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Sunday, September 26, 2010

National Symbols

Check out this cool website I found about our nation!! You can read about our country and national symbols, and even play games or print coloring pages of our national symbols!!

National Symbols Website for Kids

Friday, September 24, 2010

Weekly News: September 27

News: 

Our October Copy and Staple Party will be taking place this Friday, October 1st in our Dunlap office. The awesome, raging party will begin at 8:15. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

We have been having so much fun with apples these past few weeks! This Friday, we will be making apple pie!! Please see the sign-up sheet on the classroom door if you are able to donate items for this day. Thank you!

Please continue to bring in Box Tops for our class! The deadline is October 12th!

There will be no kindergarten tutoring this Wednesday and no electives this Thursday due to extended day for the 1st and 2nd grade students. Please pick up your child at the regular time of 11:50. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Over the next few weeks, we will be sending home Book Bags with your child, but we will only be starting one group each week. Book Bags are to be brought back and forth, home-to-school, every day. Book Bags are also an essential part of your child's home reading - they should be reading these books EVERY DAY for homework.

The Fall Festival is coming up - Friday, October 8th at the Bryant St. campus! Classroom moms are working hard at our booths to help raise money for our school and classroom and also, to have a fun time! Please see the sign-up sheet on the door if you would like to donate your time at the Fall Festival!! 

Our field trip to Los Rios Ranch will be next Friday, October 8th (the day of the Fall Festival!) We will be leaving school by bus at 8:30 and returning at approximately 11:30. The cost of this field trip is approximately $10 per student - this will cover our bus ride, and apple tour and hayride at the apple orchard. We are asking for donations to help cover the cost of this trip - if you are able to give, please send this donation in an envelope marked "Field Trip" in your child's Go Folder - any amount will help! Thank you in advance for all of your help! If you are interested in chaperoning for our field trip on this day, please see the sign-up sheet on the classroom door. We will need 10 chaperones to ride the bus and take the tours with us. We apologize for any inconvenience, but siblings and little ones are not allowed on this field trip due to the safety of our kindergarten students you will be chaperoning. We are so excited for this field trip! Some of the classrooms moms are working hard on t-shirts and goody bags for the day - please see Michele Arambula if you would like to help! Also, be on the look-out for the field trip permission slip that will be coming home in your child's Go Folder sometime this week. These are due back to school ASAP in order for your child to go on the field trip. Yay!


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: TAKE, AN, BECAUSE, UP.


Letter Team: OW/OU (like in COW, FLOWER/OUCH, HOUSE) and the long OW sound (like in YELLOW, SNOW).

Word Family: -AN. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -an (for example: CAN, MAN, PAN, FAN)

Leadership Theme of the Month: Initiative

Reading: This week, we will focus on a new strategy, "Skip the word and read on to think about what makes sense". We are learning that sometimes we can just say the first sound of a word we do not know, then continue reading the rest of the sentence and maybe that missed word will come to us easier! This week, we will continue reading books about apples and Johnny Appleseed, start reading books about fall and autumn leaves, and read our special poem of the week, "Down, Down".

Writing: This week we will write a big book together about matter. We will learn that matter is anything that takes up space. This big book will be written using the sight words we have learned so far. We will also learn that when we are writing a word that begins with a vowel with an "A" in front, we have to make that "A" - "AN" - for example, "an elephant" instead of "a elephant". We will continue learning to put spaces between each word, use an uppercase at the beginning of each sentence with lowercase letters throughout the rest of the sentence, and use a period at the end. We are also learning to use our sight words in our sentences and to listen for the sounds in all unknown words using our sound chart.

Math: We started playing a game called "Popcorn Counting" in class. This is when the teacher says one number and the students have to quickly "pop out" the next three numbers without having to go back and count from 1. For example, I will say "7" and the students will pop out "8, 9, 10" as quickly as they can. You can play this game at home - it really helps with number sense! We will continue counting money and telling time to the hour, learning how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and write numbers to 10, learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, and identify what number comes next.

Homework: September 27

Homework Calendar Activities: Please initial the weekly homework log and turn in any written work completed by your child ON FRIDAY! A note on activities: activities on the homework calendar are SUGGESTED, but not required. If your child is still struggling with letter ID and sounds, I would rather you spend the time working on those things. Thank you!

Flashcards: Study sight word and letter team flashcards DAILY! New words this week are: TAKE, AN, BECAUSE, UP and the new letter team is OW/OU and the long OW. Please see the Sight Word tab for flashcard ideas. Sight Word Quiz and Spelling Test on Friday!

