Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 26th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, May 28th—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30

-Tues., June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Friday, June 6th—Sophmore Carnival

-Monday, June 9th—K-1st Track & Field Day

-Wednesday, June 11th—Dismissal @ 1:45

-Thursday, June 12th—Awards Assembly @ 12:30

-Thursday, June 12th—Dismissal @ 1:45

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM:  

Our Kindergarten Program is this Wednesday, May 28th at 1:30 in the H.S. gym.  All of the Kindergarten classes will join together to sing a few of their favorite songs from music class.  Family and friends are welcome to attend; please plan on parking in the big parking lot and entering the school through the gym lobby.  Be sure NOT to park in the bus loop or you might get blocked in! 

When the program is finished, please find your child and enjoy the refreshments in the lobby together.  Then you may walk them back to our classroom where they will have one of their published ‘How-to’ books to share with you.  You are then welcome to sign them out OR they can stay for recess and ride the bus home.

**Please send in a baseball cap for your child to use as a prop during the program. Please send it in by Wednesday morning so we can do a run through with props. :)

LIBRARY BOOKS: 

Our final visit to the library is scheduled for this Wednesday (during our program) so we will not be going. :)  Please be sure to return your child’s library book by this Wednesday and I will return them to the library.  Classes that return all of their library books on time will receive a treat from Mrs. Eisenga.

READING:  

Our focus letters for this week are X & Z ; we will also be working on the suffixes—ed & ing. Our focus texts for this week are I Need a Lunchbox and Zoom, Zoom, I’m Off to the Moon, which we will use to work on sequencing and determining Author’s Purpose.  We will continue to identify and collect ’fancy words’ as we work on Expanding our Vocabularies.   We have now introduced ALL 50 of our sightwords and will continue to practice reading and writing these words from memory.

WRITING: 

This week we will begin our final writing unit—Informational Writing.  We will look at several mentor texts to identify some of the features and characteristics of Informational Texts.  Students will choose a topic of study, work in small groups to gather information, create a poster of facts regarding their topic, & then begin their own graphic organizer in preparation for writing their own books next week.

MATH:  

This week we will work on addition, graphing, and telling time to the hour.  On Thursday we will go to the computer lab for Delta testing, which is a computer-based Math Assessment that all of the elementary students take.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

We will continue our Science unit on Earth Materials—this week we will be learning about water; we will conduct several hands-on experiments with water and discuss the importance of water in our world.

Fun to Be Fit Shirts

I am sending Fun to Be Fit home today!  If you ordered a shirt, please be sure to check your child's back pack.  They should wear them to school tomorrow!  If you did not order a shirt, they are bright yellow; if your child has a bright yellow shirt at home they can wear those tomorrow.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 19th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wednesday, May 21st—Book Fair to Purchase

-Wednesday, May 21st—Mobile Dentist

-Friday, May 23rd—Fun to Be Fit @ 1:00

-Monday, May 26th—Memorial Day

-Wednesday, May 28th—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30

-Tues., June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Friday, June 6th—Sophmore Carnival

-Monday, June 9th—K-1st Track & Field Day

-Wednesday, June 11th—Dismissal @ 1:45

-Thursday, June 12th—Awards Assembly @ 9:00

-Thursday, June 12th—Dismissal @ 1:45

BOOK FAIR:  

Your child should have brought home their ‘wish list’ of books they liked at the book fair.  IF you would like to purchase any books, please return the bottom portion, along with payment, on or before Wednesday, May 21st.  You are welcome to come in and shop as well.  The book fair is open 11:30-3:00 Monday & Wednesday, 11:30-6:00 Tuesday & Thursday, & 1:00-3:00 on Friday.

FUN TO BE FIT:  

Our 4th Annual Fun to Be Fit Day is scheduled for Friday, May 23rd beginning @ 1:00.  If you are planning on attending, please plan to arrive by 12:30.  This event will take place up on the track; it is ALWAYS windy up there, so please be sure to dress your child appropriately. :) Tennis shoes are a must!

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM:  

We are planning a Kindergarten Program for Wednesday, May 28th at 1:30 in the H.S. gym.  All of the Kindergarten classes will join together to sing a few of their favorite songs from music class.  Family and friends are welcome to attend and refreshments will follow the program.

**Please send in a baseball cap for your child to use as a prop during the program. :)

READING:  

Our focus text for this week is All I Am; we will also be reading several Fancy Nancy texts, as we look for Fancy Vocabulary words that we can use in our own conversations & writing.  This week we will be working on the digraphs th & wh and our last 2 sight words are of & all.  We will continue our end of the year assessments this week as well.

WRITING: 

This week we will wrap up our how-to book about things we know how to do outside.  We will be adding a ‘materials needed’ page, warnings & tips, and an ‘about the expert’ page.  We will also complete a Type 3 writing about lifecycles and work on editing and   fancying up our pieces.

