Fieldtrip Information

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 29th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-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

-Tuesday, June 6th—1/2 Day

-Wed., June 7th—1/2 Day, Last Day of School

TRACK & FIELD DAY:

Our track and field day is this Friday beginning @ 12:30 up at the track. The theme this year is Disney—so children are encouraged to wear a Disney Themed shirt. Families are welcome to come and cheer us on. Please be sure to send you child with:

-Tennis Shoes

-Appropriate Clothing—short, hat, sunglasses, etc.

-Sunscreen (if desired)

-A Water Bottle

SOPHOMORE CARNIVAL:

The annual Sophomore Carnival is this Friday from 5:00-8:00 with games, food, bounce houses, etc. This event is a fun time for the whole family—so come out and support our students and have a blast together!

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about the ways we can protect our environment. Children will learn about endangered animals and the ways we can help protect animals in their habitats. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—environment & protect—Discuss ways your child can help protect the environment such as reducing, reusing, and recycling resources.

· Sightwords—WE DID IT!  We’ve introduced ALL 51 sightwords!

· Category Words—names of baby animals—Gather stuffed animals, animal toys, or animal books. Point to and identify the name of each animal and then state the corresponding baby animals’ name.

· Phonics—Review long a, e, I,  o, & u and the digraphs sh, th, ch, & wh

· Reading Folders—Great job reading at home! I will be collecting reading folders this week so please send them in to school.  I will be sending home ALL of their ‘goodies’ from their book boxes, once I receive their reading folders back. The students will have access to Raz Kids ALL summer long!! :)

WRITING: 

We are excited to share our informational books with you after our concert! We will also finish up our May Journals and create another digital story about our fieldtrip to Kettunen Center and email it to our parents. If you have NOT received any emails from your child, please let me know so I can troubleshoot!  The students are also enjoying creating their own digital stories on their Toontastic Pirates Jr. app.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will focus on Summer Safety. Our friend Scrappy the Squirrel will make a final visit to talk to the students about how to stay safe this summer.

MATH:

This week we will be learning how to tell time to the hour and continue to work on adding and subtracting within 10.

PTO BIKE-A-THON:

Just a reminder that the PTO Bike-a-thon is this Saturday, June 3rd, from 10:00-11:30, if you are signed up to participate.

REMINDER - K Concert - Tomorrow

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM:

Our Kindergarten Program will take place Tuesday, May 30th @ 1:30 in the Elenbaas Performing Arts Center. It is a Disney inspired performance, so students are encouraged to wear a Disney shirt or dress up in their ‘Sunday Best.’ Please park in the big parking lot and meet us in the auditorium. After the performance you are welcome to come back to the room for an Author’s Celebration and then you may sign your child out if you choose to.

Newsletter Update for the Week of May 22nd

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-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

-Tuesday, June 6th—1/2 Day

-Wed., June 7th—1/2 Day, Last Day of School

FUN TO BE FIT: 

Our annual Fun to Be Fit event is this Friday afternoon. Families are welcome to come and join in the fun (strollers work well for pushing younger siblings around the track)! Please park in the big parking log and meet us up on the track around 1:20, as the event starts @ 1:30. Please watch the weather and dress your child accordingly (shorts, jacket, hat, sunglasses, tennis shoes, etc.—it does tend to be windy up on the track.  You might also want to send a waterbottle and sunscreen—we’ll be outside for about an hour total.  We will leave waterbottles in our classroom for drinks after the event.  You are welcome to come back to the classroom with us and sign your child out if you choose. If your child ordered a shirt, they will be receiving them on Thursday.  If they did not order a shirt, please dress them in a pink shirt or their gray Kindergarten t-shirt.

FIELDTRIP TO KETTUNEN CENTER:

I have most of the permission slips returned but I'm still missing a few—PLEASE send them in ASAP, so that we can plan for food and space on the bus!

KINDERGARTEN PROGRAM:

Our Kindergarten Program will take place Tuesday, May 30th @ 1:30 in the Elenbaas Performing Arts Center. It is a Disney inspired performance, so students are encouraged to wear a Disney shirt.  Please park in the big parking lot and meet us in the auditorium. After the performance you are welcome to come back to the room for an Author’s Celebration and then you may sign your child out if you choose to.

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about sorting different groups of things in new ways. Children will learn how to sort objects by size, shape, color, weight, and texture.

· Vocabulary—sort & similar—practice sorting toys, cereal, laundry, etc.

· Sightwords—come & does

· Category Words—opposites—Say a word and ask your child to think of a word with the opposite meaning.

· Phonics—Long e & the digraph th— Play a rhyming game with your child. Say a word with the long e sound and have your child think of a rhyming word (he/bee/see, feel/sweet, wheel/feel, etc.)

WRITING:  

The students did an amazing job with their digital stories last week—hopefully you received an email with their published story! This week we will share our recently completed informational texts via Author’s Chair and begin planning and writing our final informational book.

MATH:

This week we will be assessing addition, subtraction, and counting by 2’s for report cards. The ISD & Title 1 Staff will also be taking the students to do their Spring Aimsweb Benchmarking.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:  

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles as we focus on reading more informational texts related to butterflies. Our Painted Lady Butterflies have emerged and are ready to be released! We will also talk about the observance of Memorial Day.

Behavior - Let's Finish Strong!

