Week 7

Your children continue to be READING ROCK STARS! Last week our class exceeded the amount of minutes they read in week the previous week.  Our class total was 1,705 minutes!  I am so grateful for your support and proud of the children!  Keep reading!

 
We practiced the Letter Cc in so many ways this week.  We ate yummy crunchy carrots and made Cc in Play Doh, then cut them into pieces while practicing counting 1-5.                                                                        

For snack one day we graphed chocolate chip cookies. Then we got to eat our math!

 

We also became scientists and dissected lemon cucumbers.  We made a prediction about how many seeds our slice had.  Then we counted the seeds into groups of 5.  

Science and math is so much fun!

With the Letter Nn we went on a hunt. We searched for Nn in the newspaper. (Hint: this is a great way to reinforce and review letters and snap words at home – go on a hunt for them using newspaper)

7 HABITS… We are learning how to cooperate and work together!  Every time the class is caught synergizing they get a tally mark.  We earned 50 tally marks and got to have a Chalk Party!

We went outside and practiced writing our name, letters, numbers, and snap words in chalk.  You might want to try this at home, too.

HOME LEARN FOLDER    Make sure you take a look at the Letter and High Frequency Word Quiz that will be coming home.  CELEBRATE the letters and words your child passed off and then review and practice the ones they missed.   

When children are immersed in timeless, universal principles—such as responsibility, service, and honesty—both at home and at school, their tremendous worth and potential is affirmed and reinforced.  They develop confidence, integrity, and the courage to do the right thing.

–Stephen R. Covey

Week 6

It was so fun seeing and meeting so many grandparents at our Grandparent Luncheon!  I know it meant the world to the children to share that time with their grandma and grandpa.  Please let them know that we appreciated them coming.

WE ARE READING ROCKSTARS!

2 weeks ago we started keeping track of our class at-home reading minutes.  The first week our class read a total of 1,170 minutes at home!  Last week you topped that and our class total was 1,508 minutes!  Congratulations!  Do you think we can go higher, this week? Remember, 60 minutes (minimum), per week, per child is our goal.

Each week your child turns in reading minutes he/she gets to put a gumball on our gumball machine.  At the end of the month, students that have turned in reading minutes each week get a free pizza from Pizza Hut.

LETTERS we explored last week…

Aa We learned about the letter Aa.  Our motion for Aa is to pretend that we are holding an apple in our hand and sweep it across our body from left to right saying the /a/ sound.  Have your child show you the motion.  We learned that the letter Aa is also a vowel.  That means it makes 2 sounds: long – ape, short – apple.  If it is the short sound it glues 2 consonants together, like in the words:  mat, Sam.  We also graphed the apples we brought from home and then ate them.  They were awesome!

Pp We explored the letter Pp.  We popped popcorn and used our 5 senses to touch, taste, hear, smell, and see it.  We decided that we liked the sense of taste the most!  We tasted salted and unsalted popcorn and graphed what we liked the best.

RHYMING WORDS…

We have been working so hard in class on recognizing rhyming words.  Thank you for supporting your child by sending them with their 2 rhyming objects last week.  Take a look at some of the fun combinations the kids came up with. 

By the end of this week your child should be able to recognize, write, and make the sound(s) for the following letters (capital and lowercase): Mm, Ss, Rr, Tt, Pp, Nn, Cc

They also need to be able to read (without prompting) the high frequency words:  my, the, a, and, l, like, to.

There are some great videos on YouTube for each of these letters and words.  Here is just one example for the word: and              

Click on the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipN39N2EL3s&list=RDipN39N2EL3s&feature=player_detailpage

Is this date on your calendar?  OPA CARNIVAL ~ September 30th

Sow a thought, reap an action;

Sow an action, reap a habit;

Sow a habit, reap a character;

Sow a character, read a destiny.

--Samuel Smiles

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. Scalise

Week 5

Welcome to another glorious week in kindergarten!  

Last week we had so much fun learning about the letters Rr and Tt.  The letter Rr says, Rrrrr.  We road our cars on our Rr roads practicing the sound.

We also ate really good raisins and had a visit from Mrs. Hill’s 2 rabbits!  Then we learned how to draw a rabbit and write the letters Rr.

 Mrs. Hill said they didn't have names so we gave them 2 rhyming names:   
Crunchy & Munchy.

For the letter Tt we ate terrific tiny tomatoes and played with Mrs. Scalise’s Thomas the Tank Engine’s train track.  

We ended the week with a Teddy Bear Tea Party where we counted and ate ten Teddy Grahams - and then a few more!

STUDY BUDDY’S  

This week we met our 4^th grade Study Buddy.  They are Mrs. VanPatten’s students.  We interviewed each other and read them our Name Book that we made.  We will get to read to them (and have them read to us) along with helping us practice our snap words, every week!

This week we will continue focusing on Habit #1 Be Proactive ~ I’m in charge of me! I have already seen great examples of our students being proactive and I love it when then tell me how they have been proactive at home!  Use the word “Proactive” at home and see what great results you will get.

We have spent the first 4 weeks working on how to spell our first name.  At this point your child should be able to spell and write his/her first name without any help.  This includes starting their name with a capital letter and the rest of their name in lower case letters.  Have your child write their name for you at home.  If they can’t do this with 100% accuracy without any prompting then they are behind and I highly encourage you to work with them at home.  Have them practice writing it in sand or on a cookie sheet in salt.  Writing it in shaving cream is also fun!

Homework

Thanks to all the families that are being PROACTIVE with your child’s homework each week!  Please take a look at the following list to make sure your child receives full credit(10 points), for their homework each week.

