to a partner, and then draw and write about it. We will be talking about the importance of including colors and details and we’ll practice this by drawing a detailed picture of Mrs. Brinks.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

We had a beautiful afternoon to walk to the butterfly garden last Friday—special thanks to Mrs. Bronkema for coming along and taking some up-close photos. This week we will continue learning about what Scientists do we will practice wondering and using our 5 senses as we explore some mystery boxes. In Social Studies we will learn about feelings and talk about how we can fill each other’s buckets, one good deed at a time.

MATH:

We will focus on identifying and writing the numbers 6-8. We will practice describing and sorting shapes, as well as identifying and extending patterns. We will also go to the computer lab on Wednesday and Friday to take our NWEA Assessment for Math.

PROGRESS REPORTS:

As I mentioned on the first day, the Kindergarten assessment schedule will look a little different than the rest of the elementary.  Instead of sending home report cards home 4 times a year, we will be sending them 3 times a year—November, February, & May.  This will allow us to spend more time on instruction and interventions with our students. Therefore, we will be sending Kindergarten progress reports home on Friday, October 12th.  Of course, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me and I will do the same.

Newsletter - September 10

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Mon., Sept 10th-Fun 2 B Fit Shirt Orders Due

-Fri., Sept 14th—Elementary Fundraiser Due

-Fri., Sept 14th—Library

-Mon. Sept. 17th—Delayed Start

TESTING:

We will be completing our beginning of the year screeners and assessments over the next 2 weeks. We will visit the computer lab to take the NWEA Map Assessment—a computer-based assessment for both Math & Reading. We will also be completing the DIBELS screener one-on-one with the students. This will allows us to identify students who might need some extra supports at home and school. I’ll be sharing the results with you so that you can be an active part of your child’s success!

READING:

This week our reading lessons will focus on the letters G, H, I , J, K, L, & M. We will also introduce the sightword—can. We will continue to work on recognizing, naming, and writing our letters during literacy stations. The students have learned a couple of fun letter apps on their ipads and this week we will begin starfall.com on the computers. They are also doing a nice job of reading from their book boxes during ‘read to self’ time after lunch. This week we will introduce Eagle Eye who reminds us to look at the pictures for clues to figure out the words while we are reading.

WRITING:  

We will continue our unit on Speaking and Listening as we talk about ‘things we know and can do.’ We will also learn about question words and practice using them—who, what, when, where, why, & how, as well as prepositional words—on, under, between, beside, over, etc. We will complete a couple of journals pages about butterflies and our families, as we practice adding colors and details.

MATH: 

We will be learning how to identify and write the numbers 3-5. We will also practice counting items using one-to-one correspondence and work on building numbers using different manipulatives. We will create and interpret data with graphs this week; we will graph our birthdays and our ages.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

Last week we released 4 butterflies and we have 1 more to send on their migration journey to Mexico. This week we will be learning about what Scientists do and we will take a walking fieldtrip to the Butterfly Garden where we will practice being Scientists—using our 5 senses. In Social Studies we will wrap us our Unit on School Rules by learning some fair ways to make decisions in a group.

MCBAIN RAMBLERS APP:

The Tech Dech has just released a new app that is available for download in the App Store where you can get school information, announcements, lunch info., etc - be sure to check it out!

September 4 - Newsletter

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wed., Sept 5th—Picture Day—K-2

-Fri., Sept 7th—Book Orders Due

-Mon. Sept. 17th—Delayed Start

Gingerbread Day was a success!  We chased our Gingerbread Man all around the school. We visited many places and met several important people who work at our school. Special thanks to Mrs. Roberts for coming in to bake for us, and several parents who we met along the way—Mr. Mulder, Mrs. Bronkema, & Mr. Wissner.  We even met up with Sheriff Bosscher in the hall who was able to help us in our search! The students were very excited; I hope you had a chance to hear all about it!

PICTURE DAY:

Our picture day is Wednesday, September 5th. ALL students will be photographed for the yearbook and library cards. If you’d like to purchase pictures, please be sure to send in your payment and completed envelope by Wednesday morning. Don’t forget your SMILE!

READING:

The next few weeks we will introduce 1-2 letters each day and do several activities with the focus letter(s). Once we’ve made it through the entire alphabet, we will then start an in-depth study of each letter, spending a week on each letter. This week our reading lessons will focus on the letters A, B, C, D, E, & F. We will also introduce our first sightword—I. We will spend time learning the parts of a book and practice tracking print from left to right, as we read and recite familiar nursery rhymes.

WRITING: 

This week we will complete a journal about our friends at school and a class book about things we love as we introduce nouns. We will also continue to practice correct formation of the letters in our names, handwriting the letters A-F, and writing simple sentences with the sightword I.

MATH:

This week we will go on a Number Hunt, looking for numbers around our classroom and the school. We wil lbe learning how to write and represent the numbers 0, 1, & 2.

