WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 27-OCTOBER 1, 2010

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

***************************SPECIAL NOTE RE: FALL FESTIVAL*******************

THERE WILL BE A MEETING FOR ALL ADULTS INTERESTED IN HELPING WITH THE KINDERGARTEN FALL FESTIVAL. IT WILL BE HELD MONDAY EVENING AT 6:00 AT DUTCH'S KITCHEN IN FRACKVILLE. REMEMBER THE FALL FESTIVAL IS SCHEDULED FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14TH (RAIN DATE IS OCTOBER 15TH).

• Next week we will be learning the letter Hh as in hat, hippo and horse. Letter Hh is a consonant. As part of our study with the letter Hh we will have a "Hat Day" on Friday, October 1st. Students are asked to wear a favorite hat, a funny hat, or even a homemade hat. You can be creative with this if you want! Students will be able to wear their hat most of the day (there is one exception I will tell you about later in the blog). Show 'N Tell will be on Friday.
• Also on Friday, we will attend a special program about "Bullying Prevention." This will be the one time on Friday that the children will have to leave their hats in the classroom on their desks.
• in Reading we will start our new story,"Plaidypus Lost." It is a realistic fictional story about a child with a special stuffed toy that keeps getting lost. The children enjoy this book a lot because of the special way the text is used-so please ask your child about it. We will talk about how families cooperate.
• In Math we will be sorting pattern blocks by color, creating a real graph, comparing sets of objects, acting out story problems and identifying , describing and comparing circles and rectangles. Then I will be asking children to do another assessment where s/he will be asked to count as how as s/he can (this is to assess how much they already know).
• On Monday, we will celebrate Johnny Appleseed's birthday (it is Sept. 26th). We will be trying many different types of apples and creating a graph that shows which type of apple most children like best, and, which they like least.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 20-24, 2010

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

• THIS WEEK IN PHONICS WE WILL LEARN THE LETTER Gg AS IN GOAT AND GORILLA. TO DATE WE HAVE LEARNED Ll AND Oo. SO THIS WEEK WILL BE ABLE TO BLEND THOSE SOUNDS TO MAKE A WORD (LOG). SHOW 'N TELL WILL BE ON FRIDAY AND BAGS WILL COME HOME MONDAY NIGHT IN YOUR CHILD'S FOLDER.
• IN MATH WE WILL BE WORKING WITH GRAPHS, POSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES, AND CREATING AND COVERING PATTERNS WITH COLOR AND PATTERN BLOCKS.
• WE WILL SKY-WRITE ALL OF THE NUMBERS 0-9; THEN, START TRACING AND WRITING THE NUMBER ONE. WE WILL ALSO PRACTICE THE CAPITAL AND LOWER-CASE Gg. MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE WILL PRACTICE WRITING OUR FIRST NAME.
• IN READING WE WILL READ A NEW BOOK, "FIX-IT DUCK." IT IS AN ANIMAL FANTASY AND WE WILL BE DISCUSSING THE SETTING OF THIS STORY AND OTHERS WE HAVE READ THIS YEAR. WE WILL REVIEW THE LETTERS A THROUGH E AND INTRODUCE F THROUGH N. WE WILL HAVE NEW AMAZING WORDS AND WILL CONTINUE USING THE HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS (I, AM). LOOK FOR YOUR NEW COPY OF "FAMILY TIMES" TO COME HOME IN YOUR CHILD'S FOLDER.
• WE WILL PHOTOGRAPH OUR TREE AND TALK ABOUT ALL OF THE PARTS OF DIFFERENT TREES.

************************FALL FESTIVAL*************************************

WE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL MEETING ON MONDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 20TH AT 2:00 IN THE NSE CAFETERIA. THIS IS AN ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING FOR THE KINDERGARTEN FALL FESTIVAL. ANY PARENT OR FAMILY MEMBER WHO HAS HIS/HER CLEARANCES CAN ATTEND AND FIND OUT HOW TO HELP OUT AT THE FALL FESTIVAL. IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND, PLEASE SAY A PRAYER THAT WE HAVE GOOD WEATHER THIS YEAR FOR THE FESTIVAL. IT WILL BE HELD ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14TH (RAIN DATE IS OCTOBER 15TH).

Week of September 13-17, 2010

KINDERGARTEN NEWS

THIS WEEK IN PHONICS OUR LETTER IS Oo AS IN OCTOPUS AND OVERALLS. THE LETTER Oo IS A VOWEL AND HAS TWO SOUNDS. WE WILL FOCUS ON THE SHORT SOUND, BUT WILL ALSO INTRODUCE THE LONG SOUND THAT "SAYS ITS OWN NAME." A NEW Oo BAG WILL COME HOME FOR SHOW 'N TELL; YOU CAN SEND IT BACK ANY TIME THIS WEEK, UP TO AND INCLUDING FRIDAY. THE CHILDREN DID A GREAT JOB LAST WEEK WITH OBJECTS BEGINNING WITH Ll.

WE WILL START OUR FIRST READING UNIT THIS WEEK. THE FIRST STORY IS "THE LITTLE SCHOOL BUS." WATCH FOR YOUR "FAMILY TIMES" PAPER TO COME HOME IN YOUR CHILD'S FOLDER. IT HAS DETAILS ABOUT THE STORY AND VOCABULARY AND SKILLS WE WILL BE COVERING. THERE ARE "AMAZING WORDS" AND WE WILL LEARN TO USE THE ORDINAL WORDS-FIRST, SECOND, THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH, AND SIXTH. THEY WILL ALSO LEARN ABOUT THE LETTERS Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, AND Ee. FINALLY, THEY WILL LEARN ABOUT THE STORY ELEMENT "CHARACTER" AND THE HIGH/FREQUENCY WORDS-I & AM.