Hello Parents,
I am asking for your assistance regarding a few behavior concerns.  We've been having several issues in the classroom, now that 'spring fever' has hit in full force:
-Friends saying unkind words to other friends and being very hurtful with their words
-Friends threatening to punch or hurt others in the classroom and on the playground
-And LOTS on tattling

Here's how you can help:
1) Talk with your child regarding their behavior and please remind them how important it is to be a 'bucket filler' and not a 'bucket dipper.'
2)  Talk together about some problem-solving strategies; give them some scenarios such as "what if someone called you a name, what could you do?" Help them identify things they can do to problem-solve a situation (walk away, say "that hurts my feelings," etc).
3)  Also, help them to identify when they should seek adult help.  Some things they can try to work out first on their own and then tell an adult if they are unsuccessful AND other things need adult support immediately.  If it happens in the classroom, please encourage them to tell me right away, or if they are having an issue outside of the classroom, please encourage them to find another adult right away. A lot of the issues are happening outside of the classroom (at recess, in the lunchroom, etc.) and students are waiting to tell me and/or their parents later, at which time it's very difficult to locate the individuals involved and deal with the issues effectively.  Encourage them to find an adult outside or in the lunchroom if they are having trouble at those times, then they can deal with the issue immediately and then let me and/or Mrs. Huttenga know so that we can follow up with the students involved regarding consequences.
4)  If and when your child does bring a concern to you, please be mindful of your response.  I know it's hard to keep emotions out of a situation, but kids pick up on our responses very easily, which impacts their attitudes towards school and their peers.  And of course, if they share a legitimate concern with you, please be sure to let me know.

I appreciate your help with this; our last few weeks are very busy with finishing up our curriculum, assessing, and planning for special end of the year activities.  That said, we have many fun and exciting activities coming up and I will be holding the students accountable for their behavior both inside and outside of the classroom.  I will also be contacting parents when behavior issues arise.  Let's have a great finish to a great year of Kindergarten!!!

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 15th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-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

-Tuesday, June 6th—1/2 Day

-Wed., June 7th—1/2 Day, Last Day of School

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Savannah Noble.  Savannah loves to sing, dance. and make others laugh. She has many favorite foods—macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, chicken, ham, & turkey to name a few. Her favorite books are Pete the Cat books and her favorite movie is The Secret Life of Pets. Her goal is to do all of her homework in Kindergarten so that she is ready for first grade! Congratulations to Savannah on being our Student of the Week!

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about how people work together to solve problems. Children will also learn ways to make decisions, including the concept of voting. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—decide & opinion—Discuss how your family works together to make a decision. Explain that people have different opinions, or ideas, and that voting is one way of making a decision.

· Sightwords—who & good—Take turns writing sightwords on each others backs and guessing what the word is—the children love doing this quiet activity with a friend while waiting in line.

· Category Words—question words (who, what, when, where, why, & how)—Think of a decision your family needs to make, such as what book to read before bedtime or what foods to prepare for a meal. Then help your child form questions that will help the family make the decision.

· Phonics—Long u & digraph wh— Play “thumbs up, thumbs down.” Tell your child to show you a thumbs up if you say a word with a long u sound, or show a thumbs down if the word doesn’t have a long u sound.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles as we focus on reading more informational texts related to flowers & plants. We will be learning about what they need in order to grow, as well as the different parts of a flower and their functions. Our Painted Lady caterpillars are now all in the pupa stage and we will wait patiently for them to emerge from their chrysalises.

WRITING: 

This week we will be wrapping up our first informational text by adding some special text features, conferencing with a peer, editing, and completing our WOW cover.  We didn’t get to our digital story last week because of testing and assessing, so that is on the schedule for this week.

MATH: 

This week we will learn about functions, rules, and patterns while adding and subtracting. We will also practice building numbers using a variety of strategies and configurations.

FIELDTRIP TO KETTUNEN CENTER:

You should have received information last week regarding our upcoming fieldtrip to Kettunen Center on Thursday, June 1st.  Permission slips and money are due by this Friday, May 19th, so that we can let Kettunen Center know our numbers for lunch. 

Newsletter Updates for the Week of May 8th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-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

-Tuesday, June 6th—1/2 Day

-Wed., June 7th—1/2 Day, Last Day of School

READING:

This week our class will be reading stories about natural resources. Children will learn how they can use things in nature to create new things. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:

· Vocabulary—natural resources & create—Discuss different natural resources with your child. For example, talk about how we use trees to create, or make new things that people use every day.

· Sightwords—where & look—Write the words where & look, then ask your child to write each word. Read the sentences together and have your child underline the words where & look.

· Category Words—foods made from grain—Find different food items in your kitchen made from grains and make a list together.  We will attempt to make homemade bread in class on Friday—yummy!

· Phonics—Long O & S blends (sl, sc, sk, sm, sn,, sp, st, & sw) — make a list of words that have the short o and long o sounds—hop/hope, rob/robe, etc. Also, think of words that have s blends in them.

WRITING: 

This week we will begin planning and writing our 1st individual informational texts about a person, place, activity, or thing that we know a lot about. We will also experiment with digital storytelling using our Story Buddy app and try to share them with you via email.

MATH:

This week we will continue to work on addition and subtraction; we will also work on ordering numbers, estimating, and weighing.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 

This week we will continue our study of lifecycles as we focus on reading several informational texts related to seeds & plants and conduct some hands-on experiments. Our Painted Lady caterpillars arrived in the mail last week and they are busy eating and growing, as they prepare for chrysalis stage soon.

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! :)

THANK YOU:

A special thank you to Kruz’s Grandma for donating the tree seedlings for each of the students to celebrate Earth Day.  Also, a big thank you to Grandma Linda who faithfully gives her time each week to help us with special projects—she just helped us complete our Mother’s Day gifts.