Weekly News: September 30-October 4

News: 

We had so much fun on our field trip and a great time making applesauce in class! Thank you to ALL the donations and volunteers for making this possible! Make sure you check out our Photo Share Site for many more pictures!

This Friday is our Lion's Fest!! It will be located at CSC from 3:00-8:00. Our kindergarten classes will be working at the Cotton Candy booth! Yum! If you signed up to help {or if you did not sign up, but would still like to help}, please see our room mom, Teresa! This is sure to be a fun-filled event! Hope to see you there! 

We started our Home Reading Book Bags last week. Book Bags are to be brought back and forth, home to school, every day. The book or books in your child's book bag will be a "Good-Fit Book" self-selected by your child (a skill we are learning and working on in class).  Book bags are also an ESSENTIAL part of your child's home reading - they should be reading these books EVERY DAY for homework. We are also starting to send home more little paper books that we have been practicing reading in class every day. These paper books are meant to live in your special book box at home for you to practice reading and refer back to when you are stuck on a sight word.

Along with our "Good Fit" books in our book bags, we will begin our fluency passages this week. Keep an eye out for a note about Fluency in your child's book bag this week. Please practice this fluency every night and bring the fluency back to school every day in your child's book bag. 

Our volunteer schedule is up and running! We still have one spot available on Wednesdays from 9:15-10:00. If you are interested, please let me know!

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we would love: 
Halloween stickers and prizes 
Canon Ink #210/211


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) 

Reading: This week, we will begin reading books about Autumn and leaves, and read our special poem of the week, "Down, Down". I will continue meeting in small reading groups this week, as well as conferencing one on one with individual students. Students are working hard at their independent activities and reading their self-selected "Good Fit Books". 

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". Please reinforce this at home when you are writing words that begin with vowels in your journal. 

Math:   This week we will be continuing our study on Ways to Make 5. We will practice all of the different ways to make 5 (5 and 0, 4 and 1, 3 and 2) and learn different ways to solve word problems including those numbers. The goal is that by the end of the year students will fluently add and subtract within 0-5. 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. 

Leadership: Congratulations to our Leadership Award Winners for Diligence: Matthew J, Brooks, Halley, Irl, and Zoe!! 

Our new leadership theme for the month of October is SENSITIVITY. Our kindergarten definition for sensitivity is: understanding and being aware of other's feelings. This is also our sharing homework this week!

Homework: September 30-October 4

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (AN, BECAUSE, TAKE, UP), letter teams (OW and OU), and word family (AN - can, fan, man). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. Visit our Sight Words tab for more flashcard ideas.

Phonemic Awareness:  Phonemic awareness is understanding sounds in words, rhyming, syllables, etc.  Strong phonemic awareness is important to early reading skills.  A great way to practice phonemic awareness is to play word/sound games with your child. Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills.

Rhyming

Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds

Syllables

Blending

Segmenting

Reading: Read, read, read! Read books from your new book bag, read books from your book box, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books, and read to your child!

Math: We will continue to work on "Ways to Make 5". You can help at home by asking questions like, "We need 5 apples but we only have two. How many more do we need?" or "If I have 1 spoon, how many more spoons do I need to get to 5?" If your child is ready for it, start talking about putting those numbers into equations... "Good job! I will need 4 spoons because 1+4=5." As always, please also continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, etc. 

Writing: Do you have an "At-Home Journal" yet? I strongly recommend you make one/pick one up! Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal, using sight words and your sound chart to help you!

Sharing: Write one sentence about how you can show sensitivity. 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. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Please do not turn in on Fridays. Thank you. 

Click here for our special Sharing Paper :)

Weekly News: September 23-27

News: 

We had so much fun making apple pies! Thank you for all of our donations and a special thank you to Mrs. Juarez, Mrs. Jackson, and Mrs. Williams for ALL of your help baking our pies! This week we will be making applesauce together! YAY :)

We are starting our Home Reading Book Bags this week. Your child will be bringing home a special book bag on Wednesday. The book or books in your child's book bag will be a "Good-Fit Book" self-selected by your child (a skill we are learning and working on in class). 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. If you have any questions about our book bags or home reading program, please do not hesitate to ask!

We will begin our Parent Volunteers THIS WEEK. Thank you so much for volunteering and supporting our students in the classroom. 

We are so excited about our field trip on Tuesday! We will be leaving school in the morning and returning just before dismissal. Remember to send your child to school in a normal t-shirt and without a snack. Also, you will NOT need to bring your folders on this day! 

