DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run @ 1:00
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day @ 12:30
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
FUN TO BE FIT:
Our second annual Fun to Be Fit Race is this Friday, June 1st. I will distribute the students’ t-shirts on the day of the race; they are a bright blue with black lettering in case you’d like to coordinate colors.☺ If the weather is warm, I would suggest shorts & sunscreen. Please be sure to send your child with tennis shoes. If it is cool in the morning, students can change into shorts after lunch. We will start our run at 1:00 in front of the elementary office. If you are planning on joining us, please plan to arrive between 12:30-12:45 and meet us in the classroom; it will be much easier to find us inside vs. outside. Also, if you volunteered to provide juice and cookies, please send them in by Wednesday, so that we can get them distributed to the cooks.
TRACK & FIELD DAY:
Our track & field day is scheduled for Tuesday, June 5th, in the afternoon. Activities will take place up at the track, beginning at 12:30 and ending at 2:30. Please be sure to send your child with tennis shoes, sunscreen, & a water bottle. Parents & grandparents are welcome to come and watch the events.
*FYI-It tends to be windier/cooler up on the track.
READING:
This week we will be reviewing all of the letter sounds and work on reading and writing words with short vowels and the magic e. I am wrapping up my assessments with the students and will assess them on all 50 sightwords this week. Our focus books for this week are Machines at Work & Flower Garden. We will use these 2 texts to work on vocabulary & comprehension. We have 1 last round of literacy stations to complete which will focus on blends, sightwords, rhyming, retelling, & short vowels. We will shop one final time for ‘good-fit’ books today. I will send home ‘reading folders’ through this week and collect them on Monday. Next week, students will bring home their book boxes with ALL of the booklets they have made so that they can continue to practice reading over the summer.
WRITING:
This week the students will add to their May Journals, writing about why their dad is special and looking toward the future to predict what they will look like when they are 10 years old, and what they want to be when they grow up. We will have some time for Writer’s Workshop, I continue to be impressed with the stories they create.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will continue our Science Unit on Earth Materials; our focus this week will be on water. We will learn about the importance of water to life on Earth, the different forms it can take, and some of it’s unique properties. We will conduct several fun experiments with water.
MATH:
This week we will continue to work on addition, learning the touchpoints for 5 and using them to add 5. We will also review telling time by the hour. Wednesday morning we will be going to the computer lab for Delta Testing (a math assessment on the computer). This is a first for us, but something the students will take part in throughout elementary.
*Special thanks to the parents and grandparent who chaperoned & helped make our fieldtrip such a success!
*I will be out of the classroom Wednesday afternoon so that I can attend the Middle School Talent Show. Mrs. Freeland will be filling in for me.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 21
DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip/Kettunen Center
-Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
FIELDTRIP TO KETTENUN CENTER:
We will be going to Kettunen Center tomorrow, May 22 for a day of exploration. We will be leaving school at 8:30 & plan to return around 2:30. Chaperones, please plan to come at 8:00, so that we can get ready for our day.
What to bring:
~ Sack Lunch (no glass please)
~ Sunscreen labeled with your child’s name
**We will be outside for the majority of the day, so please dress your child in layers to accommodate the changing temperatures.
**A morning and afternoon snack will be provided.
SPRING PROGRAM:
Our Kindergarten Spring Program is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th @ 1:30 in the H.S. gym. The students will be singing a few songs that they have learned in Music this year. Please send in a baseball cap labeled with your child’s name; we will be using them to practice for our program.
FUN TO BE FIT T-SHIRTS:
If you ordered a t-shirt for your child, they are here! I have been asked to hang onto the students’ shirts and pass them out on the day of the race. If you ordered additional shirts for family members, I will send them home this Friday so that you have them for the race.
READING:
This week we will be working on the letters Xx & Zz and continue to work on all of the blends (r, l, & s). We have introduced ALL 50 of our sightwords - WOW! I am sending the last 2 pages of sightword flashcards home for you to practice (sorry for the delay—I guess April & May got away from me). We will continue to practice and review all our sightwords as I will be assessing soon. Our focus books for this week are I Need a Lunchbox & Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, I’m Off to the Moon. We will use these 2 texts to work on vocabulary, comprehension, story elements, & author’s purpose. Students continue to do a fabulous job with both ‘partner reading’ and ‘read to self.’ Thank you for taking the time to read with your child at home!