SCIENCE:

This week in Science we will be learning about our 5 Senses and how they can help us explore our world. I’m hoping that our Monarch Butterflies will emerge this week so that we can release them to migrate to Mexico—it’s always exciting for the students to watch this process!

SOCIAL STUDIES:

In Social Studies we will continue to learn about Rules at home and school. We will also learn about the American Flag and practice reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Gingerbread Day - Tomorrow

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

Just a reminder that tomorrow is Gingerbread Day.  We will be traveling all around the school in search of our Gingerbread Boy, as we visit several important places in the school and meet some very helpful school personnel.  If your child has their gray Kindergarten shirt from Kindergarten Round Up, they are encouraged to wear it.  

Thanks,

Mrs. Brinks

Estimados padres de Kindergarten,

Solo un recordatorio de que mañana es el Día de Pan de Jengibre. Viajaremos por toda la escuela en busca de nuestro Niño Gingerbread, mientras visitamos varios lugares importantes de la escuela y encontramos a un personal escolar muy útil. Si su hijo tiene su camisa gris de Kindergarten de Kindergarten Round Up, se le recomienda que la use.

Gracias, Sra. Brinks

Newsletter Updates for the Week of August 27th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thurs., Aug. 30th—Gingerbread Day—wear your gray Kindergarten shirts

-Fri., Aug. 31st—No School

-Mon., Sept. 3rd—No School-Labor Day

-Wed., Sept 5th—Picture Day—K-2

SOCIAL STUDIES:

The first few weeks are busy getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines. We will be reading many books about starting school and what it means to be a ‘good friend.’ On Thursday, we will be making our Gingerbread Man. In years past, he has escaped in our school and we’ve been able to meet several important people and visit significant places around the school while searching for him.  We’ll see what this year brings . . . .

SCIENCE:

Our Monarch caterpillars are now in their chrysalises and we will be watching and waiting for them to emerge as butterflies.

READING:

The first 3 weeks, we will be focusing on learning our letters by studying the letters in our names. We will also be reading several alphabet books and learning how to work at literacy stations.

BOOK BOXES:

We will begin reading our own books from home by the end of this week—so please bring in your 5-8 books if you still need to. We will learn 3 ways to read a book—reading by looking at the pictures, retelling a familiar story from memory, & reading the words. Our goal is that students will begin to see themselves as ‘readers.’

WRITING:

This week we will complete a self-portrait, as well as a class Gingerbread book. Students will be practicing writing their names. When practicing at home, please be sure to begin with an uppercase letter and use lowercase for the rest of their name. Also, when forming our letters, we always stress starting our letters at the top:)

MATH:

This week we will learn about pattern blocks as we identify & match shapes & colors. We will also introduce10 frames, & practice counting using 1 to 1 correspondence.

Final Newsletter

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Mon. June 4th—Half Day - Dismissal @ 11:35

-Tues. June 5th—Half Day

           Awards Assembly @ 9:00

           Dismissal @ 11:35

-Wed. June 6th—Summer Break Begins

-June 19th—Summer Reading Program Kickoff @ 10:30 in the Library—Story Be Told by Jenifer Stauss

THANK YOU:

Phew! It has been a busy couple of weeks! A special thanks to all who came out for our concert last Tuesday—the students did an amazing job! Thank you as well to those of you who came out to cheer us on for Track & Field Day—another perfect day to be outside!

SUMMER:

As you make plans for summer fun, I’d like to encourage you to continue to build in time for reading, writing, and math into your child’s day. Research shows that students can lose a lot of academic growth over the summer.  I’m sending home a packet of FUN Summer worksheets that you can pull out from time to time to keep these ideas fresh in their minds:)

REPORT CARD/GOODIES:

Last week I sent home a large baggie with all the contents of your child’s book box so they can keep reading over the summer. Here are a few ‘goodies’ that I’ll be sending home this week:

-Science Notebook

-Spring Journal

-Student of the Week Poster

-Portfolio with Writing Samples & Keepsakes

-The Very Hungry Kindergartner Booklet

-Report Card with End of the Year Assessments, Dibels, & NWEA results

-Summer Homework Packet, Beach Ball, & Books

-Kindergarten Memories DVD

FINAL THOUGHTS:

What a great year! It is hard to believe that the last week of school is already here! In many ways it doesn’t seem possible, yet when I look at the students—their growth and the transformations that have occurred—I know it is time to send them on. Thank you for entrusting Mrs. McLain and I with your precious children and for your support this year! I feel truly blessed to be able to do what I love each and every day! Have a safe & fun-filled Summer!

Blessings,

Sherry Brinks

Yearbooks

A note from Mrs. Hill

Parents -

We do have a few Elementary Yearbooks for sale. They are $17 each, first-come-first-served basis until gone.  If you are paying by check or money order, please make it payable to Judy Gilde.