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:  -IN. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -in (bin, fin, tin, etc.) 

Reading: This week, we will continue reading books about apples and Johnny Appleseed, and read our special poem of the week, "Applesauce". I will begin pulling small reading groups this week, as well as conferencing one on one with individual students. Students are working hard at their independent activities and reading their self-selected "Good Fit Books". 

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. 

Math:   This week we will be focusing on Ways to Make 5. We will learn all of the different ways to make 5 (5 and 0, 4 and 1, 3 and 2) The goal is that by the end of the year students will fluently add and subtract within 0-5. 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. 

Leadership: Diligence. We will be having our first Leadership Assembly on Friday, where I will be awarding 5 students from our classroom who have shown diligence at school. 

Homework: September 23-27

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (COME, AT, SAID), letter teams (CE and CI), and word family (IN - bin, fin, win). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. Visit our Sight Words tab for more flashcard ideas.

Phonemic Awareness:  Phonemic awareness is understanding sounds in words, rhyming, syllables, etc.  Strong phonemic awareness is important to early reading skills.  A great way to practice phonemic awareness is to play word/sound games with your child. Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills.

Rhyming

Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds

Syllables

Blending

Segmenting

Reading: Read, read, read! Read books from your new book bag, read books from your book box, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books, and read to your child!

Math: This week we are focusing on "Ways to Make 5". You can help at home by asking questions like, "We need 5 apples but we only have two. How many more do we need?" or "If I have 1 spoon, how many more spoons do I need to get to 5?" If your child is ready for it, start talking about putting those numbers into equations... "Good job! I will need 4 spoons because 1+4=5." As always, please also continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, etc. 

Writing: Practice writing sentences with your child. Give your child a sentence to write with sight words in it and help him or her to start with an uppercase, use fingerspaces, sound out words we do not know how to spell, and end with a period. {Examples: Look at this dog. We can see a rat. I like the book.} This will really help with our journal writing and our dictation test on Fridays.

Sharing: Write one sentence about your favorite color. You may draw a picture or bring something in to show your favorite color. 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. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Please do not turn in on Fridays. Thank you. 

Click here for our special Sharing Paper :)

Weekly News: September 16-20

News: 


We had so much fun tasting apples on Friday. After looking at our class graph, green was our most-liked apple because it was sour :) This Friday, we will be making little apple pie bites as we continue our study on apples. Be on the look out for the sign up if you are able to donate items for this fun day! 

Thank you so much for all of your Scholastic Book Orders! I placed the order over the weekend 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 next Scholastic Book Order will be in December, just in time for Christmas shopping :) 

We will begin our Parent Volunteers next week. If you signed up to volunteer in the classroom, I sent home a schedule with your day and time last week. Thank you so much for volunteering and supporting our students in the classroom. 

We are so excited about our field trip next Tuesday! We will be leaving school in the morning and returning just before dismissal. Please send your child to school this day in a normal shirt (we will be throwing their field trip t-shirt over their clothing!) and without a snack (snack will be provided for them!) We gave our head count to Los Rios Ranch after school on Friday. Thank you to the parents who volunteered to chaperone! PLEASE TURN IN YOUR FIELD TRIP PERMISSION SLIPS!!!! STUDENTS WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO ON THE FIELD TRIP WITHOUT A SIGNED PERMISSION SLIP! Thank you! 

Please do not forget to donate towards the field trip under Dollar A Day! The link to Dollar A Day is now located on our side tab to the right under "School Links". We will be using Dollar A Day monies for ALL field trips. 

Don't forget to check out: 
Our Photo Share Site: I am so excited about this! I will update from time to time on this photo share site with fun pictures that I take of us learning in the classroom. If you become a member, you can also add pictures that you may take - of various events, field trips, and class parties. My hope is that this will be a place for all of us to share pictures that we take throughout our wonderful year of kindergarten! The link to our share site is under "Class Links" - or you can just click the "Class Pictures" tab at the top of our site so you can always get to it easily. I have already uploaded pictures from our first few weeks of school. Have fun browsing! 

RAZ-Kids: Raz-Kids is our awesome Online Reading program. This is a great website where your children can listen to and read books at their level. With each book, you can also take comprehension quizzes and earn points! With those points, you can play fun games online. All of the information (how much time spent online, books read, and quizzes taken) comes back to me so I can check on your reading at home. There might even be prizes for the best readers! The Reading A-Z website link is found on the side of our website under "Class Links" Our teacher username is mrsbess (no spaces) - then just click on your name and begin reading! 

