Sunday, February 25, 2018

Newsletter Updates for the Week of February 26th


DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Thurs., March 1st—Reading Month Kick Off—KABOOMISTRY @ 1:15 in the Auditorium (K-2)
-Fri., March 2nd—Career Day—Dress up as your favorite career or profession & Family Movie Night—Robots
-Mon., March 5th—Community Bond Proposal Meeting @ 6:00 in the Auditorium
-Fri., March 9th—Donuts with Dad (K-2) - Math Day
-Fri., March 16th—Donuts with Dad (3-5) - Fairy Tale Friday & Robotics Presentation @ 9:00
-Mon., March 19th—Delayed Start, Mad Scientist Hair Day, Family STEM Night @ 6:30

STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  
Our student of the week is Breck Klunder.  Breck loves his family and his favorite movie is Sing.  He likes to swim and his favorite food to eat is cake.  This year he aspires to be kind and to learn to read—which he is rocking both of these goals this year in Kindergarten! Congratulations to Breck on being our Student of the Week!

READING MONTH: 
March is Reading Month! We have lots of great activities planned around Enchanted Engineering (Fairy Tales+STEM Science). Our class will be focusing on Goldilocks & the 3 Bears.

-Reading with Safety Goggles—students can bring in safety goggles from home to keep in their book boxes for the month OR be able to purchase a pair at school for $1.  They can also bring in a teddy bear to keep in their locker to read with.  You may send glasses and teddy bears in anytime.
-Thursday is our Kick-Off Assembly: KABOOMISTRY— the Michigan Science Center will be coming to present @ 12:15 (3-5) & 1:15 (K-2).
-Friday is our first dress up day—Career Day—we are asking students to dress up as their favorite career or profession.
-Parent Volunteers—I have a lot of fun activities planned, plus a lot of assessments to conduct one-on-one with the students this month. Grandma Linda is gone for a few weeks, so if you are willing and available to come in and help out, please let me know ASAP, so I can plan accordingly:)

READING: 
This week our class will be reading stories about different kinds of pets and how to care for them. Children will learn about grooming, feeding, walking, and caring for pets. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:
· Vocabulary—responsibility & train—talk about the responsibilities associated with caring for pets, as well as how people train pets.
· Sightwords—they & of—think of short sentences that include they and of and write them down. Have your child point to each word and read the sentences aloud. Ask them to underline the words of and they.
· Category Words—pets—Play a game of ‘Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down.’ Ask your child to show a thumbs up if what you say is true and to show a thumbs down if what you say is not true. For example: “A dog can be a pet.”
· Phonics—Letters Gg & Ww—Both are tricky letters because G makes 2 sounds and many students think W makes the /d/ sound because of it’s name. They also need to be able to recognize g like this: g.
· Comprehension—character, setting, & plot

WRITING: 
This week we will celebrate the completion of our first small moment story by sharing it via Author’s Chair.

MATH: 
This week we will be working on measuring and comparing lengths using strings, links, & sticky notes. We will introduce subtraction and continue to work on 3D shapes.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES:
In correlation to our Reading Unit, we will be reading several stories related to Pets. We will also be learning about Engineers and how they solve problems. In addition, we will be reading Goldilocks & the 3 Bears and The 3 Billy Goats Gruff.









Monday, February 19, 2018

Newsletter Updates for the Week of February 19th

DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Thurs., Feb 22nd—1/2 day—PTC 3:00-7:00
-Fri., Feb 23rd—Dental Health Presentation @ 10:30
-Thurs., March 1st—Reading Month Kick Off—KABOOMISTRY @ 1:15 in the Auditorium (K-2)
-Fri., March 2—Career Day—Dress up as your favorite career or profession.

THANKFUL & BLESSED: 
My apologies that I’ve been under the weather for the past few weeks; I think I’m finally shaking it!  We keep a pretty solid routine in Kindergarten and it can really throw the kids when I’m gone, but they have been amazing!  I’ve gotten so many nice comments about what a nice class I have and how well behaved they are!  What a blessing they are!  Thank you to Mrs. McLain for keeping things running smoothly and Mrs. Johnson for coming in to help with Jump Rope for Heart.  Also thanks to Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Roberts, & Mrs. Cundiff for helping to make our Valentine Party a success!

READING MONTH: 
March is Reading Month! We have lots of great activities planned around Enchanted Engineering (Fairy Tales + STEM Science).  You will be getting a full handout on special days and programming, but I wanted to let you know a couple things ahead of time:
-Our class will be focusing on Goldilocks and the 3 Bears; if you happen to have any décor and/or props to help us decorate our hallway, please let me know:)
-Reading with Safety Goggles—students can bring in safety goggles from home to keep in their book boxes for the month OR be able to purchase a pair at school for $1.  They can also bring in a teddy bear to keep in their locker to read with.


