7 Habits

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Week 15


Welcome back!  I hope your Thanksgiving Break was relaxing and rejuvenating!  I am so thankful for many things!  Let me tell you about some of them…

Mrs. Karren my TA.  She is always there ready to jump in and help me and the children at any given moment.

All of who came and supported our Literacy Night.  It was so much fun preparing for it and preforming for you! I didn’t get any pictures that night so please, please send me any pictures you took.

I’m thankful for all of the wonderful parents that donate supplies to our class. Thank you for being so generous! 

I am grateful for our wonderful room mothers who help plan and execute our class activities throughout the year.  Mrs. Norman helps me prepare the Home Learn Folders each week.  Mrs. Cottle comes to our class every Monday and spends countless hours helping me and the students.  Many parents have saved me even more time cutting, pasting, and collating projects for the classroom.

And last but not least, of you parents that support your child’s learning at home through Raz Kids, spelling sorts, reading logs, and weekly homework packets.

Q & U Wedding
The wedding of Mr. Q (a.k.a. Dilan) to Miss U (a.k.a. Kaylee) was fabulous!  They will forever be known as Mr. & Mrs. QU /kw/.  Never to be apart as long as they have words together.

The QU wedding cake was donated by Antonio Gandara’s mother and was so pretty, and yummy! The wedding ceremony was performed by Jacob Sibbet’s mother. Thank you ladies! Take a peek below for some really fun pictures…


Waiting for the wedding to begin.



Introducing...   Mr. Q & Miss U


The wedding party


Exchanging rings


After the ceremony Mr. & Mrs. QU /kw/, shook hands. 

(because there's no kissing in kindergarten)


The bride and her beautiful bride's maids.


The groom and his 2 handsome best men.





We danced after the ceremony!




We presented the couple with our favorite QU words.


The beautiful wedding cake.






We ate wedding cake, yummy!


Mr. & Mrs. QU eating cake.


THIS WEEK…
TUESDAY ~ Nov. 29th
STUFFED ANIMAL & FREE DRESS DAY
(Mrs. Scalise’s Class ONLY)

We have earned a FREE DRESS DAY by spelling PERFECT ATTENDANCE!

We have also earned our goal of 100 tally marks by synergizing together as a class. Our reward is that we get to bring our 1 favorite stuffed animal to class!



LOOKING AHEAD to December…
We only have a little over 3 weeks until Winter Break so I want to make the most of it.  I encourage you to do all that you can to make sure your child does not miss even one day. 

  • Language Arts and Math Practice
We have now learned the entire alphabet and all letter sounds.  


Uu is for umbrella.  Look what we put under our umbrellas.


Zz is for zig zag zebra.


Qq & Uu are for queens under a quilt.



Please make sure your child is able to recognize and name all letters in RANDOM order.  Also, each child should know the letter sounds including long and short vowel sounds.  21 Sight words have also been taught and your child should be reading them fluently in random order and be able to find them in books and other text.  Also, please continue to read every day with your child.

We will begin our Unit 3 Language Arts Assessment next week and I will be sending the completed assessment by Winter Break.
  • ·         SHAPES

We will be taking our shape test-Math Test Unit 5 this week. The children will need to be able to recognize all of the 2D (flat) shapes and 3D (solid) shapes that came home with their memory match game, 2 weeks ago.


A cone and a sphere make an ice cream cone!


Look what we can make with triangles and rectangles.

______________________________________________________________________________
 Show-and-Tell with SHAPES
Go on a shape hunt throughout your house searching for the following shapes:

cone

 sphere



 cube



cylinder


Bring objects that have one of these shapes in it to class any day this week.
Examples: can of food, ball, party hat, or a box.  I will pay pennies for each one they bring.
   
__________________________________________________________________

WTW Spelling Sorts
We have 3 more spelling sorts until Winter Break.  Please help your child each week by cutting, sorting and writing the letters or words depending on which level of sort they are currently studying.  I am so pleased with the progress each child is making!  Please continue to support their progress.

DECEMBER CALENDAR…

*Remember that Tuesday each week is our Library Day and we need to return the book each week.

Friday, December 2nd - Minimum Day dismissal at 10:20.  It is also a $1 Dress Day

Friday, December 6th - Ogden Nature Center

KINDERGARTEN FIELD TRIP to 

We have an opportunity to go to the Ogden Nature Center on Tuesday, December 6th to learn about animals in the winter and hibernating.  We will be leaving the school at 12:00 and returning in time for regular dismissal at 3:00 pm
We will be going rain, snow or shine so please dress your child for the weather with hat, gloves, warm coat and boots if needed that day.

I will need 2 more parent chaperone to go with us that day.  Mrs. Cash has already volunteered.  All 3 parents will need to ride on the bus with us.  If you would like to volunteer please contact me.  I will take the first 2 that contact me.
______________________________________________________________________________



Tuesday, December 20th- Graham Cracker House STEM project  8:15 am-11:00 am

We will need many parent volunteers that day (please, NO siblings).  I am sending home a list of needed supplies with your child in the Home Learn folder on Monday.

  • 6 boxes graham crackers
  • Bags of candy, cereal, pretzels, etc.  Anything you think could be used to make a good pattern.
  • Royal icing from Topper Bakery (contact me if you’d like to donate this)
  • 26 dinner size paper plates-really heavy duty kind.
  • 26 plastic knives
Go ahead and start sending your donation this week so that we can begin to separate them into colors.  Thank you in advance. 

If you would like to donate a bag of candy the best kinds are ones that have a variety of colors so that the children can make patterns with them on their house: M&Ms, gumdrops…If you can help with the donations please contact me at the school or through an email.