WRITING:
This week the students will complete a Personal Timeline of their lives—reflecting on the past, embracing the present, and looking forward to the future. We will also continue our work with punctuation: endmarks & quotation marks. Students will have some time this week for Writer’s Workshop. Last week the students created graphic organizers to plan out their next book—characters, setting, beginning, middle, & end. Several have already begun writing their planned story into their next book and others will begin this week. **Last week I started collecting the students’ published books, instead of sending them home, to add to their kindergarten portfolios.
MATH:
This week we will continue to work on addition; learn the touchpoints for 4 and practice adding on by 4. We will be comparing & measuring the weights of different rocks, & take a survey of the class and graph the results.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will continue our Science Unit on Earth Materials; our focus this week will be on rocks. We will learn about some of the properties of rocks, conduct several experiments using rocks, and go on a rock hunt to find some rocks to take back to the classroom to examine more closely.
Keep sending in those boxtops—thefinal drawing is fast approaching!!
-Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip/Kettunen Center
-Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
FIELDTRIP TO KETTENUN CENTER:
We will be going to Kettunen Center tomorrow, May 22 for a day of exploration. We will be leaving school at 8:30 & plan to return around 2:30. Chaperones, please plan to come at 8:00, so that we can get ready for our day.
What to bring:
~ Sack Lunch (no glass please)
~ Sunscreen labeled with your child’s name
**We will be outside for the majority of the day, so please dress your child in layers to accommodate the changing temperatures.
**A morning and afternoon snack will be provided.
SPRING PROGRAM:
Our Kindergarten Spring Program is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th @ 1:30 in the H.S. gym. The students will be singing a few songs that they have learned in Music this year. Please send in a baseball cap labeled with your child’s name; we will be using them to practice for our program.
FUN TO BE FIT T-SHIRTS:
If you ordered a t-shirt for your child, they are here! I have been asked to hang onto the students’ shirts and pass them out on the day of the race. If you ordered additional shirts for family members, I will send them home this Friday so that you have them for the race.
READING:
This week we will be working on the letters Xx & Zz and continue to work on all of the blends (r, l, & s). We have introduced ALL 50 of our sightwords - WOW! I am sending the last 2 pages of sightword flashcards home for you to practice (sorry for the delay—I guess April & May got away from me). We will continue to practice and review all our sightwords as I will be assessing soon. Our focus books for this week are I Need a Lunchbox & Zoom, Zoom, Zoom, I’m Off to the Moon. We will use these 2 texts to work on vocabulary, comprehension, story elements, & author’s purpose. Students continue to do a fabulous job with both ‘partner reading’ and ‘read to self.’ Thank you for taking the time to read with your child at home!
WRITING:
This week the students will complete a Personal Timeline of their lives—reflecting on the past, embracing the present, and looking forward to the future. We will also continue our work with punctuation: endmarks & quotation marks. Students will have some time this week for Writer’s Workshop. Last week the students created graphic organizers to plan out their next book—characters, setting, beginning, middle, & end. Several have already begun writing their planned story into their next book and others will begin this week. **Last week I started collecting the students’ published books, instead of sending them home, to add to their kindergarten portfolios.
MATH:
This week we will continue to work on addition; learn the touchpoints for 4 and practice adding on by 4. We will be comparing & measuring the weights of different rocks, & take a survey of the class and graph the results.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will continue our Science Unit on Earth Materials; our focus this week will be on rocks. We will learn about some of the properties of rocks, conduct several experiments using rocks, and go on a rock hunt to find some rocks to take back to the classroom to examine more closely.
Keep sending in those boxtops—thefinal drawing is fast approaching!!
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Newletter Updates for the Week of May 14
DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Friday, May 18—Summer Bridge Order is Due
-Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip/Kettunen Center
-Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Our student of the week is Tyler Hubbard. Tyler likes super heroes, particularly Spiderman which correlates well with his imagination and creativity. Tyler enjoys going on trips with his family and his favorite place to go is the mall. When he grows up, Tyler aspires to become a fire fighter. Congratulations to Tyler on being Student of the Week!