MATH:  

This week we will practice ordering numbers from smallest to largest and work on addition to 7.  Students will take their end of the year Aimsweb assessment where they will be given 1 minute to do each of the following skills—oral counting, number identification (0-10), identify the missing number in a sequence, and identify the bigger number.  It will be exciting to see their growth. :)

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 12

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, May 19th—Delayed Start

-May 15th-23rd—Scholastic Book Fair

-Friday, May 16th—Book Fair to Browse

-Wednesday, May 21st—Book Fair to Purchase

-Wednesday, May 21st—Mobile Dentist

-Friday, May 23rd—Fun to Be Fit @ 1:00

-Monday, May 26th—Memorial Day

-Wednesday, May 28th—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30

-Tues., June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Monday, June 9th—K-1st Track & Field Day

-Wednesday, June 11th—Dismissal @ 1:45

-Thursday, June 12th—Dismissal @ 1:45

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM:  

We are planning a Kindergarten Program for Wednesday, May 28th at 1:30 in the H.S. gym.  All of the Kindergarten classes will join together to sing a few of their favorite songs from music class.  Family and friends are welcome to attend and refreshments will follow the program.  **Please send in a baseball cap for your child to use as a prop during the program. :)

FUN TO BE FIT:  

Our 4th Annual Fun to Be Fit Day is scheduled for Friday, May 23rd beginning @ 1:00.  I am looking for a few parent/grandparent volunteers to come in and help supervise a small group—it’s easy for Kindergartners to get lost in the sea of runners. :) Please let me know if you are planning to attend and if you’d be willing to walk/run with a small group of kids. :)

READING:  

Our focus text for this week is Franklin Plays the Game, which we will use to work on character descriptions, vocabulary, & retelling.  Our focus letter for this week is the letter Yy and our sight words are with & him.  This week we will begin our end of the year assessments—Dibels, Rhyming, Blending, Counting, & 3D Shapes - with more to come.

WRITING: 

This week we will continue our writing unit on Procedural Writing, as we write about things we know how to do outside.  We will learn several strategies for figuring out tricky words; we will practice spacing, as well as adding action lines & arrows to our pictures.  We will also complete a couple of journals about plants and what they need in order to grow.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week in Science, we will continue to learn about lifecycles—plants.  The students will engage in several hands-on experiments, as we determine what plants need to live & grow, how they grow & change, and the different parts of plants.

MATH:  

This week we will continue to practice writing our numbers as high as we can go.  We will also practice skip counting, identifying missing numbers, comparing numbers, & identifying the biggest number, in preparation for Aimsweb testing next week.  The students are doing a great job with addition!  This week we will be working on addition to 6.

Please be sure to return your library book on or before Wednesday!

Field Trip Notice

Dear Parents,

     The Kindergarten classes are going on a field trip to Kettunen Center near Tustin.  Our class will be going on Tuesday, June 3rd.  The children will be participating in a variety of hands-on nature activities as they rotate through different learning stations.  We are planning on leaving school around 8:30 a.m. and returning to school around 2:30 p.m.

     The cost per child will be $2.50, with special thanks to the PTO for helping to cover the rest of the cost.  Please be sure your child brings a sack lunch (no glass please)!  A morning and afternoon snack will be provided.

     We are hoping for a sunny day, but please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather. We will be outside much of the day - rain or shine!  Please send your child with sunscreen if you feel he/she will need it.  We will provide bug spray if we think it is necessary.

Mrs. Brinks
Mrs. Green
Mrs. Nelson

**I will be sending this home with the Monday newsletter, but I just wanted to post it on the Blog as well:)

**Parents are welcome to chaperone; if we don't have enough room on the bus, we might have to ask parents to drive separate and/or car pool. :)

Kindergarten Spring Program

The kindergarten classes would like to invite you to join us for our spring program as we sing a few songs we have learned and then eat a couple of cookies when we are finished.

This musical event will be held in the High School gym on Wednesday, May 28th beginning at 1:30.  We are asking each child to bring a baseball cap to use as a prop during our program.  If your child doesn't have one of their own, they can use a dad's, mom's, or anyone who would let them borrow one for the afternoon.  They can start bringing in the caps anytime.  We will collect them and put their names on the inside if they aren't already marked.

We would like ALL of the children to have someone special here to watch them.  If you are not able to attend, please feel free to invite grandparents or a neighbor/friend to join us.

We are looking forward to having you as our guests.

Sincerely,
The Kindergarten Classes

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 5th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, May 19th—Delayed Start

-May 15th-23rd—Scholastic Book Fair

-Wednesday, May 21st—Mobile Dentist

-Friday, May 23rd—Fun to Be Fit @ 1:00

-Monday, May 26th—Memorial Day

-Wednesday, May 28th—Kindergarten Program @ 1:30

-Tues., June 3rd—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Monday, June 9th—K-1st Track & Field Day

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM:  

We are planning a Kindergarten Program for Wednesday, May 28th at 1:30 in the H.S. gym.  All of the Kindergarten classes will join together to sing a few of their favorite songs from music class.  Family and friends are welcome to attend and refreshments will follow the program. :)

FUN TO BE FIT:  

Our 4th Annual Fun to Be Fit Day is scheduled for Friday, May 23rd beginning @ 1:00.  I am looking for a few parent/grandparent volunteers to come in and help supervise a small group—it’s easy for Kindergartners to get lost in the sea of runners. :) Please let me know if you are planning to attend and if you’d be willing to walk/run with a small group of kids. :)

READING:  

Our focus text for this week is The Flower Garden, which we will use to work on vocabulary, making connections, and inferring.  Our focus letter this week is the letter Ll and our sightwords are for & they.  Several of the students are very close to completing the first side of their take-home reading log which means a trip to the prize box—remember to return your child’s reading folder, so that they can check out more books :)

WRITING: 

This week we will continue our writing unit on Procedural Writing—How-to Books.  I will be sending home their books that they finished about what they know how to do at home—I think you will find them very insightful and cute.  This week we will begin writing new how-to books on things we know how to do outside.  We will also be working on writing our own Mother’s Day cards.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week in Science, we will continue to learn about lifecycles—butterflies & frogs.  Our hungry caterpillars are busy eating away and should soon be spinning their chrysalis’.  We will also be reading several books about moms and discussing the important role that moms play in our lives, as we look forward to celebrating Mother’s day this coming weekend!