Newsletter Updates for the Week of September 23

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Wed., Oct. 2—Student Count Day

-Fri., Oct. 4—Progress Reports Home

OCTOBER SNACK CALENDAR & PARENT VOLUNTEERS:

The October Snack Calendar is available for viewing on my blog (scroll to the bottom).  I am currently working on setting up the parentvolunteer calendar as well, which will be included on the snack calendar.  My hope is to send home a printed copy by the end of this week. A big thank you to the many parents who have already been volunteering and helping us establish our classroom 

routines. :)  I couldn’t do it without you!!

READING: 

This week we will be reading Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten as we work on comprehension skills, vocabulary, and identifying characters.  This week we will introduce 2 new bean baby strategies: Jabber the Reteller (comprehension) and Lips the Fish, who reminds us to look at the first letter of a word and get our lips ready with the first sound while reading. 

WRITING: 

This week we will learn about the importance of ‘details’ in our writing/drawing as we practice drawing a detailed picture of Mrs. Brinks.  We will continue working on listening and speaking while storytelling & we will develop an Anchor Chart for “What do I do to write a story?”  We will also begin reading some ‘small moment’ stories in preparation for our next unit on small moments.

MATH:

We will continue to work on writing and identifying our numbers 0-9 and spend some time reading, extending, and creating patterns.  Students will be introduced to coins this week and will practice sorting coins based on their size, color, and distinguishing features.  We will also introduce graphs as we create a class birthday graph together.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:

Fall is officially here!  This week we will finish up our study of apples and begin talking about the seasons and all of the changes that occur in the Fall.  We will read several books related to Fall; some Narrative and some Informational.  Our friend Scrappy the Squirrel (puppet) will also drop by for a visit to share what he is up to this time of year!

 Releasing Our Butterfly

“Gotta Go! Gotta Go! Gotta Go to Mexico!”

Newsletter Updates for the Week of September 16th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Monday, Sept. 16th—Mileage Club Begins

-Friday, Sept. 20th—Book Orders Due

We are off to a good start in Kindergarten!  The students are adjusting to the routines and have done a great job with learning our classroom procedures.  Last week we spent some time reinforcing the importance of following the classroom rules, as well as how to walk in line, and how to be good listeners.  We will continue to review and practice these things together.  Students are now aware of our colored behavior chart and are working hard to ‘stay on green.’  Don’t be surprised or alarmed if your child does move their clip, as we know children often ‘test the waters’ to see if we really will hold them accountable.  I will notify you if behavior is a reoccurring issue, so that we can come up with some solutions together. :)  Thanks so much for your support!

STUDENT OF THE WEEK: 

Our student of the week is Madelyn Carpenter.  Madelyn enjoys many summertime activities—swimming, riding her bike, playing at the playground, and boating.  She also enjoys singing and dancing with her sisters.  Madelyn loves to help in the kitchen and is practicing to become a Baker when she grows up. Congratulations to Madelyn on being our first Student of the Week!

**Remember to send in your All About Me Posters!

READING: 

This week we will be reading From Head to Toe as we work on comprehension skills, rhyming, and comparing & contrasting.  During literacy stations, we will continue to work on identifying letters and their sounds.  We will also practice retelling Brown Bear & The Very Hungry Caterpillar at the Retelling Station and begin using the computers by accessing starfall.com.  The students are enjoying reading from their book boxes during ‘read to self’ time.  This week we will introduce our very first beanie baby strategy: Eagle Eye who reminds us to look at the pictures for clues to figure out the words while we are reading.

WRITING: 

We will continue practicing our ‘listening’ and ‘speaking’ skills during storytelling.  We will complete a journal page about a butterfly and later in the week, students will work together to create a class book about their favorite animal from our focus text: From Head to Toe.  I always reinforce with the students that when we write, we always start our letters at the top.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:

This week we will continue to discuss the difference between past, present, and future events.  We are patiently waiting for our butterflies to emerge from their chrysalis’ so that we can release them to migrate.  This week we will also begin our study of apples; we will be reading several books related to apples and incorporate them into our math and science lessons.

MATH:

We will work on sorting various manipulatives by different attributes (color, size, shape, etc.).  We will continue to practice recognizing and writing the numbers 1-9 and counting using one-to-one correspondence.  We will also conduct an experiment related to volume later in the week.

BREAKFAST:

The kitchen has asked me to pass along that they will be serving breakfast up until 8:00 and will not be serving students breakfast past that time. :(

SNACKS:

Please note that we now have 19 students in our class and allergies include broccoli and watermelon.  Please be sure to send in 2 snacks on your child’s snack day.  We have our morning snack at the table and our afternoon snack on the carpet.

Newsletter Updates for the Week of September 9th

DATES TO REMEMBER:

-Tuesday, September 10th—Picture Day (K-2)

-Monday, September 16th—Delayed Start (10:00)

SNACKS/SNACK CALENDAR:

Below you will find the updated Snack Calendar (scroll down to the bottom of the page).  Please note that we now have 20 students in our class and allergies include broccoli and watermelon.  The only other change I made was adding Liliana where Chadd was scheduled.   Please be sure to send in 2 snacks on your child’s snack day.  We have our morning snack at the table and our afternoon snack on the carpet (something quick).  You don’t need to provide a drink.  Also, please avoid sending snacks that need to be refrigerated or prepared.  Here are some ideas of typical snacks students enjoy— crackers, cookies, granola bars, pretzels, cereal, fruit snacks, veggies, trail mix, Jell-O, pudding, homemade treats, etc.