We Give Books: We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.  My Goal is for the students in our class to read 100 books each month.  We will be reading the “We Give Books” online in class and I encourage each student and family to read at least one additional book at home each week.  Of course more than one a week is even better.  Let’s work together to meet, or even surpass, the 100 book a month mark! You can access the We Give Website at the following link: We Give Books. Our class username is: ILCS_Kinder_Bess and the password is: leaders. Happy Reading!!


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: YOU, AND, IT FRIEND. 

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

Word Family: AT - like in bat, cat, rat, sat, fat, etc. 

Reading: We will continue to read books about apples and Johnny Appleseed and continue to read books about colors as we learn our color words. 

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, 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: This week, we will learn how to tell time to the hour. We will learn that when the "big hand points up, it means o'clock". Please reinforce this at home by looking at clocks around the house and talking about the time. We will continue to learn all about money as we start counting pennies! We will also learn how to count by our 5's and 10's.

Leadership: This month, our theme is "diligence". This is a big word for kindergartners. We are teaching that diligence is putting all of our effort, energy, and concentration into getting a job done. We will discuss ways to be diligent at home and at school. 

Homework: September 16-20

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (YOU, AND, IT, FRIEND), letter teams (WH), and word family (AT - bat, sat, cat, mat, fat). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. Visit our Sight Words tab for more flashcard ideas.

Phonemic Awareness:  Phonemic awareness is understanding sounds in words, rhyming, syllables, etc.  Strong phonemic awareness is important to early reading skills.  A great way to practice phonemic awareness is to play word/sound games with your child. Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills.

Rhyming

Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds

Syllables

Blending

Segmenting

Reading: Read, read, read! Read books that have come home, read books from your book box, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books, and read to your child!

Math: VISIT OUR COMMON CORE STANDARDS TAB TO SEE WHAT OTHER MATH STANDARDS YOU CAN WORK ON WITH YOUR CHILD! Some things we are practicing in class are: Counting 1-30, Counting up starting at a number other than one, number flashcards, identifying numbers out of order, making patterns, sorting objects by color, shape and kind, number writing, drawing shapes, days of the week, months of the year, identifying shapes and coins. 

Writing: Practice writing sentences with your child. Give your child a sentence to write with sight words in it and help him or her to start with an uppercase, use fingerspaces, sound out words we do not know how to spell, and end with a period. {Examples: Look at this dog. We can see a rat. I like the book.} This will really help with our journal writing and our dictation test on Fridays.

Sharing: Write one sentence about the life cycle of an apple (from seed to tree to blossom to 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. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Please do not turn in on Fridays. Thank you. 

Click here for our special Sharing Paper :)

Weekly News: September 9-13

News: 
Thank you to all the parents that attended our very first "Parent Night". I hope this night was helpful and informational. For those of you who could not attend, we FILMED IT! Hopefully I can upload this video soon so that you can watch! 

Don't forget to order your Scholastic Books! Visit the Book Orders tab if you would like to order books for your child. I will be placing the order THIS FRIDAY after school. 

Electives on our campus will begin THIS MONDAY. I understand the School Reach Email that went out from the school stated that electives are from 1:45-2:45 - please note this is NOT TRUE for kindergarten electives!  Kindergarten electives are from 1:00-1:30 and the elective teachers will dismiss your children at 1:30 on the ramp. If your child is participating in an elective, you may send a lunch to school with him/her on that elective day and lunch supervision will be provided for your children. 

We will begin our Friday Centers this week with our Friday parent volunteers. Thank you, Mrs. Juarez, Mrs. Timmerman, Mrs. Esmeralda Williams, Mrs. Cook, and Mrs. Palazuelos for signing up to be our Friday helpers. Our weekly parent volunteers for Monday-Thursday will begin the week of September 23rd. 

Our first field trip is planned!!! We will be going to Los Rios Ranch in Oak Glenn on Tuesday, September 24th. We will be leaving school by bus sometime in the morning and returning around pick-up time. The students will get to meet Johnny Appleseed, tour the apple orchards, and even make apple cider! In order for our kindergarten classes to go on this field trip (and all future field trips), we are asking for donations to be made to our Dollar A Day program through the school. A suggested donation of $15 per student will help cover the cost of our bus, kindergarten t-shirts, and field trip admission. Unfortunately, if our kindergarten team does not receive donations, we will not be able to go on this wonderful field trip :(  We are also looking for volunteers to join us and chaperone our field trip. The cost for chaperones is also $5.  If you are interested in chaperoning for our field trip on this day, please EMAIL ME! The $5 chaperone fee needs to be paid directly to me, not Dollar a Day. On Friday, September 13th, we will need to give our final head count to Los Rios Ranch, so if you would like to chaperone please let me know and pay $5 before that Friday. 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.  Also, be on the look-out for the field trip permission slip that will be coming home in your child's Take Home Folder soon. These are due back to school ASAP in order for your child to go on the field trip.We are so excited for this field trip! Yay!

