Summer Reading Program

Here is the schedule for the Summer Reading Program at the Library. I hope you can take advantage of some of these great programs.  Please tell your kids that Mrs. Brinks says "hi," and that I hope to see them out and about this summer, maybe at the beach IF we ever get some warm weather:)

Summer Reading Program 2019

June 13 – 10:30 SRP Kick-off - Magician Joel Tacey – All Ages

June 18 – 10:30 – 1:00 -  Makerspace Day – Create a model from our new 3-D printer – All Ages

June 20^{th -}   - 10:30 - Pollinators Program by Missaukee Conservation District – All Ages

June 27 at 10:30 – Puppeteer Kevin Kammeraad will be performing.  All Ages

July 9 – 10:30 – Wildlife in our Backyard – Missaukee Conservation District – All Ages

July 11^th – 10 and 10:30. “Two Shows” - Star Lab Planetarium by Dynamic School Assemblies – All Ages

July 18^th – 10:30 – “Taking care of our world” – Missaukee County Farm Bureau -- All Ages

July 25^th – 10:30 – SRP Finale – Top Reader Awards, prize drawings, Ice Cream.

**NEW THIS YEAR - Earn points for each event

you attend to be entered in a drawing for prizes***

Top reader awards for different age groups.

All events are FREE!!

June 3rd - Final Newsletter

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Mon., June 3rd—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

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

-Wed., June 5th—Summer Break Begins

-June 13th @ 10:30—Summer Reading Program Kick-off with Magician Joel Tracey

THANK YOU:

Phew! It has been a busy couple of weeks! A special thanks to all the parents and grandparents who came out to cheer us on for Track & Field Day—what a 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. Also, I encourage you to take advantage of the library and the great line-up of programs they have planned.  In addition, I’ll be sending home your child’s login cards for Raz-Kids & Teach Your Monster to Read (which they absolutely love)!

END OF THE YEAR:

I still have lots of ‘goodies’ to send home this week, so please check your child’s backpack each night.  I know it’s a lot of stuff to keep track of, BUT please be sure to take time to go through their things with them over the next couple of weeks, and let them know how proud you are of all they’ve accomplished. Also, a piece of advice from a Senior-Mom—stash a few keepsakes away to pull out and reminisce over in a few years:)

FINAL THOUGHTS:

What a great year we’ve had together! 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 and fun-filled Summer!

Blessings to you & your families,

Sherry Brinks

May 28th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

-Mon., June 3rd—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

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

-Wed., June 5th—Summer Break Begins

TRACK & FIELD DAY: 

Our track & field day is this Wednesday beginning at 12:30 up at that track. Families are welcome to come and cheer us on. Please be sure to send your child with:

-Tennis shoes

-Appropriate clothing—shorts, hat, sunglasses, jacket, etc.

-Sunscreen (if desired) - I will apply it before lunch for those who bring it

-A water bottle—filled with water & ice

END OF THE YEAR:

This week, and next, I’ll begin sending home some of your child’s things from the classroom. Please check their backpack each night for these things—book box contents, blankets, extra clothes, science notebook, spring journal, portfolio with writing samples & keepsakes, butterflies, Report card with end of the year assessments, Dibels, & NWEA results, Summer Homework Packet, & Kindergarten Memories DVD.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how people work together to solve problems & make decisions.  We will also be reading stories about sorting different groups of things in new ways—sorting by size, texture, shape, color, weight, etc.

· Vocabulary—decide, opinion, sorting, & similar

· Sightwords—good, who, come & does

· Category Words—question words (who, what, when, where, why, & how) & opposites.

· Phonics—long u, & the digraph th—practice spelling words with the long and short u sounds (hug/huge, cut/cute) as well as words that begin and end with th.

· Summer Reading Program—attached you will find a pink slip regarding the Summer Reading Program at the library this summer. They have a lot of great events planned to promote reading, learning, & fun! I would encourage you to post it on your refrigerator so you can keep track of the upcoming events.

· Raz Kids—I will be sending home your child’s Raz Kids login card. Your child will have access to it all summer long, so please take advantage of this great resource as well.

WRITING: 

This week we will be finishing up our Personal Timeline, as well as our Spring Journals.  As we transition into summer, I would encourage you to find opportunities for your child to write daily—make a list, sound out words, give them sightwords to spell, or ask them to write a sentence or two about their day/special event/activity.  A notebook would make an excellent summer journal:)

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on addition & subtraction.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:

This week we will be learning about fitness and taking good care of our bodies. We will also be learning about Summer Safety. Our friend Scrappy the Squirrel will make a final visit to talk to the students about how to stay safe this summer!

May 20th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Mon., May 27th—No School—Memorial Day

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

-Mon., June 3rd—Half Day—Dismissal @ 11:35

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

-Wed., June 5th—Summer Break Begins

STUDENT OF THE MONTH:

Our May Student of the Month is Citlaly Hernandez-Mendoza. Citlaly is kind-hearted and is always helpful to others.  Her favorite food is pizza and she loves to dance!  This year she wanted to learn how to read, which she is rocking!  Citllay enjoys reading books about puppies & kittens and when she grows up, Citlaly aspires to become a pediatrician! Congratulations to Citlaly on being our Student of the Month.

