Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 30th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, Feb. 10th—Smokey the Bear Visits

-Tuesday, Feb. 14th—Valentine Party—pm

-Friday Feb. 17th—NO School—PD for Teachers

-Monday, Feb. 20th—NO School—President’s Day

-Wednesday, Feb 22nd—Progress Reports Home

-Thursday, Feb 23rd—1/2 Day—Conferences 4-7

                                     -Sledding Party ????

AND THE PACE QUICKENS: 

Hopefully you’ve have a chance to look over your child’s report card and assessments. Overall, I’m very pleased with the students’ progress. We’ve established some great routines and foundational skills; however, now the pace quickens a bit. We will still be adding 2 new sightwords each week, learning a total of 51 sightwords this year; and instead of 1 letter a week, we will be focusing on 2 letters a week. I am beefing up my interventions at school for those students who need some extra practice and support with skills.  You can help as well by reviewing these same skills at home.  Now that we have so many strategies in our toolboxes for reading—you should be seeing your child grow as a reader.  I’ll send home take-home reading folders a couple times a week and they can do Raz-Kids at home as well.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns related to your child’s progress in Kindergarten.

READING:

This week our class reading stories about the kinds of fresh foods grown on a farm. Your child will be identifying different kinds of fruits and vegetables. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—fresh & delicious—talk about the fresh fruits and vegetables you buy at the grocery store or farmers’ market.

· Sightwords—he & with— Have your child practice writing these words and using them in a sentence.

· Category Words—fruits and vegetables—Write the names of fruits and vegetables on index cards. Have your child draw a picture to match and then invite your child to sort the cards into fruit and vegetable piles.

· Phonics—Ff & Rr—Play ‘I Spy’ with your child using beginning sounds. “I spy something that begins with the /f/ sound.”

WRITING: 

We’ve completed our Pattern Book Unit and will be celebrating by reading our stories to the class.  We will begin our next unit of study—Small Moments—by reading several small moment stories and discussing the qualities.  This week we will complete a couple of journals—one about hibernating animals, one about what we like to do on a snow day, and another about a groundhog.  This is an exciting time of hear because the students’ abilities and confidence for writing just seem to blossom!

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

We will continue our study of Winter this week—as we learn about some polar animals and how they adapt to their cold environments.  We will also check in with Punxsutawney Phil on Thursday to see if he does or does not see his shadow and learn what that means for the upcoming weather forecast.

MATH: 

This week  we will continue to learn about 3D solid shapes as we introduce the cylinder and the rectangular prism.  We will learn about both the addition symbol and the equal symbol and begin to solve some simple number sentence using them.

 Please be sure to return your January Book-It Calendar and Library Book. 

Also, please send in your cereal box ASAP.

Cereal Box Reminder

I forgot to put this in my newsletter this week:

Please send in an empty cereal box for us to start decorating to collect our Valentines:)

Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 23rd

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, January 27th—Report Cards Home, Homecoming—Wear Green & Gold

-Tuesday, Feb. 14th—Valentine Party—pm

-Friday Feb. 17th—NO School—PD for Teachers

-Monday, Feb. 20th—NO School—President’s Day

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Easton Short. Easton enjoys hunting, playing baseball, and playing with his dogs. His favorite movie is Rookie of the Year and his favorite book is Not Your Typical Dragon.  He likes to eat mac & cheese, watermelon, and pizza.  Two of Easton’s goals include: playing football and helping with his new baby, which I’m certain he will shine at both! Congratulations to Easton on being our Student of the Week!

