Happy Fall!

We have been so busy this month. The students are settling right into our routine and I love the way they work so hard. They are all so cute and are becoming good friends.

For the next couple of days we will be talking about Fall, apples, and practicing for centers. We will officially start centers on Monday, October 7. If you have signed up to help in our class plan to start that week. Centers are on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday each week at 9:40-10:10 or 1:00-1:30.

We have been working hard on the alphabet letters, sounds and correct writing. I have seen great improvements already and I am so pleased with the progress. Remember homework is always with a pencil, and for letter practice they need to write at least 5 times in their BEST handwriting on each line. I have had several students reworking some pages and we will continue to practice.

We have started our reading groups in the morning class. It is our "Power 1/2 Hour". The students are ability grouped (4-6 students) during this block of time and work on specific literacy skill with a highly qualified reading teacher. Every two weeks we look at the groups and move any student that might fit into a different group better. We try to keep the groups very fluid to meet the needs of each student the best we can. The afternoon group will be a pilot group for a new program our school is trying called "Waterford". Many of you may have heard of it before. It has been around for quite a while. We will be working in the computer lab with the program four days a week. I am excited to see how the students respond to the program and track their progress.

I hope you all got to hear about our special visitor "Zero the Hero"! He made quite a splash when he came to visit our room. He will be here every 10 days as we count the days we are in school and learn about the amazing things the number zero can do! I will post pictures from the first day.

Our first AR assembly is this Friday, September 27 at 10:00 in the gym. One student from each class will receive the "Catch The Vision" award. It is given to a student with outstanding performance in class that month.  Teachers watch for academics, citizenship, and student improvement. If you would like to come you  are always welcome. I will notify the parents of awarded students in advance so they can attend.

Reading calendars are due back on October 1. Our goal for Kindergarten is 15 minutes 4 days a week=4 hours a month. Starting next month we will participate in the "Book-It" program through Pizza Hut. Students can earn a free personal pizza by meeting the reading goal and turning in their calendar.

Our T-shirt order is due no later than Wednesday, October 2. I would like every student to have a T-shirt if possible. We have already drawn our self-portraits and are ready to send them to the printing company.

On Monday, October 14 we are going on a fieldtrip to Judd's pumpkin patch in Paragonah. It is always a student favorite. They let the students pick any pumpkin they can carry and ask for $1.00 donation. They have a great hay maze the students can go through as well. I will need (1) parent to go with us (2 or 3 for the p.m. class). We will be restricted on seating on the bus, but if you are interested and could go with us please send me a note and I will contact you.

Next week, September 30-October 4 is SEP week. We will NOT have conferences as we just met for the preassessment, however, if you would like to meet with me for any reason please call or text me and we can set up an appointment. We will still follow the district early out schedule. The a.m. class will be out every day at 10:55 (students staying for extended day will go with their extended day teacher). The p.m. class will be held every day from 12:30-2:30 including Wednesday. (note the time change).

Picture day is Friday, October 4. Make sure to send your child with a cute smile!

Harvest Holiday is Thursday, October 17-Monday, October 21. We will be back in school on Tuesday, October 22.

Welcome to Kindergarten!
I am so excited this day has finally come. We've been waiting so long to get started.
Despite a few tears, and nervous beginnings, we had a great first day! Thank you so much for helping make it a smooth beginning. I sincerely appreciate all the donations of supplies and extras for our classroom. It helps more than you know.
I am looking forward to working with each of you, and getting to know your children better. I already love them and anticipate a great year.
Please feel welcome to stop by our classroom any time. We love having parents in our room and always want to show off all the great things we're doing.
If you have family members that want to be included on the email list, send me a note and I will add them.
Next week I will post the homework, sight words, and news letter for September. For now, here's a look at our fun first day!

 

 

 

We read the story "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn then made this cute craftivity to help us remember that our parent's love will always go with us, and we don't need to be nervous at school.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday is our early-out day. A.M. class is from 8:55-10:55. P.M. class is from 11:30-1:30. We also have library on Wednesdays. We won't be checking out any books for a couple of weeks. We will learn the procedure and library rules.
Please feel free to leave comments, or email/text me if you have any questions. (435.463.1170)

More updates........

We will finish up our testing this week and next. Please have your child at school (barring illness) and prepared with a good breakfast, plenty of sleep, and having practiced the homework packet (still).

We are starting our program practice with the other Kindergarten classes. We have been singing and smiling and getting ready! Remember our program is on Tuesday, May 14 at 6:30 in the lunch room.