The link to Dollar A Day is now located on our side tab to the right under "School Links". We will be using Dollar A Day monies for ALL field trips. 

I would like to introduce you to our fantastic room parent.... 

Teresa Juarez

We are very excited to have Teresa as our room mom.  Teresa is Matthew J's  mommy.  Her contact information is as follows:

email: tcwell97@hotmail.com 

cell phone:  951-205-1554

Some new wonderful things to check out: 
Our Photo Share Site: I am so excited about this! I will update from time to time on this photo share site with fun pictures that I take of us learning in the classroom. If you become a member, you can also add pictures that you may take - of various events, field trips, and class parties. My hope is that this will be a place for all of us to share pictures that we take throughout our wonderful year of kindergarten! The link to our share site is under "Class Links" - or you can just click the "Class Pictures" tab at the top of our site so you can always get to it easily. I have already uploaded pictures from our first few weeks of school. Have fun browsing! 

RAZ-Kids: Raz-Kids is our awesome Online Reading program. This is a great website where your children can listen to and read books at their level. With each book, you can also take comprehension quizzes and earn points! With those points, you can play fun games online. All of the information (how much time spent online, books read, and quizzes taken) comes back to me so I can check on your reading at home. There might even be prizes for the best readers! The Reading A-Z website link is found on the side of our website under "Class Links" Our teacher username is mrsbess (no spaces) - then just click on your name and begin reading! 

We Give Books: We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.  My Goal is for the students in our class to read 100 books each month.  We will be reading the “We Give Books” online in class and I encourage each student and family to read at least one additional book at home each week.  Of course more than one a week is even better.  Let’s work together to meet, or even surpass, the 100 book a month mark! You can access the We Give Website at the following link: We Give Books. Our class username is: ILCS_Kinder_Bess and the password is: leaders. Happy Reading!!


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: LOOK, HERE THIS.

Letter Team: 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!)

Word Family: AM - like in yam, ram, Sam, Pam, etc. 

Reading: This week, we will focus on the Reading Strategy, "Stretch Out the Sound" (see Reading Strategies Tab). This week, we will read books about apples and Johnny Appleseed, and continue to read books about colors as we learn our color words.

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: This week we will learn the name and value of each coin and pretty soon, 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.

Leadership: This month, our theme is "diligence". This is a big word for kindergartners. We are teaching that diligence is putting all of our effort, energy, and concentration into getting a job done. We will discuss ways to be diligent at home and at school. 

Homework: September 9-13

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (LOOK, HERE, THIS), letter teams (CH and OO), and word family (AM - ram, Sam, Pam, yam). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. Visit our Sight Words tab for more flashcard ideas.

Phonemic Awareness:  Phonemic awareness is understanding sounds in words, rhyming, syllables, etc.  Strong phonemic awareness is important to early reading skills.  A great way to practice phonemic awareness is to play word/sound games with your child. Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills.

Rhyming

Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds

Syllables

Blending

Segmenting

Reading: Read, read, read! Read books that have come home, read books from your book box, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books, and read to your child!

Math: Practice counting 1-30 or higher, count on starting at a number other than one, identify numbers out of order, study number flashcards, number writing practice, sort items by color and size, practice drawing shapes, start sorting and counting coins at home. VISIT OUR COMMON CORE STANDARDS TAB TO SEE WHAT OTHER MATH STANDARDS YOU CAN WORK ON WITH YOUR CHILD!

Writing: Write every day in your at-home journal. Practice writing your name with an uppercase only at the beginning. Practice writing ABC's uppercase and lowercase (Aa, Bb, Cc). Also practice writing your sight words of the week and sight word dictation sentences for our spelling test on Friday.

Sharing: Oh, no! Only 12 friends turned in their sharing homework this week!!!! This is a big part of our curriculum and the only homework you need to turn in. I do record who turns in sharing for student's homework grades. This week, we are discussing our leadership theme - diligence. Please write one sentence about how you can be diligent at home or at school. 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 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Please do not turn in on Fridays. Thank you. 

Click here for our special Sharing Paper :)