SLEDDING PARTY: 

Hopefully we can rebuild a nice snow base on the playground and reschedule our Sledding Party.  We’ll just have to wait and see what the weather has in store:) 

REPORT CARDS & ASSESSMENTS:  

Report cards will be coming home with students this Friday. Students will be completing their DIBELS and AIMSWEB testing this week and I’m doubtful that I’ll have the results back in time to share with their report cards, but we will see:)  Also we are in the middle of NWEA testing, so those results will be shared with you a little later.  The report cards were completed digitally through PowerSchool for the first time, so as you look over your child’s report card remember that anything that is a √- or - is a skill that they need to work on, also be sure to look ahead to what their upcoming goals are for March.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s progress, please feel free to contact me.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how living things, such as trees, change as they grow. Your child will learn to name the parts of a tree, such as trunk, bark, branches leaves, and roots. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—develop & amazing—draw a picture of a tree and encourage your child to tell facts about trees.

· Sightwords—are & had— Have your child practice writing these words and using them in a sentence.

· Category Words—tree parts—Have your child draw a tree and label the parts—roots, trunk, branches, leaves, etc.

· Phonics—Ee—Have your child think of words that have the short e and long e sound and make a list of each.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will use Chunky Monkey to read and write words with the en, et, ed, & ell word families & use Flippy the Dolphin to read and write words with the short & long e sounds. We will introduce Helpful Kangaroo who reminds us that if we are trying to figure out a tricky word, its okay to ask for help, after we’ve tried all of our strategies.

· Raz-Kids—We learned this app last week and will be using it to read ‘good-fit’ books in the classroom. You should have received a letter with information about how to access it at home—it is a great resource for young readers!

WRITING: 

This week we will wrap up our unit on Pattern Books by writing a story with a question and answer structure.  We will also continue learning about pronouns—he, she, we, I, it, they, etc.

MATH:  

This week we will continue to work on teen numbers—writing teen numbers, building them on ten frames and with base 10 blocks.  We will practice our problem-solving skills, as we use different strategies to solve number stories.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:  

We will continue our study of Winter this week—as we learn about the different things that animals do during the Winter.

Valentine Party Sign Up

Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 16th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, Jan. 16th—Delayed Start

-Thursday, Jan. 19th—1/2 Day—Dismissal @ 11:55

-Friday, Jan. 20th—1/2 Day & Sledding Party

-Friday, January 27th—Report Cards Home & Homecoming Game

CURRICULUM: 

Due to our snow days last week, and our two half days this week, we’ll be playing ‘catch up’ this week, so I don’t have much to share as far as curriculum updates.  But here are a few things that I wanted to make you aware of.

SLEDDING PARTY:

We are planning our annual sledding party for this Friday, January 20th.  We will go outside around 10:45, sled for a half hour with the other Kindergarten classes, and then come back inside for hot chocolate before going home @ 11:55.  So far I have Kruz’s Mom, Dane’s Mom, & Dane’s Grandma coming in to help out at 10:30.  Please let me know if you’d like to help out and join in the fun!

READING FOLDERS: 

This week students will begin shopping for their own ‘good-fit books’ to add to their book boxes. They will learn what a ‘good-fit book’ is, as well as how to shop for/select ‘good-fit books.’ Students will then practice building their stamina and using their accuracy strategies while reading during Read-to-Self time.  Next week, we’ll begin Take Home Reading Folders!  Students will bring home their reading folder with a ‘good-fit book’ to read at home. There will be an informational letter that explains how to make the best reading routines at home, as well as other materials for your child to practice building their skills at home—sightwords, abc chart, numbers, Nonsense Words, Raz-Kids login card, etc.  Please be sure to complete their Reading Log and return it to school, so that they can select a new book to bring home. Students will bring their reading folders home 2-3 times a week.

RAZ-KIDS:

This week we will learn how to use Raz-Kids on our ipads—Mrs. Freeland’s third grade class will be coming down to help us log-in and navigate the site on Thursday.  I’ll also be sending home a letter that gives you the information that you need to help your child log-in and read digital books at home.  Raz-Kids is a fabulous resource for students to practice reading ‘good-fit’ books. It can be done on a computer, ipad, or tablet, and since the school generously pays for the subscription, it is free to our families.  I’ve completed running records with each student to identify their independent and instructional reading levels and have selected their beginning level on Raz-Kids accordingly. As they read books on Raz-Kids they will move up levels.  An important rule that I’ll teach the students is that they have to listen to the book twice, then read it independently twice, and finally take the quiz—listen, listen, read, read, quiz. Also, as incentive, they earn stars to build their rocket ship.  I don’t let them spend their stars and build their rockets at school, but this is something they CAN do at home with the stars they have earned. Please let me know IF you have any issues logging in or navigating the site/app at home.