IN MATH WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH COUNTING TEDDY BEARS, PATTERN BLOCKS AND(NEW THIS WEEK)LINKING CUBES. WE WILL PRACTICE COUNTING TO 5 WITH 1:1 CORRESPONDENCE, CREATING AN AB COLOR PATTERN, IDENTIFYING MOST AND FEWEST ON A GRAPH AND USING POSITIONAL WORDS AND PHRASES: OVER, UNDER, ON TOP OF, BEHIND, IN BACK OF, IN FRONT OF, BESIDE, INSIDE, AND OUTSIDE. WE WILL CONTINUE TO SKY-WRITE THE NUMBERS FROM 0-9 AND WILL START HANDWRITING THE NUMBERS AS WELL. OUR FIRST MATH ASSESSMENT WILL BE TO IDENTIFY THE FOUR BASIC SHAPES: CIRCLE, SQUARE, TRIANGLE, AND RECTANGLE.

WE WILL TAKE TIME TO PRACTICE WRITING LETTERS AND THEIR FIRST NAMES THIS WEEK. WHEN PRACTICING AT HOME, PLEASE REMEMBER TO EMPHASIZE THAT LETTERS/NUMBERS ALWAYS START AT THE TOP.

WE HAVE STARTED TALKING ABOUT TREES, THEIR PARTS AND WHAT THEY NEED TO LIVE. THIS WEEK-WEATHER PERMITTING WE WILL GO OUTSIDE TO OBSERVE AND TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE TREE WE DECIDE TO ADOPT.

LAST FRIDAY, 9/10, WE MET OUR FOURTH GRADE READING BUDDIES. OUR READING BUDDIES ARE FROM MRS. FEY'S HOMEROOM. WE WILL MEET MOST FRIDAY AFTERNOONS SO THAT THE FOURTH GRADERS CAN READ TO OUR STUDENTS. BE SURE TO ASK YOUR CHILD ABOUT HIS/HER READING BUDDY.

ON THURSDAY, SEPT. 16TH, ALL STUDENTS WILL ATTEND A PROGRAM IN THE GYM ABOUT TOURETTE'S SYNDROME. PLEASE BE SURE TO ASK YOUR CHILD WHAT S/HE LEARNED.

LASTLY, THIS WEEK WE WILL ATTEND THE BOOK FAIR. WE WILL "PREVIEW" THE FAIR ON MONDAY. THEN KINDERGARTEN WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO BUY BOOKS ON THURSDAY, SEPT. 16TH. **REMEMBER PARENTS CAN COME MONDAY EVENING FROM 4 TO 6:30 TO BUY WITH THEIR CHILD/CHILDREN, IF INTERESTED.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH, IS DAY 2-WE HAVE ART CLASS!

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 7-10, 2010

WELCOME BACK FROM OUR 3-DAY WEEKEND!

THIS WEEK WE WILL CONTINUE STUDYING THE LETTER Ll(as in lion, lamb).
IN MATH WE WILL BE WORKING WITH GRAPHS AND PRACTICING THE NUMBERS 1-7.
WE WILL PRACTICE WRITING OUR FIRST NAMES.
EACH DAY THE CHILDREN WILL LISTEN TO A NEW STORYBOOK AND DISCUSS IT.
WE WILL BE TAKING A BASELINE TEST ON THEIR READING SKILLS TO LET US KNOW WHERE EACH CHILD IS AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH IS THE "LUAU"(MORE INFO WILL COME HOME ON WEDNESDAY). THE CHILDREN LOVE THESE CELEBRATIONS CONCERNING THE LETTERS.

THIS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH IS "SCHOOL PICTURE DAY." CHILDREN WILL BE PHOTOGRAPHED FIRST THING THAT MORNING. ORDER FORMS WERE IN THEIR FOLDERS LAST FRIDAY. PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM AND SEND IN MONEY ON OR BEFORE THURSDAY. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ORDER PHOTOS; HOWEVER, EACH CHILD IS PHOTOGRAPHED FOR THE CLASS PICTURE.

ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH OUR CLASS WILL ALSO BE TESTED BY THE READING TEACHERS. THESE TESTS ARE CALLED DIBELS. WE DO THE TESTS THREE TIMES A YEAR TO TRACK EACH CHILD'S PROGRESS WITH LETTERS AND READING. SO IF YOUR CHILD MENTIONS THE DIBELS TEST-YOU'LL KNOW WHAT HE/SHE DID THAT DAY.

REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR CHILD'S TAKE-HOME FOLDER EACH DAY. WE SEND HOME ALL KINDS OF INFORMATION. I WILL ALSO START SENDING HOME SIMPLE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS FOR YOUR CHILD TO COMPLETE THIS WEEK. PLEASE HELP THEM WITH THEIR HOMEWORK.

THIS FRIDAY WE WILL HAVE OUR FIRST SHOW 'N TELL FOR THE LETTER Ll.
YOUR CHILD SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT HOME A SMALL LUNCHBAG WITH A LETTER ATTACHED. PLEASE HELP THEM FIND A SMALL OBJECT OR PICTURE OF SOMETHING THAT BEGINS WITH THE LETTER Ll. YOU CAN SEND THE BAG BACK ON FRIDAY(OR EARLIER-IF YOU PREFER). MOST WEEKS YOU WILL GET A BAG FOR THE LETTER WE ARE STUDYING IN PHONICS THAT WEEK.