Week 35

SPANISH PREFERENCE…

On Monday your child will bring home a letter of intent for Spanish in First Grade, in their homework folder.  Read it carefully.  Sign it and return it to school.  It explains the 2 options for Spanish placement in First Grade:  Intensive Spanish Classroom or Spanish Exposure Classroom

LIBRARY INFORMATION…

SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR ~ This week May 1^st – 5th

Look for the flier in your child’s homework folder.  It is buy one book, get the second book FREE!  It's a great way to stock up on books for the summer!

Thursday, May 4^th all of the our Eagle & I Like Books will be on display in the Love Your Library Contest during the OPA Art Night and you are invited to come!  

  

Eagle Book winners from our class:

1^st Place – Ellis Cash

2nd Place – Karlee Casteel

3^rd Place – Jude Colwell

Honorable Mentions – Avery Cottle, Jacob McFarlane, & Antonio Gandara

Best Illustrations – Rowan Payne

Best Handwriting – Eli Mendoza

“I Like”Book Winners:

1^st Place – Austin Carlson

2^nd Place – Zairah Jolly

3^rd Place – Rowan Payne

Honorable Mentions – Jude Colwell, Ellis Cash, Jacob McFarlane

Best Illustrations – Oaklyn Wagoner

Best Handwriting – Antonio Gandara

Best Self Portrait – Eloise Phipps

THURSDAY, MAY 11^th – ALL Library Books are DUE.  If your child has library fines please take care of them as soon as possible.  Thank you!

DIBELS TESTING begins tomorrow and goes throughout the week ~ May 1-5

Please make sure your child is well rested and eats a good breakfast each day so they can do their very best on this assessment.  The students have worked hard this year and I can’t wait to see their results!

ZOO ~ Train ride

Don’t forget to send $2.00 by Friday for the train ride at the zoo.  Even if you are coming with us, I still need to collect your child’s $2.00.  Thank you!

COMMUNITY HELPERS

Part 1…

Starting this week we will be exploring different community helpers and how they help society through dramatic play stations each afternoon.  We will get to be doctors, dentists, paleontologists, soldiers, veterinarians, police officers, grocery store workers, hair stylists, and moms and dads.

There is a bit of cost involved in purchasing all of these supplies so we are asking that each child donate $2.00 to help defray the cost.  As always, this is a donation and completely optional.

May 8^th, 10th, 11^th, & 12^th

Part 2…

This is where I need PARENT HELP.  I need parents to come to class and teach us about their profession.  We have had a Home Depot worker, a banker, a nurse, a mom, an engineer, a soccer coach, a hairstylist, just to name a few.  We want to hear about ANY and ALL professions.  You would only need to take about 10 minutes and teach us about what you do.  Props are encouraged.  If you have a grandpa or grandma, aunt or uncle that have a profession that they could share we’d love to have them! 

If this sounds like something you would be willing to do PLEASE contact me as soon as possible.  We are flexible and can work around your schedule.

Community Helper Dress-Up Day ~ May 12th

Part 3…

On this day I would like each student to come dressed up as a Community Helper.  They can be any community helper (not fantasy character like a princess or super hero).  You do not need to go buy anything.  Just use props from around your house (no guns or knives).  Be Creative! Take a look at what some of the children have worn in the past.

A librarian

A nurse

A detective

A sheriff

 

TEDDY BEAR PICNIC

Yep, we are going to have a picnic with our teddy bears!

Students may bring a teddy bear from home and a home lunch to share with their bear or they may eat a school lunch that day as usual.  They may also bring a small blanket to sit on.  We will be eating outside in the court yard if the weather is good.

When???  Look for a note to come home on May 8^th

Week 34

You wouldn’t believe all of the fun we had learning in kindergarten this last week!  Just take a look…

KING of ING

We became Kings (Queens) of ING.  We have learned how to take a verb + ing to create a new word that shows an action happening right now. 

WATERFORD

On Tuesday we had a special visitor surprise the children!  Rusty the Raccoon from Waterford came to our class.  The Waterford program is a language program that the children do daily on the IPad.  Each day, all of the children complete a 20 minute session working on reading skills on their individual level.  Rusty is the character in the program that talks the children through their session.  Our kindergarten was chosen as one of the top elementary schools in the area to use the program to fidelity.  As a reward they sent Rusty to meet our children.  He danced with us, high-fived us, did songs and activities from the Waterford program and then gave the children a treat!  It was so fun!!!

POETRY

We have been studying all about poetry.  We have learned that poems are really short stories with usually lots of rhyming words.  Their sentence structure is different than when we write a story and each line usually starts with a capital letter.  After reading lots and lots of poems our class created our own poem.  We think it is pretty great!  What do you think?

Baby kitten,

Little,

Round,

Gray, golden, black,

Furry,

Meow, Meow, Meow.

We are Writers!

I loved the sentences you wrote for homework using your spelling sort words!  We know that sentences: begin with a capital letter, have 1 finger spacing between words, and end with punctuation.  Take a look at some of the pretty awesome sentences some of the children wrote…

We are going GREEN!