Have Your Child Read To You: Please have your child read the books from their book box AND the books from their book bag every night! If they are struggling with a word, guide them to our reading strategies: Look at the picture, Get your mouth ready for the first sound, Make your finger match the word, Look through the word at all the sounds, Go back and get a running start. 

Read To Your Child: Please read to your child each night for at least 10 minutes and initial the weekly homework log.

Sharing: Write one sentence about a National symbol (some examples include the American flag, bald eagle, Liberty Bell, White House). Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure your practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

Please remember to turn in the Weekly Homework Log on Friday with the written work your child has completed for the week. Please make sure your child's name is written on the Weekly Homework Log and if you could staple all of the work together (Weekly Homework Log on top), that would be a huge help! Thank you!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Apple Tasting!

Weekly News: September 20

News: 

This week we will continue our study of apples. Thank you for ALL of the apples you brought in last week - we have so many that on Friday, we will make homemade applesauce together!

Electives begin this week! Electives are from 12:20-1:00. If your child is participating in an elective, please pack them a lunch. If you choose to buy lunch from the Dunlap cafeteria, please see Mrs. Woolcock in the office to set up a lunch payment. Lunch supervision will be provided 11:50-12:20 before their electives begin. The elective teacher will be dismissing the students at 1:00.

Over the next few weeks, we will be sending home Book Bags with your child, but we will only be starting one group each week. Book Bags are to be brought back and forth, home-to-school, every day. Book Bags are also an essential part of your child's home reading - they should be reading these books EVERY DAY for homework.

Our special field trip to Los Rios Ranch is coming up on Friday, October 8th! More information about the field trip/chaperoning will be coming in later weeks.

Our class is teaming up with Mrs. Stanley's class for the Fresh and Easy Fundraiser. We have selected three days to set up at Fresh and Easy to collect receipts. One day in each of the following months: October, November, December. Please see the sign-up sheet on the classroom door that will posted soon. Thank you!

Thank you, parent volunteers, for another great week! We have had a few changes and adds, so I have updated our Weekly Volunteer Schedule. Please see the Attachment Library for this updated schedule. Thank you!

What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: COME, AT, SAID.

Letter Team: CE/CI (we are learning that the letter C can make a soft sound when it is followed by an E or I like in "cent" and "city").

Word Family: -AT. We have begun studying word families. Word families are words that have different beginning sounds with the same ending chunks. In your GO Folder on Monday, your child will bring home a word family activity that you can do at home. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -at. 

Leadership Theme of the Month: Initiative

Reading: This week, we will focus on a new strategy, "Go back and get a running start". Please help your child by having them go back to the beginning of the sentence each time they had difficulty with a word. This week, we will continue reading books about apples and Johnny Appleseed, and read our special poem of the week, "Applesauce".

Writing: This week we will learn what "quotations" are. We will write a big book together about our silly monster friends and use "quotations" when they say something. This big book will be written using the sight words we have learned so far. We will continue learning to put spaces between each word, use an uppercase at the beginning of each sentence with lowercase letters throughout the rest of the sentence, and use a period at the end. We are also learning to use our sight words in our sentences and to listen for the sounds in all unknown words using our sound chart.

Math: This week we will introduce before, after, and in between. We will be practicing this number sense by identifying numbers that come before, after, and in between others. Mastery of this concept is identifying the number quickly without having to go back and start counting from the number 1. We will continue counting money and telling time to the hour, learning how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and write numbers to 10, learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, and identify what number comes next.

Homework: September 20

Homework Calendar Activities: Please initial the weekly homework log and turn in any written work completed by your child ON FRIDAY! A note on activities: activities on the homework calendar are SUGGESTED, but not required. If your child is still struggling with letter ID and sounds, I would rather you spend the time working on those things. Thank you!

Flashcards: Study sight word and letter team flashcards DAILY! New words this week are: COME, AT, SAID and the new letter team is CE/CI. Please see the Sight Word tab for flashcard ideas. Sight Word Quiz and Spelling Test on Friday!

Have Your Child Read To You: Please have your child read the books from their book box AND the books from their book bag every night! If they are struggling with a word, guide them to our reading strategies: Look at the picture, Get your mouth ready for the first sound, Make your finger match the word, Look through the word at all the sounds, Go back and get a running start. 

Read To Your Child: Please read to your child each night for at least 10 minutes and initial the weekly homework log.