FIELDTRIP TO KETTENUN CENTER:
We will be going to Kettunen Center on Tuesday, May 22 for a day of exploration. The PTO is helping with the cost, so each student’s portion to pay is $1.50. Please be sure to send in your child’s permission slip and money ASAP. We will be outside for the majority of the day, so please dress your child in layers to accommodate the changing temperatures. If your child is sensitive to the sun, please send sunscreen labeled with their name. Your child will also need a sack lunch (no glass please), snacks will be provided.
SPRING PROGRAM:
Our Kindergarten Spring Program is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th @ 1:30 in the H.S. gym. The students will be singing a few songs that they have learned in Music this year. Please send in a baseball cap labeled with your child’s name; we will be using them to practice for our program.
READING:
This week we will be working on the letter Yy and practice reading and writing words with s blends: sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw. We will introduce our last 4 sightwords with, all, for & of. Our focus book for this week is Franklin Plays the Game which we will use to work on vocabulary, predicting, comprehension, & identifying author’s purpose. We will continue to work on our strategies while reading individually and with partners; this week we will learn another method for partner reading: reading 2 different books. Last week we started a new read-aloud chapter book: Ready, Freddy: Stop that Hamster! which we will continue reading this week.
WRITING:
This week we will complete a Type 3 Writing which requires the students to draw and label a lifecycle. We will have several days devoted to Writer’s Workshop. Our mini lessons will focus on thinking about the ‘story elements’ in the stories that we write:
character, setting, beginning, middle, & end. Mrs. Freeland (2nd grade) has generously offered to let us borrow her i-pad so that we can create a class story using Toontastic. We will also meet up with Mrs. Wieferich’s/Mrs. Freeland’s 2nd grade class this week to listen to some of the stories they have written and maybe share a few of our own published books.
MATH:
This week we will continue to work on addition using Touchpoints and manipulatives. We will also work on identifying and naming coins—this is an easy skill to practice at home using spare change. We will also learn to play dominoes this week and use them to practice addition.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will wrap up our study of lifecycles. We will be dissecting flowers to examine the various parts of plants close-up & we will plant the seeds that we sprouted last week. This week we will also begin our Science Unit on Earth Materials: Soil, Dirt, Water, & Rock; beginning with Soil & Dirt—which will involve several hands-on experiments.
Keep sending in those boxtops—the final drawing is fast approaching!!
-Friday, May 18—Summer Bridge Order is Due
-Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip/Kettunen Center
-Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
STUDENT OF THE WEEK:
Our student of the week is Tyler Hubbard. Tyler likes super heroes, particularly Spiderman which correlates well with his imagination and creativity. Tyler enjoys going on trips with his family and his favorite place to go is the mall. When he grows up, Tyler aspires to become a fire fighter. Congratulations to Tyler on being Student of the Week!
FIELDTRIP TO KETTENUN CENTER:
We will be going to Kettunen Center on Tuesday, May 22 for a day of exploration. The PTO is helping with the cost, so each student’s portion to pay is $1.50. Please be sure to send in your child’s permission slip and money ASAP. We will be outside for the majority of the day, so please dress your child in layers to accommodate the changing temperatures. If your child is sensitive to the sun, please send sunscreen labeled with their name. Your child will also need a sack lunch (no glass please), snacks will be provided.
SPRING PROGRAM:
Our Kindergarten Spring Program is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th @ 1:30 in the H.S. gym. The students will be singing a few songs that they have learned in Music this year. Please send in a baseball cap labeled with your child’s name; we will be using them to practice for our program.
READING:
This week we will be working on the letter Yy and practice reading and writing words with s blends: sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw. We will introduce our last 4 sightwords with, all, for & of. Our focus book for this week is Franklin Plays the Game which we will use to work on vocabulary, predicting, comprehension, & identifying author’s purpose. We will continue to work on our strategies while reading individually and with partners; this week we will learn another method for partner reading: reading 2 different books. Last week we started a new read-aloud chapter book: Ready, Freddy: Stop that Hamster! which we will continue reading this week.
