Holiday Homework

Hi Everyone,
Hope you are enjoying your break! Just a friendly reminder about 'Holiday Homework.'  Your child should have brought home a manilla envelope on Friday, which has their Holiday Homework inside. This is optional, but a good way to brush up on key skills that we'll be assessing right after break.  I wanted to send this reminder in case you set it aside with all of the Holiday festivities.  With 5 days left of break, all they need to do is 2 tasks each day and bring it back to school on Monday for a trip to the prize box.  I just went shopping so the prize box is stocked and ready to go!

Happy New Year!
Mrs. Brinks

Author Visit

On Friday we were privileged to have a local author, Letha McGraw, come in and read her newly published book Jack and Sadie to our classroom.  Grandma Linda also blessed us by purchasing a copy of the book for us to have in our classroom.  The book is available to purchase in many local bookstores and businesses, be sure to pick up a copy if you have a chance.  Here are a couple of pictures from her visit.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of December 14th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, Dec. 17th—Christmas Party (pm)

             Wear your Christmas Sweater

-Friday, Dec. 18th—PJ Day, Sing-a-long, & Movie

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE:

For our class Christmas party, we are planning to have a gift exchange. We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.50-$4.00 and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM (To: a girl  From: Mrs. Brinks).  Our party will be held Thursday, December 17th in the afternoon.  Our tree is decorated and ready, so you are welcome to send in their gifts anytime.

PAJAMA DAY:

This Friday we will celebrate our last day before break in our pajamas. Students are welcome to wear their pajamas and slippers in the classroom.  We will still be going outside for recess, so please be sure to send along boots and snow pants.  Our annual sing-a-long is at 9:00 in the elementary cafeteria if you'd like to join us for some Christmas carols.

HOLIDAY HOMEWORK: 

On Friday the students will bring home an envelope of ‘goodies.’ In this envelope you will find some special booklets that your child has made and can read, as well as a sheet explaining some fun Holiday Homework that they can do over break if they choose.

READING: 

This week our class will be focusing on different jobs that people have in the community. Children will read stories and learn about the tools and equipment that workers use.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—equipment, uniform—Brainstorm some different kinds of workers in your community. Encourage your child to tell about the equipment a worker uses and the uniform a worker wears.

· High-Frequency Words— you & on - With your finger, spell out the words on your child’s arm or back. Next, encourage your child to think of a sentence that includes these words.

· Category Words—jobs—Play a game called “Guess the Worker.” Give your child clues about what a worker does and act it out. Encourage your child to guess the job.

· Phonics—Oo—Help your child think of words that begin with or include the letter o. Then ask your child to underline the letter o in each word.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will use Chunky Monkey to help us read and write words with the ot, op, & og chunks. We will also introduce Dot the Giraffe who helps us with our Fluency & Voice as we read by looking at the punctuation clues.  We will also introduce Flippy the Dolphin who reminds us that when we come to a tricky word we can ‘flip’ the vowel sound (long or short sound) to figure out the word:)

  

WRITING: 

This week we will complete several journals related to Christmas, including drawing a map for Santa to find our houses, with the help of Google Earth :)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will be reading several stories related to Christmas, as we anticipate it’s arrival:)  The students are enjoying baking holiday treats and goodies in our classroom Bakery Shop.

MATH:  

This week we will begin working on the ‘tricky teen’ numbers and complete a couple of Christmas graphs.

I will send blankets home on Friday to be washed over break:)

Thank you for sharing your children with me each day; what a true blessing they are!

I wish your family a very Merry Christmas

filled with joy, hope, love, & laughter!

-Sherry Brinks

Newsletter Updates for the Week of December 7th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, December 17th—Christmas Party (pm) - Wear your Christmas Sweater

-Friday, December 18th—Pajama Day for Kindergartners, Sing-a-long, & Movie

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Adriauna Carpenter.  Adriauna enjoys doing puzzles, cooking, and coming to school.  Her favorite movie is “Frozen” and she loves to eat tomatoes!  Her goals for this year include learning to tie her shoes and learning to read (which she is well on her way). Congratulations to Adriauna on being Student of the Week!

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE:

I know many of you are beginning your Christmas shopping. For our class Christmas party, we are planning to have a gift exchange. We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.50-$4.00 and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM (To: a girl  From: Mrs. Brinks).  Our party will be held Thursday, December 17th in the afternoon.