Sharing: Write one sentence about a state of California symbol (some examples include the state flag, state flower - poppy, state animal - bear, state bird - quail). Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure your practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

Please remember to turn in the Weekly Homework Log on Friday with the written work your child has completed for the week. Please make sure your child's name is written on the Weekly Homework Log and if you could staple all of the work together (Weekly Homework Log on top), that would be a huge help! Thank you!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Weekly News: September 13

News: 

This week we will be studying and reading books about apples. On Friday, we will have a fun apple tasting in our classroom. We are asking each child to bring in one apple (red, green, or yellow). Each child will decide which color apple tastes the best and we will make our very first classroom graph! Please see the classroom door for the apple sign-up sheet so that we get a variety of different color apples. Thank you!

Thank you so much for all of your Scholastic Book Orders! I placed the order on Friday so in a few weeks, your new books will be delivered to our classroom! Thank you for ordering online - with every order you place online, we get a free book for our classroom so this significantly helps me add to our classroom library!!!

Our parent volunteer program began last week. Thank you for donating your valuable time in our classroom! A reminder: if you cannot make one of your scheduled days, please either "cover your shift" with another parent or let me know so that I can adjust our activities accordingly. Thank you for your support!

Over the next four weeks, we will begin sending home Book Bags with your child. Book Bags are to be brought back and forth, home to school, every day. Book bags are also an ESSENTIAL part of your child's home reading - they should be reading these books EVERY DAY for homework. We will only be started one group each week, so look for your child's book bag sometime in the next month.

Thank you for your field trip t-shirt donations. Our classroom moms are working hard to make our t-shirts so special! I know there have been a lot of questions about our upcoming field trip. We will be going to the Los Rios Ranch Apple Orchard on Friday, October 8th. More information about the field trips and chaperoning will come at a later date!

Our "What Are We Learning This Week?" and "Homework" sections can be so repetitive and a lot of reading. To make things a little easier for you, I will be posting all the new information each week IN RED. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our news each week and stay up-to-date on what we are doing in class!

What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: YOU, AND, IT, FRIEND.

Letter Team: WH (like in "what" and "whistle").

Reading: This week, we will continue to focus on the strategy, "Look through the word at all the sounds". Please help your child with this by having them "stretch out" each word they are struggling with by saying the sound of each letter in the word then blending it together. For example, the word CAT can be decoded "C-A-T, then blended together, CAT". This may seem extremely easy, but kindergartners actually have a tough time grasping the concept of blending. This week, we will continue to read books about apples, read books about Johnny Appleseed, and read our special poem of the week, "A-P-P-L-E".

Writing: We are writing a big book together about the life cycle of an apple using sight words we have learned so far. We will be studying how an apple grows, from seed to tree to blossom to apple. We will continue learning to put spaces between each word, use an uppercase at the beginning of each sentence with lowercase letters throughout the rest of the sentence, and use a period at the end. We are also learning to use our sight words in our sentences and to listen for the sounds in all unknown words using our sound chart. You can help your child at home by using the same sound chart on the back of your GO Folder to help with sounding out words and writing at home.

Math: Last week, we learned the name and value of each coin and this week we will start counting money! You can help at home by having your child name and tell you the value of coins around the house. This week, we will also learn how to tell time to the hour. We will learn that when the "big hand points up, it means o'clock". We will continue to learn how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and how to write numbers to 10. We will also continue learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, and identify what number comes next.

Homework: September 13

Homework Calendar Activities: Please initial the weekly homework log and turn in any written work completed by your child ON FRIDAY!

Flashcards: Study sight word and letter team flashcards DAILY! These are so important for your child's reading! New words for this week are: YOU, AND, IT, FRIEND and new letter team is is WH. Please make a flashcard for each letter team as well. Sight Word Quiz and Spelling Test on Friday!

Have Your Child Read To You: Your child brought home 4 more paper books in the GO Folder on Friday. Please have your child read these books each night, making sure they are pointing under each word as they read it. "Make your finger match the word" is the phrase they will hear me see in class. If your child is struggling with words they are reading, please have them "sound out" the word by putting their finger under each letter and saying the sound it makes. This will help with letter and sound recognition as well.

Read To Your Child: Please read to your child each night and initial the weekly homework log. Ask your child questions about the story you read to build their comprehension skills.

Sharing: Write one sentence about the life cycle of an apple. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

Please remember to turn in the Weekly Homework Log on Friday with the written word your child has completed for the week. Please make sure your child's name is written on the Weekly Homework Log and if you could staple all of the work together (Homework Log on top) that would be a huge help! Thank you for your support!

