Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 1st

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, May 5th—Muffins with Mom

-Friday, May 12th—Muffins with Mom

-Monday, May 15th—Delayed Start

-Saturday, May 20th—Color Run

-Friday, May 26th—Fun to Be Fit

-Monday, May 29th—Memorial Day – No School

-Tuesday, May 30th—Kindergarten Concert @ 1:30

-Thursday, June 1st—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Friday, June 2nd—K-2 Track & Field Day (pm)

-Friday, June 2nd—Sophomore Carnival

-Saturday, June 3rd—Bike-a-thon

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Brady Walenjus.  Brady likes to swim, play Legos, and eat apples & pizza. His favorite movie is Lego Batman and his favorite book is Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site.  His goals include learning to read and write which he excels at doing each and every day!  He is looking forward to becoming a big brother, very soon! Congratulations to Brady on being our Student of the Week!

ASSESSMENTS:

As we prepare to wrap up the school year, we will be assessing student growth in many areas. We will be going back to the computer lab for our NWEA assessment in Reading & Math. In the next couple of weeks, students will also complete their Spring Dibels & Aimsweb benchmarking assessments, so keep practicing those nonsense words. All month long we’ll be assessing for report cards. Please make sure your child is well-rested and remind them to ALWAYS do their best! :)

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how children can be good citizens. They will learn how to listen, share, help others, respect one another, work together, and take turns. Here are some activities 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 chart in their take-home reading folder.

· Category Words—farm animals—Name farm animals and then name their babies (pig/piglet, cow/calf, etc.)

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

· Take-Home Reading Folders—I’m working on completing a final running record with each student so that I can reassess their reading level. This time of year students seem to grow by leaps and bounds with their reading!

WRITING: 

This week we will use the information we’ve collected on birds, ducks, and chicks to create a class book. We will also take some time to think about topics that we know a lot about (people, sports, animals, activities, etc) as we begin to plan for writing our own informational books next week.

MATH: 

This week we will focus on subtraction, skip counting by 2’s, building numbers using base 10 blocks, addition within 10, and writing our numbers from memory.  Several students are still struggling with writing their numbers backwards and those tricky teens and 20’s, so keep practicing writing numbers at home:)

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles as we focus on reading and collecting information about tadpoles & frogs.

*Please note that Strep is going around. I had my turn with it last week and am hopefully on the mend now. Last week, several students were complaining of some of the same symptoms I was experiencing, so please be attentive to those signs.  Strep is something that doesn't go away on it's own without treatment.

*On Thursday we enjoyed watching the livestream feed from the World Robotics Competition in St. Louis, as we cheered on the Rambler Robotics Team together.  They didn't make it into the playoffs, but they had an amazing experience at both State and World Competitions.  As we watched a couple of matches, I saw sparks on interest ignite in my Kindergartners and I was amazed at their enthusiasm.  Robotics is a new program here at McBain, but I know there is growing interest at all levels.  As your child progresses through elementary school, be on the lookout for opportunities for them to get involved in Lego Robotics and Mrs. Freeland's after school coding club.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 24th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, April 28th—K Round-Up—No School for K

-Friday, May 5th—Muffins with Mom

-Friday, May 12th—Muffins with Mom

-Monday, May 15th—Delayed Start

-Saturday, May 20th—Color Run

-Friday, May 26th—Fun to Be Fit

-Monday, May 29th—Memorial Day – No School

-Tuesday, May 30th—Kindergarten Concert @ 1:30

-Thursday, June 1st—Fieldtrip to Kettunen Center

-Friday, June 2nd—K-2 Track & Field Day (pm)

-Friday, June 2nd—Sophomore Carnival

-Saturday, June 3rd—Bike-a-thon

END OF THE YEAR ASSESSMENTS & FUN: 

May and June are extremely busy and jam-packed with testing and many special events.  I’m hoping you have plenty of time to get some of these special dates on your calendars so that you can join us for the K Concert, Fun-to-be-Fit, our Fieldtrip, Track & Field, etc. Look for more details to come.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how children can help at home. Children will learn about taking responsibility for cleaning, caring for a pet, doing errands, and other chores. Here are some activities you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—chores & contribute—Discuss different ways your child can help out at home. Create a list of jobs on a chore chart.

· Sightwords—help, too, & him—Write the words help, too, and him, then ask your child to write each word. Think of sentences that use these words. Write the sentences down and read them aloud. Have your child underline the words help, too, and him.

· Category Words—household furniture

· Phonics—Long A & sh —make a list of words with short a—cap, can, etc. then rewrite the words with a magic e and ‘flip’ the vowel sound to make a new word—cape, cane, etc. Make a list of words that begin and end with the digraph sh.

· Take-Home Reading Folders—Several students are very close to having 20 books read and will soon be receiving a subway certificate—keep up the great reading!!

WRITING: 

This week we will begin a new unit of study for writing—Informational Writing. We will look at some mentor texts to find out what text features informational texts have and begin researching and collecting information about ducks, birds, & chicks.  We will also complete a couple of journals related to weather and baby animals.

MATH:

This week we will learn about the concept of time and review our 3D solid shapes by building them out of toothpicks and marshmallows. We might even email a photo of our creations to our parents.  Our ‘Count by 2’s Wall of Fame’ is up in the classroom and the students are excited to put their star on the Wall.  Please help your child achieve this milestone by practicing skip counting by 2’s—the goals is to get to 30.  We already have 16 students who have made it—great job!  We are still collecting bottle caps as we try to fill our big jug—so keep sending them it!