VALENTINES LIST: 

I know Valentine’s Day is a month away, but for Kindergartners, it can take some time to get all of their valentines filled out:) Filling out valentines is a great opportunity to practice handwriting and also a good ‘snow day’ activity:)  I’m attaching a class list for you to use.  Also, please send in an empty cereal box, which we will be decorating to collect our valentines.

MISS MOLLIE: 

Miss Mollie is a High School student, enrolled in the Teacher Academy program, and has been helping out in our classroom this semester.  This will be her final week with us, as the semester draws to a close.  She has been a blessing, and the students have become quite attached to her.  I’m anticipating some sadness this week as we send her off! We wish her the best and look forward to seeing her around school!

Class List for Valentines

Newsletter Updates for the Week of January 9th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, Jan. 16th—Delayed Start

-Thursday, Jan. 19th—1/2 Day—Dismissal @ 11:55

-Friday, Jan. 20th—1/2 Day & Sledding Party???

-Friday, January 27th—Report Cards Home & Homecoming Game

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Mya Bronkema. Mya loves to swim and enjoys playing baby dolls with her sisters and grandmas.  She likes to eat chicken, popcorn, donuts, & veggies and her favorite movie is My Little Pony. This year she aspires to improve her ballet skills and learn how to read, which she is well on her way to accomplishing! Mya is a writer! She spends a lot of her free choice time with her friends at the writing table working on lists and books. Congratulations to Mya on being our Student of the Week!

SLEDDING PARTY:

We are tentatively planning our annual sledding party for Friday, January 20th, but I am NOT telling the students until it gets closer in case the weather doesn’t cooperate:)  We will go outside around 10:45, sled for a half hour with the other Kindergarten classes, and then come back inside for hot chocolate before going home @ 11:55. I am looking for a couple of parents, or grandparents, who would be willing to come in around 10:30 and help. I could use a couple people willing to go outside and push kids down the hill AND at least 1 person to stay inside and prepare our hot chocolate. Please let me know if you are willing and available to help out!

READING:

This week our class will be focusing on plants and what they need in order to grow, such as water, food, and air; we will read several stories about gardens. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—require & plant—Talk about things that living things (like plants) need/require in order to live and grow.

· Sightwords—my & at—Encourage your child to say sentences using the words my and at. Record the sentences on paper and leave a blank where the words show be. Then have your child write the words in each space.

· Category Words—size words—Take turns describing things according to size and/or practice sorting household items according to size.

· Phonics—Hh—Play a rhyming game. For example, say, what word starts with h and rhymes with pen? (hen). Provide clues as needed.

· Comprehension: character, setting, & events—Have your child think of a favorite story. Then ask questions about the main characters, where the story takes place, and what events happen at the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

· Beanie Baby Strategies—This week we will introduce a new comprehension strategy— Repair Bear. Repair Bear reminds us to stop while we are reading and check to see if we are understanding what we are reading. If not, we need to go back and reread.

WRITING: 

We will finish up our see-saw pattern books and take some time to conference with a peer, edit, & revise before taking turns in the ‘author’s chair.’ We will work on following directions as we ‘Draw a Rhyme Snowman’ together and discuss the importance of details and punctuation.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will be reading some narrative stories about snowmen. We will also read several informational texts related to freedom and equality in anticipation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day next week.

MATH:

This week we will be reviewing 2D shapes and begin learning about 3D/solid shapes (cube, sphere, cone, rectangular prism, etc). We will also continue to work on writing and building teen numbers using ten frames, and base 10 blocks.