Friday, September 3, 2010

Weekly News: September 7

News: 

There is no school this Monday, September 6th due to the Labor Day Holiday. Enjoy the time off with your families!

Thank you SOOOO much to ALL the parents who attended our first Copy/Staple Party on Friday! I am completely overwhelmed by how much work you got done! We could not do it without you and you are much appreciated! See you at the next Copy/Staple Party sometime in early October!

Remember: our parent volunteer schedule will begin Tuesday. You can review the schedule on the Attachment Library page. If you do not see your name but would like to volunteer on a weekly basis, please let me know!

September Scholastic Book Orders were sent home on Friday! This is SUCH a great and inexpensive way to order books for your child and with every order, you are providing a free book towards our classroom library!!! Just follow the directions on the Order Form Page I sent home. Book orders are due this Friday, September 10th.

On Friday, I sent home your child's first month assessment results. Please take some time to review these results with your child. These results will be sent home each month so that you are updated on your child's academic progress throughout our kindergarten year.

We are in the midst of planning our first field trip (more information coming in later weeks!) and field-trip T-Shirts are being ordered. We are asking for a $6.00 per child donation to cover the cost of the shirt. Please send your donation in your child's GO folder. At the end of our kindergarten year, this shirt will become a wonderful keepsake and memory from your child's first year of school!!

Look for the elective email if you wish to sign your child up for an ILCS elective. Electives will take place on our campus beginning September 20th. Kindergarten electives are from 12:20-1:00. If your child is participating in an elective, you may send a lunch to school with him/her on that elective day since lunch supervision will be provided for your children on these days.

I updated "Miss Reeve's September Wish List" if you would like to donate items to the classroom for the month of September. Thank you for all of your donations! You are so generous!!!

Our kindergarten classes will begin learning Spanish this week!!!! Our new Spanish teacher, Mrs. Thuilliez will be visiting our classrooms every Tuesday and Wednesday for 30 minutes beginning this week! We are so lucky to have her!

Our sight word songs are so funny this week! Go check them out on our Songs Tab!!!

What Are We Learning This Week??:

Sight Words: LOOK, HERE, THIS.


Letter Teams: CH (like in "cheetos") and OO (like in "look" - we will learn that OO also makes another sound, like in "pool" a little later on!)

Leadership Theme of the Month: Initiative

Reading: We are reading big books to help reinforce the reading strategies we are learning in class. So far we have learned to "Look at the picture", "Get your mouth ready for the first sound", "Make your finger match the word", and for the next several weeks we will focus on "Look through the word at all the sounds". We will be really trying to master all of our sounds in the next few weeks so that we can look through the word at all the sounds and blend them together to read new unknown words. This week, we will begin reading books about apples, continue to read books about colors, and read our special poem of the week, "The Apple Tree".

Writing: We are writing a big book together about science tools using sight words we have learned so far. We will be studying these science tools and how and when we use them. We will continue learning to put spaces between each word, use an uppercase at the beginning of each sentence with lowercase letters throughout, and use a period at the end. We will continue to use our sight words in our sentences and use our sound chart to help us sound out the words we do not know how to write.

Math: We will keep reinforcing how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and how to write numbers to 10. We are learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, and identify what number comes next. This week, we will learn to count by tens and fives and we will also introduce simple addition.

Homework: September 7

Homework Calendar Activities: You will receive the September Homework Calendar in the GO Folder on Tuesday or you may print it from our Attachment Library. Please initial the weekly homework log and turn in any written work completed by your child ON FRIDAY. A note on Homework Calendar Activities: These are suggested activities that we would like to see your child do, however if your child is still struggling with name writing, then homework can consist of just name writing practice. If your child is struggling with letters and sounds, please JUST work on letters and sounds. I would rather them have ALL of their letters and sounds down then complete the suggested activities. Thank you :)

 Flashcards: Study sight word AND letter team flashcards DAILY. Remember that sight words should be read at first SIGHT. Please revisit the Sight Word Tab for suggestions!

Have your child read to you: Your child will be bringing home a few more paper books each week. These books are to live at home in your special book box and read each night. Please continue to make sure your child is using one to one, pointing to each word and making their finger match the word. This is extremely important. Remember that if your child is having difficulty with a word they may have already "memorized" in a familiar book, you may redirect them to that "memorized" book to figure out the same word in the new book.

Read to your child: Please read to your child each night for at least 10 minutes and initial the weekly homework log.

Sharing: This week we are studying the different workers in our community. Write one sentence about a worker in our community. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

Thursday, September 2, 2010