This is what a completed Home Learn packet looks like:

• ·         Each assignment is completed 100%

• ·         All handwriting is done in PENCIL (not pen or marker)

• ·         Pictures are colored with 3 or more colors (when coloring is indicated)

• ·         The colored Home Learn Bookmark is still attached to the packet

• ·         You have initialed or placed a check mark next to each assignment in the box

• ·        You have logged reading minutes each week

Homework is worth 10 points each week.  Points are deducted for late, missing, or partially completed assignments (unless absent).  Please help your child learn this important skill of completing homework and returning it each Thursday.

FREE PIZZA !  Your child will receive a Pizza Hut coupon for a free pizza at the end of each month if he/she has logged, (turned in) reading minutes each week.  I am so impressed to see how much you are reading at home!  Thank you for being so proactive!  Each week your child will get to put a gum ball sticker on our gum ball machine if they turn in reading minutes.

THIS WEEK…

Homework assignment

This week your child will be going on a rhyming hunt in your home.  Their task is to look for 2 rhyming objects.  Like: a sock & a rock.  Then they will be writing the words for each of their objects on the worksheet (please help with spelling).  Send them to school any day this week!  I will be taking a picture of each student with their object.

Language Arts Quiz

This will be coming home in your child’s Home Learn Folder.  Take a look at it and celebrate everything they got right.  Then, practice, practice, practice any letters and/or snap words they missed.  All students should be able to identify the letters: Mm, Ss, Rr, Tt & words: my, the, a, and. 

Try practicing writing them in a cookie tray with salt or writing them in shaving cream.  They can also make them out of Play-Doh.

DONATIONS NEEDED…  1 APPLE

On Wednesday we will be learning about the letter Aa, it’s long and short sounds.  To do this I would like each child to bring one apple from home.

In math we will be graphing using the apples and then eat them.  So they will not be coming back home.

DATES for your CALENDAR…

Sept. 12-16   OPA BOOK FAIR  This will take place in the library this week.  Because of the book fair we will not be having our regular library day on Tuesday.  Your child can turn their book in but will not be able to check one out until the following week.

 

Sept. 15 Thursday is our Grandparent Luncheon  All grandmas and grandpas will need to first stop at the office to pay for their lunch and then meet us in the cafeteria at 11:20 am

Sept. 17 $1.00 Free Dress Day (Thursday since we won't have school Friday)

 

Sept. 17, 18 (this week) NO SCHOOL 

·         Thursday is a minimum day.  Our class will be dismissed at 12:45. 

·         Friday there is no school.  These 2 days are Professional Development for the teachers in the OPA building.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful

citizens can change the world.  Indeed,

it is the only thing that ever has.”

~Margaret Mead

Have a fabulous week!

Mrs. Scalise

Week 4

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Everyone turned in their homework on time and completed.  Thank you for taking time to initial the boxes.  All of the children got to “clip-up” on our chart for being PROACTIVE!

We have been learning how to work together and cooperate as a team in our class.  Every time I catch the class synergizing they earn a tally mark towards a class goal.  Our first goal was to get 50 tally marks to earn extra recess time and we did it!  Make sure you congratulate your child!

We learned about the letter Mm this week.  Take a look at some marvelous mustaches and munching on muffins…

We also learned about the letter Ss and got to visit with a snake from the science class at MOPA.  It was ssssso much fun!

This week…

Home Learn Folder

New this week – Reading Minutes

Make sure you look for this note in your child’s folder.  It will explain the way we will be tracking your child’s reading minutes each week (instead of a monthly reading log).  You will be keeping track of the time you read to your child and/or the time they read to you.

Math

Our first math unit has been all about sorting and classifying according to attributes (size, shape, and color).  They have learned how to group objects that are similar or identical.  On Thursday we will take our first math test on these concepts to “Show what we know and where we did grow!”  Look for this test in your child’s Homework Folder.

As our culminating activity with sorting we wore our hats to school on Friday and sorted them in many, many ways.  It was so much fun and such a great way to end our sorting math unit. We even practiced writing our snap word, my and drew our hats.  Talk with your child about our hats and see if you can come up with ways to sort them into different groups.

Handwriting

This week we will be learning about the letters Rr and Tt.  

1.      We are learning that letters fall into one of three categories.  They are TALL, SMALL, or FALL below the bottom line.  When your child is writing at home encourage them to identify which one each letter is.  

2.      We also start writing ALL letters at the top and go to the bottom.  This will help them do their best handwriting.  Make sure you refer to the ABC handwriting page that came home the first week in their Homework Folder.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Grandparent Lunch ~ Thursday, Sept. 15^th  11:10 am

Look for the pink note in your child’s Home Learn Folder.  Please send it back by THURSDAY.  We need to turn in a final count of who is coming that day.  Each student can choose to invite up to 2 grandparents.  We understand that not all children will have grandparents that are able to come.  That is okay.  We can share grandparents. J

OPA CARNIVAL ~ Sept. 30th

This is always a fun activity with lots of food, games, and fun!

Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences ~ October 13^th & 14th

As we get closer I let you know when the sign-up list will be posted in the front office.  I am looking forward to sharing some wonderful things with you about your child!

Last but certainly not least we want to thank Ellis’s mom, Anna Cash for taking us out to the OPA garden and teaching us about gardening!  We ate kale fresh off the plant and smelled beautiful flowers and herbs.  We also went on a scavenger hunt to see if we could find a worm, spiders, a hose, a garden trowel and other interesting things in the garden.  Thank you Mrs. Cash!