Things Mrs. Jones Wants You to Know

Curriculum night is Jan. 26 @ 6:00

Open Enrollment forms are available in the office if you are interested. They must be returned by Jan. 31.

The last day of the second quarter is Friday, January 14. Please be sure all homework and make-up work is turned in by then.

There is no school Monday, January 17 (MLK holiday)

Remember Early Out Wednesday schedule has changed. 8:55-10:55, 11:30-1:30

Our second DIBELS and Kindergarten assessment will start this week. PLEASE work with your child nightly on the practice sheets to help them better prepare for the test. Make sure they get plenty of rest, eat a good breakfast, and attend school every day.

There are a lot of Golden Sneaker calendars being turned in with no name on them. My aide gets all the papers out of the folders, and puts all the new papers in them. I don’t see them until they are in a stack on my desk. I have no way of telling whose papers are turned in without names. They all go in the garbage.

Also, I do not have time to total reading calendar and golden sneaker times. Please
do that before you turn them in. Remember on Golden Sneaker they have to have at least 15 minutes of activity to count. Each 15 minutes earns 1 point with a maximum of 5 points a day.

By this time of year students should be able to tie their own shoes and do up their own coats. I tie dozens of shoes each day. I tell students now to find a friend and also tell their parents to teach them how to tie! It is time!!! We spend about 10 minutes of our 10 minute recess getting everyone dressed to go outside. It would really streamline things if students could dress themselves!

Finally….. I lost my Kindergarten class over the Christmas break! YIKES! The students that came back are ones that don’t know how to use beautiful handwriting! I am really disappointed with the work I have seen turned in. Students are getting in a big hurry and doing really poor work. I expect much neater. We have talked about it in class extensively! I will have students rework anything that I feel is unacceptable. I tell them “if they practice neat they will be good at neat. If they practice sloppy they will be good at sloppy. No one wants to be good at sloppy work!”

Thank you for all you do to help your child be successful in school. I appreciate your efforts, I love your children and I feel so blessed to be able to spend each day with them.

Remember to look at our blog: jonesjems.blogspot.com

Wednesdays

Remember our NEW EARLY OUT WEDNESDAY schedule:
A.M. 8:55-10:55
P.M. 11:30-1:30

January

Welcome back! I hope you all had a relaxing holiday. We are ready
to work hard and learn a lot! Here are some of the things we will be
learning about this month:

Literacy Writing, recognizing, and knowing the sounds to all the uppercase and
lowercase letters (they must know all to pass the assessment this time). Reading the
Kindergarten Sight Words (keep working on them at home) Knowing beginning, middle
and ending sounds of words (ask your child to “tap” words for you) Writing our last
name with uppercase at the beginning and lowercase for the rest.

Math Counting to 60, recognizing and writing numbers to 20. Patterns, classifying and
sorting. Counting the calendar in Spanish.

Social Studies Winter, bears, penguins, Antarctica.

Writing Using our best penmanship –“Seatwork equals neatwork” (thanks Sara!)
Starting every letter at theTOP. Using the lines on paper to define where letters go.

Other important information:

Check out our blog at jonesjems.blogspot.com you can find the newsletter,
pictures, and leave comments there.
Remember news days
Library is on Mondays
Students need a jacket or coat to go out to recess. It is winter now!
If your child is absent call the office and have them excused. 586-2840
Reading folders are due back on Mondays
PE is on Thursday s. Make sure your child is dressed appropriately.
There will be no school on Monday, January 17. It is MLK holiday.
Our 2nd Kindergarten assessment and Dibels test will be mid January. Help your
child be prepared by working on the skills sheet, practicing the Kindergarten sight
words, and reading with your child daily.
Remember to return reading calendars, golden sneaker calendars, and skills

sheets. They are all part of homework.

If you have any questions please call me or email merilee.jones@ironmail.org
Thank you for all you do to support me and your children.