WRITING:
This week we will complete a Type 3 Writing which requires the students to draw and label a lifecycle. We will have several days devoted to Writer’s Workshop. Our mini lessons will focus on thinking about the ‘story elements’ in the stories that we write:
character, setting, beginning, middle, & end. Mrs. Freeland (2nd grade) has generously offered to let us borrow her i-pad so that we can create a class story using Toontastic. We will also meet up with Mrs. Wieferich’s/Mrs. Freeland’s 2nd grade class this week to listen to some of the stories they have written and maybe share a few of our own published books.
MATH:
This week we will continue to work on addition using Touchpoints and manipulatives. We will also work on identifying and naming coins—this is an easy skill to practice at home using spare change. We will also learn to play dominoes this week and use them to practice addition.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
This week we will wrap up our study of lifecycles. We will be dissecting flowers to examine the various parts of plants close-up & we will plant the seeds that we sprouted last week. This week we will also begin our Science Unit on Earth Materials: Soil, Dirt, Water, & Rock; beginning with Soil & Dirt—which will involve several hands-on experiments.
Keep sending in those boxtops—the final drawing is fast approaching!!
Fun To Be Fit - Help Needed
Dear Parents,
Mrs. Kelley is looking for donations & volunteers for Fun to Be Fit Day on Friday, June 1st (afternoon). This is a family event; parents and siblings are welcome to come and run/walk with us. Mrs. Kelley is looking for a couple of parents from each class who won’t be walking/running but would be willing to meet our class at the finish line up on the track. She is also asking for some donations of juice boxes & cookies. Please let me know if you would be willing to help with any of the following:
____ Juice Boxes (1 Package of 12). We need 50 juice boxes total, but I’m hoping a few families
would be willing to ‘share’ the load.
____ 2 Dozen store-bought cookies. We need 4 dozen total.
____ Run/walk with the class.
____ Meet our class at the finish line.
Parent’s Name: __________________________________________
Thanks so much,
Mrs. Brinks
Mrs. Kelley is looking for donations & volunteers for Fun to Be Fit Day on Friday, June 1st (afternoon). This is a family event; parents and siblings are welcome to come and run/walk with us. Mrs. Kelley is looking for a couple of parents from each class who won’t be walking/running but would be willing to meet our class at the finish line up on the track. She is also asking for some donations of juice boxes & cookies. Please let me know if you would be willing to help with any of the following:
____ Juice Boxes (1 Package of 12). We need 50 juice boxes total, but I’m hoping a few families
would be willing to ‘share’ the load.
____ 2 Dozen store-bought cookies. We need 4 dozen total.
____ Run/walk with the class.
____ Meet our class at the finish line.
Parent’s Name: __________________________________________
Thanks so much,
Mrs. Brinks
Monday, May 7, 2012
Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 7th
DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Wed., May 9—Mobile Dentist
Monday, May 14—Delayed Start
-Friday, May 18—Summer Bridge Order is Due
-Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip/Kettunen Center
-Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
SPRING PROGRAM:
Our Kindergarten Spring Program is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th @ 1:30 in the H.S. gym. The students will be singing a few songs that they have learned in Music this year. Please send in a baseball cap labeled with your child’s name by next week, as we will be using them to practice and then again for our performance.
FIELDTRIP TO KETTENUN CENTER:
A note went home last week regarding our upcoming fieldtrip. We will be going to Kettunen Center on Tuesday, May 22 for a day of exploration. The PTO is helping with the cost, so each student’s portion to pay is $1.50. Unfortunately, we have been asked to limit our number of chaperones, so each class is allowed to take up to 8 chaperones (I’m going on a first come/first serve basis). Cost for chaperones in $4.00. Please be sure to send in your child’s permission slip and money ASAP.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
The chicks should be hatching out early this week. We have been looking forward to watching this process! They will stay in the classroom for a couple of days before returning to the Bell Farm. It is going to be an egg-citing week here at school!! This week we will continue our study of lifecycles, with our focus turning to . . . . Plants!
READING:
This week we will be working on the letter Ee and the sightwords him, her, his, hers. We will continue to work on the r & l blends, as well as the word chunks: ed, en, et, & ell. Since e is a vowel, we will review Flippy the Dolphin and practice reading words with both the long and short e sounds. Our two focus books this week are The Wolf’s Chicken Stew & Corduroy, which we will use to enhance our skills in predicting, drawing conclusions, and identifying character profiles. Students will be ‘shopping’ for new ‘good-books’ early this week. I continue to be impressed with their progress and enthusiasm for reading. I have rotated all of the books and bumped up their leveled books, to continue to challenge each student. It is so exciting to see them using their strategies during ‘read to self’ and ‘partner reading!’