We will go on our final field trip to 5 Buck Pizza! It is always a blast! They let us tour their kitchen, learn how pizza is made, and make our own pizza. We watch them bake in the huge oven and have a pizza party in their store! Our field trip day is Monday, May 6. They ask that we donate $1.00 per pizza which is a great deal considering we have free use of their soda fountain as well!

On Tuesday, May 7 we have a special guest. The Cedar City Fire Dept. is coming to talk to us about fire safety.

Wednesday May 15 is our final read-a-thon. We are calling it our "Healthy Reading Party",  meaning, please send a healthy snack for your child to have during the reading time. More info will come home next week.

On Thursday, May 16 is our school walk-a-thon. Students can get pledges for how many laps they will do. **THE PM STUDENTS WILL BE INVITED TO ATTEND DURING THE MORNING THAT DAY. THE WALK-A-THON IS AT 9:30. THIS WILL TAKE THE PLACE OF OUR PM CLASS.
*This is a change in date from earlier posted.

Friday May 17 is field day. We will need several parent volunteers to help with the games that day, and prayers from everyone that the weather will be good!

Our reward movie is on Thursday, May 23 and the last day of school is Friday, May 24.

It's official

Our Kindergarten end of year program will be on TUESDAY, MAY 14 at 6:30 in the lunch room.  Please keep that date open and plan to attend. We will be working hard to get ready. More info will be coming in the next few weeks.

On Tuesday, April 16 we will celebrate Clifford The Big Red Dog Day! Students can wear Clifford's favorite color RED and bring a red treat to share with the class. Students can also bring a Clifford book that we can read as a class (make sure your name is on it).  We will be doing several activities that day around Clifford.

Friday, April 19 is "Dad's and Donuts" in the gym at 8:20.

Teacher request forms are in the office if you would like to make a request for next year. They are due by May 1.

Our last day of centers will be on Friday, April 22. Thank you so much to all our amazing volunteers! I appreciate you all. We could not do it without you. Thank you for helping make a difference for the students in Kindergarten.

Marching on......

                                 

 March is almost gone and April will be here soon. We just finished the 3^rd quarter. Progress reports are coming home. Look them over with your child and sign and return the attached note.

Time is flying by and we still have so much to learn.

Some of the things we are trying to catch up on that we haven’t got to yet, and the new things we will be learning about are:

Math: Counting to 100 by 5’s and 2’s, adding, subtracting, odd and even, telling time to the hour.

Social Studies: Penguins, globe, mammals (hopefully whales, ocean).

Writing: Writing all the sounds we hear, remembering uppercase, spaces, punctuation, sentences in Writer’s Workshop.

Reading: Kindergarten sight words and anything else we can! Digraphs, blends, silent and magic “e”.

With warm weather coming students are leaving jackets and coats at school. Please remind them to check (or come in yourself and look) for missing items. We have a lot in our classroom and nobody will claim them. They will soon go to DI. Also, remember to follow the district dress code: no tummies showing, no shoulders showing, no short shorts, no flip-flops.

Remember:

Mondays: Reading folders

Wednesdays: Library

Thursdays: PE (dress for it)

If your child is going to be absent call the office to have them excused.

Upcoming Schedule:

March 26: Easter Fieldtrip to Canyon Park

March 27-31: Spring Break
April 5: Talent Show

April 16: Clifford Day

April 22: Testing for DIBELS and Kindergarten Assessment begins

Looking farther ahead….. Our Kindergarten Program is scheduled for Thursday, May 16 at 7:00. (We are trying to move it to Tuesday, May 14) Keep both those days in mind.

To prepare for our final test I will send homework practice packets. In the meantime, read, Read, READ every day! Have your child write each day as well ie: your shopping list, a thank you note, wish list, what he/she did on the weekend, at school, for Easter, etc. Don’t spell for them. I don’t want them to get hung up on spelling correctly. Accept their phonetic spelling and encourage them to write all the sounds they hear.

Thank you for all your great help and support. I appreciate each of you so much and love your children. This has been such a fun year.

 read-a-thon or eat-a-thon!

 A visitor from the North Pole

 Learning about Dental Health

 100's Day Fun

100 year old portraits

 Valentine's Day

 These 2 handsome devils dressed up for the day!

 Passing out valentine's and eating cupcakes

 Caribbean Steel Drum Band Concert

 Cute in orange!

 

 What the teacher who loves her students does on a Saturday!

Wrestling in Parowan at 8:00 a.m. then a cowgirl birthday party at 11:00. Time out for lunch with the hubby then on to Kanarraville to a wedding reception.

I feel so blessed to have each of them in my life, and lucky to be invited to be part of theirs.

 Abe and George for President's Day

 CAL Ranch fieldtrip

Painting Easter Eggs (the paper variety)