PICTURES: Our picture day is tomorrow—Tuesday, September 10th.  ALL students WILL be photographed for the yearbook and library cards.  If you’d like to purchase pictures, please be sure to send in your payment and completed envelope by tomorrow morning.  Don’t forget your SMILE!

READING: 

The next few weeks we will be focusing on learning our letters and sounds by studying the letters in our names.  We will introduce a letter each day and do several activities with the focus letter.  Once we’ve made it through the entire alphabet, we will then start an in-depth study of each letter, spending a week on each letter.  Our focus story for this week is Mary Wore Her Red Dress, which we will use to reinforce ‘parts of a book’ & reading aloud using the illustrations.  We will also practice identifying colors and color words.

WRITING: 

We will practice ‘speaking’ using our storyteller voices and ‘listening’ while others tell their stories aloud.  We will also create a class book about the Gingerbread Man and complete a journal page about our friends at school.

SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES:

This week we will continue to read many books about starting school and what it means to be a ‘good friend.’  We will also begin learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly as we watch the process unfold in our discovery center.  We will honor Patriot’s Day as we learn about the American Flag and learn the Pledge of Allegiance.

Classroom Changes

Dear Parents,
Over the past couple of weeks we have had an influx of Kindergartners entering McBain Elementary.  This has resulted in very large class sizes for Kindergarten, which we all know is NOT ideal for such young students.  The decision was made to add another Kindergarten Teacher (Mrs. Freeland) and to take a handful of students from each of the existing classrooms to make a new class - beginning Monday.  Although this is the best option for students, it is extremely difficult to pull students from an existing classroom even after 1 week of school.  The Kindergarten teachers did NOT want to make the decision on which students stayed and which students would go to Mrs. Freeland; the office took on this responsibility so that it would be fair and ethical. Let me reassure you that although this is difficult now, we will look back in a few weeks and breath a sigh of relief that we did what was best for the students.  I will be helping Mrs. Freeland set up her classroom this weekend and get established.  There are a lot of adjustments that will have to be made in light of these changes - I will be updating the Snack Calendar later this weekend and I will wait a couple of weeks to set up a Parent Volunteer Calendar.  In the meantime, I can ALWAYS use an extra hand and you are welcome to come in any time! :)  If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sherry Brinks

Gingerbread Day

Just a reminder to wear your Green Kindergarten Shirt today - Friday :)
We will be doing some fun things with Gingerbread today!

Lunch Prices for 2013-2014

NEW LUNCH PRICES FOR 2013/2014:

HS/MS Lunch - $1.90 ($9.50/week)

Elem Lunch - $1.65 ($8.25/week)

HS/MS/Elem Breakfast - $1.00

HS/MS/Elem Reduced Lunch - .40

HS/MS/Elem Reduced Breakfast - .30

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Hi, my name is Mrs. Brinks and I am so excited to be your kindergarten teacher this year!  I hope you have been enjoying your summer!  My family and I have enjoyed biking and rollerblading this summer and we are hoping for a few more warm days to do a little more boating.

These last few weeks, I have found myself spending more and more time at school getting our classroom ready.   I am looking forward to meeting you and your parents and introducing you to our classroom.  We have an open house planned for Wednesday, August 28th from 4:00-6:00.  Also, our first day of school will be on Tuesday, September 3^rd beginning at 10:00 for Kindergarten Orientation.  You are welcome to bring in your school supplies during the open house or on our first day of school.  

Here are a few things you might consider bringing to school to share with our class:

·         2 glue sticks

·         2 boxes of 24 crayons

·         1 box of Kleenex

·         1 container of wet wipes (or similar)

Here are a few personal items you will also need:

·         3 two-pocket folders (labeled with your name)

·         1 back-pack (no wheels please – they don’t fit in the lockers)

·         1 towel or small blanket for rest time (labeled with your name)

·         5-8 of your favorite picture books from your home collection.  We will begin the year with book boxes, starting with 5-8 of your own books.  Please use the enclosed labels to label your books.  You will use these during read-to-self time for the first few weeks of school and then you will get to take them back home. J

We have so much to learn and discover together in Kindergarten.  It is going to be a fun year of learning, growing, and making friends.  I hope you are as excited as I am!

Enjoy the rest of your summer! 

I will see you soon!

~Mrs. Brinks

Dear Kindergarten Parents,

As you do your school shopping, I’d like to ask that you please select clothing and shoes that maximizes your child’s ability to be independent with dressing for recess and using the bathroom at school.  Your child will need tennis shoes for gym; I am requesting that these shoes be Velcro or Z-straps (No tie laces please!).  With having 22 students in our classroom, I want to be able to nurture, teach, and meet all of their needs; however, the more independent they can be with ‘the little things,’ the more quality time we will be able to spend engaged in academic activities. J Also, you might want to consider keeping a change of clothes your child’s backpack.  I have some extra clothing on hand, but students always feel better when they have their ‘own’ clothes to change into.   Kindergarten is a busy place, children often wait until the last minute to use the bathroom, which can lead to accidents; plus, you never know when a spill will take place in the lunchroom.

If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me @ sbrinks@mcbain.org.  I will also be posting updates on our classroom blog.  I am looking forward to partnering with you this year!

Thanks so much,

Sherry Brinks