WRITING:
This week we will continue looking for ‘fancy’ words in the stories that we read and add them to our list of ‘fancy words’ that we can use while writing. We will complete a couple of journal entries related to plants and seeds, and we will be writing about why our mom is special. We will also work on adjectives as we paint daisy portraits at the easel and compile a list of adjectives that ‘describe’ our masterpieces. We will also have a couple of days to immerse ourselves in Writer’s Workshop. I have been encouraging the students to write a book that ‘tells a story,’ either real or make-believe. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
MATH:
This week we will be working on identifying coins as we introduce the Quarter. We will also learn the Touchpoints for 2 & 3 and use them to practice ‘adding on.’ This week students will be assessed on identifying and writing their numbers 1-30 and matching the correct number of objects to the corresponding number—it’s hard to believe it’s time to assess again for report cards! It’s even harder to believe that we are wrapping up the school year!
-Wed., May 9—Mobile Dentist
Monday, May 14—Delayed Start
-Friday, May 18—Summer Bridge Order is Due
-Tuesday, May 22—Fieldtrip/Kettunen Center
-Monday, May 28—No School/Memorial Day
-Tues., May 29—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30
-Friday, June 1—Fun to Be Fit Run
-Tuesday, June 5—Track & Field Day
-Wed., June 6—Last Day for Kindergartners
SPRING PROGRAM:
Our Kindergarten Spring Program is scheduled for Tuesday, May 29th @ 1:30 in the H.S. gym. The students will be singing a few songs that they have learned in Music this year. Please send in a baseball cap labeled with your child’s name by next week, as we will be using them to practice and then again for our performance.
FIELDTRIP TO KETTENUN CENTER:
A note went home last week regarding our upcoming fieldtrip. We will be going to Kettunen Center on Tuesday, May 22 for a day of exploration. The PTO is helping with the cost, so each student’s portion to pay is $1.50. Unfortunately, we have been asked to limit our number of chaperones, so each class is allowed to take up to 8 chaperones (I’m going on a first come/first serve basis). Cost for chaperones in $4.00. Please be sure to send in your child’s permission slip and money ASAP.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:
The chicks should be hatching out early this week. We have been looking forward to watching this process! They will stay in the classroom for a couple of days before returning to the Bell Farm. It is going to be an egg-citing week here at school!! This week we will continue our study of lifecycles, with our focus turning to . . . . Plants!
READING:
This week we will be working on the letter Ee and the sightwords him, her, his, hers. We will continue to work on the r & l blends, as well as the word chunks: ed, en, et, & ell. Since e is a vowel, we will review Flippy the Dolphin and practice reading words with both the long and short e sounds. Our two focus books this week are The Wolf’s Chicken Stew & Corduroy, which we will use to enhance our skills in predicting, drawing conclusions, and identifying character profiles. Students will be ‘shopping’ for new ‘good-books’ early this week. I continue to be impressed with their progress and enthusiasm for reading. I have rotated all of the books and bumped up their leveled books, to continue to challenge each student. It is so exciting to see them using their strategies during ‘read to self’ and ‘partner reading!’
WRITING:
This week we will continue looking for ‘fancy’ words in the stories that we read and add them to our list of ‘fancy words’ that we can use while writing. We will complete a couple of journal entries related to plants and seeds, and we will be writing about why our mom is special. We will also work on adjectives as we paint daisy portraits at the easel and compile a list of adjectives that ‘describe’ our masterpieces. We will also have a couple of days to immerse ourselves in Writer’s Workshop. I have been encouraging the students to write a book that ‘tells a story,’ either real or make-believe. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
MATH:
This week we will be working on identifying coins as we introduce the Quarter. We will also learn the Touchpoints for 2 & 3 and use them to practice ‘adding on.’ This week students will be assessed on identifying and writing their numbers 1-30 and matching the correct number of objects to the corresponding number—it’s hard to believe it’s time to assess again for report cards! It’s even harder to believe that we are wrapping up the school year!
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