FIELDTRIP: 

Thank you to ALL the moms & dads who took time off from work and juggled their busy schedules to chaperone our fieldtrip!  The museum was wonderful, but the playground was probably the favorite! :) What a fun day of making memories together!

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about natural resources. Children will learn how they can use things in nature to create new things. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—natural resources & create—Discuss different natural resources with your child. For example, talk about how we use trees to create, or make new things that people use every day.

· Sightwords—where & look—Write some sentences with the words where & look, then read the sentences together and have your child highlight or underline their sightwords.

· Category Words—foods made from grain—Find different food items from your kitchen made from grains and make a list together. We will be making homemade bread in class on Friday:)

· Phonics—long o, & s blends (sl, sc, sk, sm, sn, sp, st, & sw)—make a list of words with short o and long o sounds—hop/hope, rob/robe, etc. Also, think of words that have s blends in them and make a list.

WRITING: 

This week we will be finishing up or Season’s Timeline by writing about our trip to the Butterfly Garden last Friday. We will also start our own personal timelines as we write about our past, present, & future.  We are going to try to do some digital writing as well this week, using our Story Buddy app.  If all goes smoothly, we’ll be emailing our parents a copy of our final draft—so watch for that!

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on subtraction, as well as ordering numbers, and representing numbers in a variety of ways.  We will learn about function machines as well, and observe patterns while adding and subtracting.

SCIENCE:

Special thanks to Mrs. Bronkema, Mrs. VanBuskirk, & Mrs. Hernandez-Mendoza for joining us and helping as we dipped and explored in the creek last week.  This week we will continue to study and learn about the lifecycle of plants—we are patiently waiting for our Sunflowers to sprout—we had to do a second round of planting last week.  We will also continue to explore different habitats and observe and discuss how people, plants, & animals impact their environments—this week we will focus in on pigs & prairie dogs.

This Friday will be our final trip to the Library. On our last visit, we decided to keep our books at school in our book boxes for safe keeping, but a couple might still have a library book at home.

May 13th - Newsletter Updates

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, May 13th—Dibels Testing

-Wed., May 15th—NWEA Testing—Reading

-Thursday, May 16th—Fieldtrip—Midland Center for the Arts & Plymouth Park

-Monday, May 20th—Delayed Start

-Mon., May 27th—No School—Memorial Day

-Wed., May 29th—K-2 Track & Field Day—pm

FIELDTRIP: 

We are looking forward to a great day for our fieldtrip this Thursday to the Midland Center for the Arts.  We will be inside for the morning and then be outside in the afternoon at the park for lunch, so please dress appropriately.  We are blessed to have several parents joining us on the trip, which will make our day even better.  A couple of quick reminders:

-Please send your child with a sack lunch, labeled with their name—no glass bottles please.

-In compliance with school rules, as well as Plymouth Park rules, there is no smoking or vaping allowed. Also, no weapons are allowed.

-When taking photos of your child, please keep in mind that some parents prefer to keep their children’s photos off of Facebook and other social media sites.

SCIENCE:

We are planning some Science outside this week; in addition to our fieldtrip on Thursday . . . . .

-Monday afternoon we are going down to the creek that runs along the school to dip for critters and see what we can discover about a wetland habitat.

 Please be sure to send your child with boots or old shoes.

-Wednesday afternoon we are hoping to go outside and plant our sunflowers along the playground fence.

-Friday afternoon we are planning to go back one final time to the butterfly garden to see what new signs of life we can observe in the Spring.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how children can be good citizens. They will lean how to listen, share, help others, respect one another, work together, & take turns. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—citizen & respect—Discuss ways your child can show good citizenship and respect for others at school and in the community.

· Sightwords—play, has, & all—Keep on practicing reading and writing those sightwords from memory using flashcards and/or their fluency charts in their take-home reading folders.

· Category Words—farm animals—practice naming farm animals and their babies (cow/calf, pig/piglet, etc).

· Phonics—long I & ch—make a list of words with short i—fin, pin, etc, then rewrite the words with the magic e and ‘flip’ the vowel sound to make a new word—fine, pine, etc. Also, make a list of words that begin and end with the digraph ch.

WRITING: 

This week we will use the information we’ve collected last week in small groups to write 3 new informational pieces—one group is doing Beavers, another Frogs, and the third group chose Butterflies.  I’m very excited to see how these books turn out.  We will also be writing about our fieldtrip and some favorite things we saw/experienced.

MATH: 

This week we will practice building numbers to 100 using base 10 blocks, we will also be working on subtraction using dice, bears, & ants on a log.  We are practicing and assessing lots of skills in preparation for Report Cards—counting, writing numbers, 3D shapes, addition, subtraction, etc.