READING: 

This week our class will be reading stories about the places we visit in our neighborhoods and communities. Your child will talk about these places and the people we see and visit there.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—routine, neighborhood  - Talk about a weekend routine in the neighborhood. Use the words first, next, then, and last.

· High-Frequency Word—go & in— Practice writing the words go and in and take turns using them in a sentence. Ask the question: Where do you like to go? Invite your child to complete the sentence: I like to go to the ___.

· Category Words—sequence words—Play a game called “What are we going to do?” Encourage your child to use sequence words such as first, next, then, and last.

· Phonics—Letter Cc—Play a rhyming game and invite your child to guess words that begin with the letter c. If your child does not guess the word, give another clue. Then make a list of the words your child guesses correctly. Read the list together.

· Comprehension—character, setting, events—Guide your child in telling a story. Ask your child to think of the characters in the story, where the story takes place, and what events will happen. As your child tells the story, write it down.

WRITING:  

This week we will continue to learn about pattern books and practice writing our own pattern books about things we like. We will complete a class book about things we see using the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? as inspiration.  We will continue to work on sounding out our words, writing the sounds we hear, and putting spaces between our words. :)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:  

This week we will continue our Social Studies unit on Families.  We will also continue our Science unit on the 5 Senses; we will be reading several books about our senses of smell, touch, and taste and conduct several experiments related to these senses.

MATH:  

This week we will work on identifying and sorting objects and shapes according to various attributes (shape, color, size, thickness, etc).  We will collect classroom data about everyone’s favorite color and create a digital pictograph and the students will be introduced to the calculator app on their ipads.

We are in need of more baby wipes (any brand), 

if anyone is willing to donate another package to the classroom:)

Christmas Party Sign Up

Photo of our Feast

What a fun week we had last week!
I've got lots of great pictures to prove it, but here's a group photo of the 'Little Pilgrims' @ our Feast!
Thanks to all of the moms, dads, and grandmas who came in to help out!
Also, thank you for sending in all of the food and supplies!

Newsletter Updates for the Week of November 30th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Thursday, December 17th—Christmas Party (pm)

-Friday, December 18th—Pajama Day for Kindergartners, Sing-a-long, & Movie

CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE:

I know many of you are beginning your Christmas shopping. For our class Christmas party, we are planning to have a gift exchange. We are asking that girls bring a gift for a girl and boys bring a gift for a boy.  Please select a gift that is between $3.50-$4.00 and send it to school wrapped and labeled with who it is FROM (To: a girl  From: Mrs. Brinks).  Our party will be held Thursday, December 17th in the afternoon.

BRRR: 

I’ve been very impressed with how quickly and independently the students have been getting dressed and undressed @ recess—Way to Go!  Please be sure to label all items, as we have several duplicates of mittens and boots:)  Also, please remember to pack shoes for the classroom; I don’t let the students wear their boots in the classroom because we spend a lot of time sitting on the floor and we try to keep it clean and dry:)

READING: 

This week our class will be reading stories about sounds we hear in our neighborhoods and communities. Your child will experiment with ways to make sounds.

Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing.

· Vocabulary—listen & volume - Go outside together and invite your child to listen to the sounds in your neighborhood. Talk about what makes the sound. Describe the volume of the sound.

· High-Frequency Words—and & but—Write the words and & but, then have your child trace them. Have your child search for them and circle their sightwords in the newspaper.

· Category Words—sound words—Sit outside together and listen for different sounds. Ask your child to identify what is making the sound. Have your child describe the sound.

· Phonics—Nn—Search for objects that begin or end with the letter n, such as nails and pan. Write the words on sticky notes and have your child put the notes on each object.

WRITING: 

This week we will edit our November Journals and bring them home to share. We will begin our December Journals by writing about our families. We will also begin a new unit for Writing that teaches us how to write pattern books; we will begin by writing about things we see.

MATH: 

This week we will play several games that involve ordering numbers.  We will also learn a new game called ‘Monster Squeeze’ which involves identifying a mystery number on a number line.  This is a game that students can also play on their ipads and is always a favorite!  The students will be bringing home their ‘Countdown to Christmas’ Chains to hang up at home and help them keep track of how many days until Christmas:)

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will be reading several books about families, since the Holidays are all about spending time with our families and caring for each other.  We will also begin our Science Unit on the 5 Senses. We will be reading several books about the senses of sight and hearing this week, as there are a lot of neat things to see and hear at Christmas time!

 Remember to return your

November Book-it Calendar!