Friday, December 20th- Minimum Day dismissal at 12:45


Winter Break- December 21st- January 3rd
Return to School on January 4th

Have a Very Happy and Safe Holiday Season!


Monday, November 14, 2016

Week 14



LAST WEEK…
READING MINUTES
I am so proud of our kiddos!  Last week our class read a total of 2,065 minutes!!! Every week our total goes up!  Keep going!

Veteran’s Day
We also learned about who a Veteran is and why they are so important to our country.  If you or a member of your family is a Veteran, we salute you and them and are very grateful for your/their service! 





MATH & LANGUAGE ARTS TESTS
Copies of your child’s Language Arts Unit 2 test and Math Unit 4 tests are in their homework folder. Please, please celebrate what they know and practice anything they are missing. Anything missed on these tests puts them behind where they should be at this point.

THIS WEEK…
QU Wedding – Mr. Q and Miss. U are getting married in class on Friday! Part of your child’s homework this week is to pick a word that begins with “Qu” to write on their paper. Then they must color and/or decorate (glitter, ribbons, sequins…) their gift to look fabulous.  The children will be presenting their gift to the couple (a.k.a. 2 of our students) after the wedding.
These will be displayed in the hall. Please help your child make it their very best work.
I am also watching all week for students to be the perfect kids to be: Mr. Q and Miss U, a ring bearer, brides maids, and best men.  The children have let me know if they would like to be one of these people in our wedding.  On Thursday we will make the final selection.  

MATH
We are continuing our exploration of 2D shapes.  By now all of the children should be able to identify these shapes in their environment:
  • ·        Square
  • ·        Circle
  • ·        Rectangle
  • ·        Triangle
  • ·        Rhombus
  • ·        Hexagon
This week we will continue shapes but explore 3D shapes (sphere, cube, cone, & cylinder).

LANGUAGE ARTS                                                               
We are working really hard on blending letters to make cvc words (consonant, vowel, consonant).  We know that the vowels are the glue that stick words together.  Like in the words: zig & zag.  We pull the sounds down and put them together.  Have your child show you how we practice this in class.

LITERACY NIGHT
Don’t forget about our Literacy Program this Thursday at 6:00 pm.  We have been working so hard to prepare for it.  We have learned songs and memorized parts.  We have made decorations. Some of the children will be sharing what they are thankful for and we teachers will be giving you some ideas on how to read with your child.  Please plan on attending.  

Your child should arrive at 5:45 pm and come directly to our class.  Please refer to last week’s blog to see a copy of the invitation.  One also came home in your child’s homework folder, this week.

We had fun last Friday getting ready for our Literacy Night and practicing our 2D shapes.  Take a look:



 THANK YOU to the parents that came and ran our centers.  They were such a big help!

Monday, November 7, 2016

Week 13

Wow, was last week ever busy!  We learned about 2 new letters:

Ww is for wiggly worms


We observed real worms and ate wiggly gummy worms.

Jj is for jiggly Jello!


We ate jiggly Jello for our snack and practiced jumping the rope many different ways.

FALL HARVEST PARTY
It was so much fun!  Thank you to the wonderful room mothers that pulled it all together and parents that came to help!
·        We practiced counting backwards by bowling over ghost with a pumpkin.
·        We ate pumpkin pie and drank spider cider. Yummy!
·        We graphed spiders and had spider races.
·        We painted fall leaves with Karo syrup.
·        We dissected a pumpkin.  Some kids were brave enough to taste raw pumpkin.  We ate pumpkin seeds in and out of the shell and made a pumpkin book.









CONGRATULATIONS to our class of readers and super supportive parents! Last week we read a combined total of 1925 minutes!  That’s our best week ever!  

This week in your child’s Home Learn Folder:

·        PIZZA HUT COUPON   If your child turned in reading minutes all 4 weeks in October they earned a free pizza!  Make sure you spend it in the next 30 day.  It expires after then.

      

     SPELLING SORTS    Congratulations!  Some students have advanced to a new spelling group.  Look closely at your child’s spelling sort to see if they are one of the children that have moved up into the short vowel group.  That means they will be writing cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words instead of just beginning sounds.


FRIDAY PARENT LEARNING CENTERS  
                                     Friday Nov. 11th  1:45-3:00 pm                                       
This will be our first parent center day.  We will be working on projects to get ready for our Kindergarten Literacy Night (November 17th).  I will need 4 parents to help run centers.
Please contact me if you can help that day.

REQUESTS for FRIDAY   Please contact me if you would like to donate.
  • ·        2 pints of HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM
  • ·        1 big bag of stick pretzels

GRAHAM CRACKER SHAPE HOUSE STEM PROJECT
In December we will be participating in a STEM project.  The children will be purchasing all the supplies needed to construct a graham cracker house: graham crackers, frosting, and candy (in class). 
This is how it will work.  This week, on Friday I will take the Clip Up Behavior Chart off the wall.  Your child will start to earn pennies and nickels in class by being proactive. In December they will have the opportunity to use their money to buy the supplies needed to construct and decorate their house.  The amount of money they earn will determine how much candy they will be able to buy to decorate their house.
I’m letting you know about this right now so you can support and reinforce your child’s behavior in the classroom, at home.  The following are a few of the ways they will have an opportunity to earn money:
  • Returning completed homework on time (this includes the reading log minutes, spelling mats and returning the spelling envelope)
  • Coming to school on time
  • Staying on task in class
  • Making wise choices
  • Helping others
  • Listening and following directions the first time given
Don' forget to put this important night on your calendar.  We would love to have every family attend.