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will begin our study of lifecycles as we focus on reading and collecting information about ducks, chicks, and birds.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 17th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Friday, April 21st—K Round-Up—No School for K

-Friday, April 28th—K Round-Up—No School for K

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Aubrie Schultz.  Aubrie likes to color, go sledding, play video games, and eat pizza. Her favorite movie is Frozen and her favorite book is Little Red Hot.  Her goals include riding horses and becoming a farmer, both things she can do now and perfect as she grows up. Congratulations to Aubrie on being our Student of the Week!

 KINDERGARTEN ROUND-UP: 

Just a reminder that this year’s Kindergartners will NOT be coming to school on Friday, April 21st & 28th as we will be holding Kindergarten Round-Up for incoming students. :) We apologize for the inconvenience!

FUN TO BE FIT SHIRTS: 

Mrs. Sluiter is collecting T-shirt orders for Fun to Be Fit; if you’d like to purchase a shirt, please send in your order form and payment by April 28th. ALL students will be participating in the event, ordering a shirt is completely optional.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about the sky during daytime and nighttime.  Here are some activities you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—distance & recognize—Take your child outside during the day and at night. Help them identify the sun, moon, clouds, stars, sunrise, and sunset.

· Sightwords—review—So far we’ve learned 38 of our 51 sightwords—keep up the good work!

· Category Words—opposites—Use gestures to act out words that are opposites such as up/down, open/close, in/out, etc.

· Phonics—Letter Review—u, g, w, x, v, j, qu. & z— Search for objects with these letters. Play “I Spy,” and have your child guess the names of objects. For example, I spy something we use outside when it rains; it begins with u (umbrella).

· Comprehension—problem & solutions—Discuss different problems that come up during the week and brainstorm solutions together.

· Take-Home Reading Folders—Several students are very close to having 20 books read and will soon be receiving a subway certificate—keep up the great reading!!

MATH:

This week we will be starting our class collection—please send in milk jug caps, bottle caps, etc. for us to count and add to our collection jug.  We will also play several addition games using dice, beans, and number lines.  Our ‘Count by 2’s Wall of Fame’ is up in the classroom and the students are excited to put their star on the Wall.  Please help your child achieve this milestone by practicing skip counting by 2’s—the goals is to get to 30.  We already have 12 students who have made it—great job!

WRITING: 

This week we will edit, revise, and polish our opinion letters to the incoming Kindergartners, so that they can be shared with parents and preschoolers at Kindergarten Round-Up.  We will also complete a journal related to Earth Day and tell how we can help to take care of the Earth.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

In observance of Earth Day (April 22nd) we will be reading several informational texts about the Earth and discuss & write about how we can take good care of our planet. 

Newsletter Updates for the Week of April 10th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wed., April 12th—Head Start & GSRP Visits

-Friday, April 14th—No School—Good Friday

-Monday, April 17th—Delayed Start

-Friday, April 21st—K Round-Up—No School for K

-Friday, April 28th—K Round-Up—No School for K

NEW STUDENT: 

We’d like to officially welcome Savannah to our classroom.  The students were so excited to welcome her last week; they all went out of their way to be sweet, kind, and helpful.  It makes me so proud when I see such kindness and that gives me hope for this new generation.  That makes us even with 11 boys and 11 girls and we are thrilled to have her!

REPORT CARDS: 

You should have received your child’s 3rd Quarter Report Card on Friday. It’s amazing how much these kiddos have learned and I’m impressed with their reading and writing every day!  As you look over their report card, anything marked with a √ means they currently meet that standard, anything marked with a √+ or + means they are performing above in that area, and anything marked with a √- or - means they are currently performing below that standard. Also, be sure to look ahead to what the end of the year expectations are as we prepare for first grade! I have a hard-working group of kids this year and I can tell many are working on these foundational skills at home, so keep up the great work!

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about our country’s national symbols, monuments, and national parks. Here are some activities you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—country & travel—If you have any photos of family vacations where you have visited national parks, monuments, or landmarks (Washington D.C., Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, etc.) please feel free to send them in or email me a couple of photos to share with the class.

· Sightwords—that, what, & his—Write sentences with these words and practice reading them together.

· Category Words—ordinal numbers—Line up stuffed animals, cars, or other toys and have your child practice identifying which one is first, second, fifth, last, etc.

· Phonics—Lettes Yy & Zz— Practice reading and writing words that begin and end with y and z.

· Comprehension—sequence—Read the attached story and have your child tell what happened first, next, and last.

· Take-Home Reading Folders/Reading Levels—I’ve indicated your child’s current independent reading level on their report card.  The goal right now is that they are at a Level B.  Most are at or above that level—Yay! However, when students shop and bring home books, it is typically 1 level higher—their instructional level, which means they can read most of the words, but need some support.  The goal is that they will be reading at or above a Level C by the end of Kindergarten:)

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:  

We will continue our Science Unit on Motion. We will be learning about forces and the different ways that things can move. Please help your child select a toy from home that moves (spins, pulls, pushes, etc) to bring to school on Thursday, April 13th. We will use it for our Science lesson and then send it back home that same day.

MATH: 

This week we will be learning about estimating and practice making smart guesses.  We will also practice adding combinations of 10 and do some special math activities related to Easter.  Please start saving milk jug caps, bottle caps, etc for a math activity next week.

WRITING:  

This week we will write an opinion letter to incoming Kindergartners about something we like about Kindergarten. We will also complete a journal related to motion.

 Have a Happy Easter!