Saturday is Earth Day.  All week long we learned what it means to “Go Green”.  We want to help protect our earth.  One of the things we have decided to do is help pick up litter and make sure we don’t litter.  We started by picking up litter around our school.  It was so fun to see how excited the children got when they found trash and got to throw it away.

Science is so FUN!

In science we have been learning about where animal live.  In the air, on land, and in the water.  We have also explored their different types of coverings: skin, fins, feathers, fur, and scales.  On Friday we had a visit from some of Mrs. Scofield’s pets from her farm.  We got to pet and observe chickens, baby chicks, rabbits, ducks, and even a baby lamb that was only 2 days old!  I heard one of our kiddos say, “This is the best day in kindergarten, every!”  I have to agree.  It was pretty fun!  Science is so great!

THIS WEEK…

Please pay special attention to the items in your child’s homework folder when it comes home on Monday.  There are 2 notes that you need to fill out and return to school as soon as possible.

1^st note – Graduation Cap & Gown Picture Day is Thursday.  Check the box to indicate which background you prefer your child to have (even if you do not plan on purchasing any of the pictures).  The picture of your child will be placed on your child’s graduation diploma (free of charge to you).  If you do not return the note indicating a background preference, the photographer will choose one for your child.  Because they will be wearing a cap and gown (provided by Lifetouch) just have your child wear their school uniform that day.  GIRLS – please make sure their hair is appropriate to be able to put a graduation cap on it and lie flat.  No ponytails on top of their head or big bows or hair do’s.

The Lifetouch Company is providing these pictures and diplomas for us for FREE.  Because of that there will NOT be a make-up picture day for absent children.

 

2^nd note – ZOO lunch preference.  We need to know your child’s lunch preference for the zoo.  Home lunch, or school sack lunch: pbj or turkey sandwich.  Please read the note carefully and send it back to school no later than Thursday.  If you or other family members are coming and would like to purchase a school sack lunch you will need to indicate that, too.  Then, pay for your lunch(es) in the office, attach your receipt to the yellow zoo note and bring it to me.  Adult lunches CANNOT be paid for from your child’s lunch account.

Please contact me with any questions you might have.

DIBELS

Make sure you continue to practice the alphabet letter and word timings that came home last week.  We want to make sure every child is ready for their test on Monday, May 1^st. 

Week 33

CALLING ALL Community Workers…

Starting May 1^st and going through May 12th we will begin learning about community workers:  doctors, nurses, farmers, housewives, policeman, librarians, musicians, bakers...   I would LOVE to have some parents come to our class to share what you do in your job (10-15 minutes).  We are very flexible and can work around your schedule.  Please contact me if you are interested.

                                                
ZOO update

We just found out that the price for an adult ticket to the zoo is $16.95 & children (3-12) are $12.95.  If you were planning on driving down and meeting up with us we just wanted you to be aware of the price change.  

There is no charge for the children in our class

In your child’s HOMEWORK FOLDER this week…

Noun and Verb Quizzes – please take time to review them with your child.  If they missed more than one on each quiz then please review and practice them at home. 

As you are sitting at the dinner table ask your child to look around and tell you 3 or 4 nouns that they see (a noun is a person, place, thing, or animal).  While driving in the car ask your child to look for action verbs. 

DIBELS Prep - Next week is our final DIBELS test for the year.  We are once again asking that you help with a final review of the skills they will be tested on starting next Monday.  The green note in your child’s folder explains how to do that.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Reading Minutes 

Give yourself a pat on the back!  We had well over 2500 minutes logged last week!  That is a new record for us!  Thank you and keep up the great support and reading!

We Love Our TA!

Last week was Teacher Assistant Appreciation Week.  We are so fortunate to have Mrs. Karren in our classroom.  She is a fabulous support to me and your children.  We made a Star TA booklet to give to her.  Thank you Mrs. Karren for all that you do!

Last week we got to have a LEGO PARTY because we earned 150 tally marks for synergizing together as a class.  It was so fun and definitely work the work to earn it!  Take a look…

Don't Forget to Add This Date to Your Calendar...

Week 32

Congratulations to the students that completed their reading minutes for March!  You get to enjoy a FREE Personal Pan Pizza from Pizza Hut.  The Pizza Hut program has now come to an end for the year.  Make sure you redeem your last coupon within the next 30 days before it expires. 

LANGUAGE ARTS

We have been working really hard on recognizing and writing NOUNS and VERBS.  We know that a noun is a person, place, thing, or animal.  A verb is an action.  If you can do it, you can do it, you can do it… It’s a verb!

Take a look at some of the verbs the kids wrote about and illustrated.

We will continue to work with verbs and inflected endings like: ed & ing.  Words like: pop, popping, popped.

Look for these kinds of words in your reading,

450 popsicle sticks

I will need these by Monday the 10^th when we return to school after Spring Break.  Please email me or send me a REMIND if you can help.  Thank you!

 

OPA GARDEN     

We had a really fun opportunity to work in our school garden on Friday with Mrs. Cash!  She taught us about plants that are already growing in the garden and then we went on a search to see if we could find some of those plants like onions and strawberries.  We mulched the strawberry plants with leaves. We also got to weed, prepare the soil, and plant peas!  This was a messy job but so fun!  Thank you Mrs. Cash!