October

October

Fall is here and we love it! We are excited about all the great things coming up in October.

Monday-Friday, October 1-5 is SEP week. We will NOT have SEP's in Kindergarten because we just met for the preassessment. However, we will meet in the spring, and if you need to visit with me for any reason please make an appointment. I would be glad to meet with you. Please note *WE WILL STILL FOLLOW THE DISTRICT EARLY OUT SCHEDULE ALL WEEK. A.M. CLASS IS 8:55-10:55. 

P.M. CLASS IS 12:30-2:30 EVERY DAY, INCLUDING WEDNESDAY!

Monday, October 8 we are going on a walking fieldtrip to SUU's Braithwaite Art Gallery. (I could use a couple of parents to walk with us)

Friday, October 12 we are going on a bus fieldtrip to Paragonah to Judd's Pumpkin Patch. Each year they offer pumpkins to the Kindergarten and 1st grades for only $1.00 donation! It is a blast to go pick out our own pumpkins! (I could use a parent to go with us)

Thursday-Monday, October 18-22 is Fall Recess and Harvest Holiday. We will NOT have school those days.

We are finally getting ready to start our literacy groups, centers, and writer's workshop. I will need help with centers. For those parents who signed up on the volunteer sheet I will send you a note. Centers will be Monday, Tuesday, Friday at 9:40-10:10 a.m.(I know, sort-of a weird time) and 1:00-1:30 p.m.

This month our curriculum focus will be:

All About Me

Apples

Fall

Pumpkins

Halloween

Remember reading calendars and monthly skills sheets are due back the first school day of each month.

Reading Folders are due each Monday.

Library is on Wednesdays. We will start checking out books after SEP week.

Now I want to get on my homework soapbox!
Please sit with your child while working on homework. Have a clean, quiet place for them to work. Because we are working on penmanship and learning to form the letters correctly, it is important that they establish good writing habits early.
They should start every letter every time at the TOP (have them sing you the song). I want them to use the lines and write 5 good ones on each line. Make sure they use a pencil.
I appreciate the work you do to help them with homework. I'm honestly quite pleased with what I see. The students know what I expect, and what I will accept. They are showing me GREAT work! They try so hard in class to do what I ask and do their best work. I am so grateful for their efforts.

Now, here are a few things we did in September:

 making a birthday book

 ABC book

 Chester the racoon from "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn

 "Zero the Hero" comes to visit us every 10 days and help us learn about his amazing favorite number! 

We made our own version so we would not forget!

 It was a tricky cutting and following directions activity. They had paper, scissors and glue. No lines to follow. The students did great! I think they are so cute!

 The wheels on the bus go......

 We did some alliteration with our names. We used it on our buses and our self portraits.

 Nevaeh likes nighttime

 Parli likes pigs

 Kaislee likes kites

 Sofya likes snakes

 Keanu likes kangaroos

 Kaylee likes kangaroos

 Campbel likes cats

 Angela likes apples

Lockdown

This is a letter regarding the lockdown that happened at our school this afternoon.

September 19, 2012

Dear Parents:

This afternoon the Cedar City Police Department officers were in pursuit of a suspect in our school neighborhood. In order to ensure the safety of our students, the school was placed on lockdown per police department instructions. The suspect was apprehended and the school was released from lockdown.

 We thank your for your patience in this matter, and apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused. It is always our first priority to ensure the safety of our students.

Sincerely,

Melissa J. Allen M.Ed.

East Elementary Reading Specialist

Smile!

Smile!

Monday is picture day. Make sure to come looking great and wearing your best smile!

Our book order is due on Monday. If you want to order this month link to the website, or go to scholastic.com or send money and order form to school.

FYI

This is an email forward from Mr. Burton. Please keep your eyes open and always be on the alert. We all want our children safe.

Hello everyone,
Just to keep you all informed about an incident that happened at our school.  We had a report of a possible attempted child abduction in front of our school by a man in a white minivan.  It has been reported to the police, but if everyone could be extra vigilant.  White vans are pretty common, but if you would please keep your eyes open.

September

This month we will practice centers, writer's workshop and finish our testing for DIBELS (our reading test).

We will talk about our names, what they start with, and work on our "All About Me" unit.

We have started our ABC books and our alphabet homework. Please sit with your child while they are doing homework. Make sure they are writing the letters correctly including, starting at the top (ask them to sing you the song) using the lines, and doing their best writing. Homework should be in pencil. Children should have a clean dry surface to work on. They should be able to work without distractions. Remind them to sit up straight, use their free hand to stabilize the paper, and use proper pencil grip. All of these are good habits to establish early for continual success.

Reading folders came home today. Remember to return only on Mondays (unless we have a school holiday). Our reading goal is 15 minutes a day, 4 days a week; or 4 hours a month. Fill in the reading calendar completely before returning including child's name, your signature, and total time read. Remember starting next month your child can earn a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for meeting the reading goal. The reading calendar looks like this:

Each month your child will get a new set of sight words (or sooner if they pass them off early).

The skills sheet are things we are working on in Kindergarten. It is also homework. Please sign and return that sheet the beginning of each month.

Our first book order is due back on Monday, Sept. 10. If you want to order online you can link it here:
 https://orders.scholastic.com/GQNYX


our class activation code is GQNYX

Gingerbread Day

Run, Run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man!

We had so much fun looking around our school trying to find the Gingerbread Man. The cooks put him in the oven but when we came back to get him he had disappeared! Lots of people in our school helped us find clues and look for him; including the librarian, Mrs. Clark and the secretary, Mrs. Isom. We never found the Gingerbread Man but he left us cookies in our classroom.