READING:
This week our class will be reading stories about baby animals. The children will be using words to describe how the appearance and behavior of these animals are alike and different. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:
· Vocabulary—appearance & behavior—discuss the appearance and behavior of a kitten, as well as other baby animals.
· Sightwords—for & have—Write sentences about baby animals using the words for and have. Read the sentences together and have your child circle the sightwords.
· Category Words—animal parts—Play ‘guess the animal.’ Take turns giving clues about an animal's appearance.
· Phonics—Letter U—We will use Flippy the Dolphin to read words with the short u sound and long u sound (u with the magic e). We will also use Chunky Monkey to read words with the ug, ut, un, & uck chunks.
· Comprehension—compare & contrast—Have your child choose 2 animals and tell ways they are alike and different.

WRITING: 
This week we will finish up our individual small moment stories and practice using our strategies to sound out ‘tricky words.’

MATH: 
This week we will continue to work on 3D solid shapes, comparing lengths, addition, and building teen numbers.   We will also play a sorting game called ‘What’s My Rule?’ and discuss sorting by various attributes.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 
This week we will be learning about Dental Health and the importance of good Dental Hygiene.  We will also open up our classroom Post Office and begin writing letters and sending mail.

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



Sunday, February 11, 2018

Newsletter Updates for the Week of February 12th

DATES TO REMEMBER:
-Wed., Feb. 14th—Valentine’s Party—12:15
-Thurs., Feb 15th—K JR4H—10:00-11:00
-Fri., Feb. 16th—No School—Professional Dev.
-Mon., Feb 19th—No School—President’s Day
-Thurs., Feb 22nd—1/2 day—PTC 4:00-7:00
-Fri., Feb 23rd—Dental Health Presentation


STUDENT OF THE WEEK:  
Our student of the week is Jackson Klunder.  Jackson likes to wakeboard and go skiing. His favorite place to visit is Florida and his favorite food is pancakes.  This year he aspires to learn to read and to go scuba diving—there are many adventures awaiting him both in books and under the sea! Congratulations to Jackson on being our Student of the Week!

VALENTINE’S DAY: 
Please be sure to send in your valentines on or before Wednesday morning.  We will begin our Valentine celebration after lunch around 12:15.

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART:  
This Thursday, Kindergarten will be participating in Jump Rope for Heart—everyone will be participating whether they chose to collect donations or not.  We will jump from 10:00-11:00.  Please send in a waterbottle for your child to keep with them and comfy jumping attire.  They may bring shorts to change into OR for the easiest thing would be to have them wear shorts underneath sweatpants or athletic pants. :) Parents and grandparents are welcome to come and cheer us on!

READING:
This week our class will be reading stories about different kinds of weather. Your child will be predicting the weather and learning how to describe it. Here are some activities that you can do with your child to help reinforce the skills we will be practicing:
· Vocabulary—predict & weather—look outside with your child and try to predict what the weather will be like later in the day; try to predict the temperature for tomorrow.
· Sightwords—she & was—Keep practicing reading and writing those sightwords at home.
· Category Words—weather words—Print off a blank calendar and each day have your child draw a picture and/or write a word to describe the weather.
· Phonics—Initial Kk, final ck—Help your child find objects that begin with the letter k and end in ck. Make a list of the words.
· Comprehension—key details in a sequence—have your child listen to a story, then put the story's pictures in order, numbering them 1, 2, & 3. Invite your child to point to each picture and retell the story.

WRITING:
This week we will begin writing our own individual small moment stories.

MATH:
This week we will engage in several FUN math activities and games related to Valentine’s Day—going on a number hunt, measuring using hearts, determining the bigger number on hearts, and adding with hearts. We will be using string to measure how tall we are and compare lengths. In addition, we will be creating a graph of our pets and analyzing the data.

SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES: 
This week we will read several books related to friendship and kindness. We will also learn about the important role our heart plays and have an opportunity to listen to our heartbeats.  We will also be reviewing the 4 seasons and the various weather conditions that might occur in those seasons.



Sunday, February 4, 2018

Newsletter Updates for the Week of February 5th

My apologies - I am not doing my typical newsletter this week.   I've been under the weather all weekend and am conserving my energy for the upcoming week ahead:)

Just a couple of things I need to let you know about:

-Jump Rope for Heart - Just a reminder that the collection envelopes (with money) are due back Friday, February 9th. 

-Valentine's List - please remove Jaiden from your list, as he has moved away:(

-Conferences - Parent teacher conferences are scheduled for Februray 22nd from 4:00-7:00; therefore I will not be meeting with everyone.  I am meeting regarding students I may have concerns about, or students that I've had concerns about in the fall, but have moved out of interventions, or students that parents have expressed concerns to me about and this will give us time to readdress those concerns together. You should be receiving notification of a conference later this week.  If we don't have a conference scheduled, I'll be sending home your child's Dibels and NWEA results, along with a sheet that gives other data scores and a description of their small group time with me.  If we do have a conference scheduled, I'll be going over these same reports with you at conferences and give you a copy to take home. I am always happy to discuss your child's progress, so if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know.