The week of Sept. 30-Oct. 4.

I hope the kids enjoyed a long weekend!  Now to get back into school zone.  Long weekends make it hard to come back and get back into the swing of following directions again!

I wanted to thank you again for coming to conferences!

Grade cards are due the end of next week!  So, please work on any missed letters or sounds of Mm, Aa, Ss, Tt, Nn for the first quarter.  Also, keep practicing those sight words.  If any of the math skills were missed, focus on those too!

I will recap on what I said in case I forgot to share everything with everyone.

• Reading groups will begin in 2 weeks.  This gives us time to build our stamina to be able to work independently while Mrs. Scott works with small groups.
• The kids will be doing the Daily Five stations while I'm working with groups.  
• Station 1:  Read to Self, 
• Station 2:  Read to Someone
• Station 3:  Listen to Reading
• Station 4:  Work Word boxes
• Station 5:  Writing (this will be added later)

When I work with your child's group, they will bring home a little reader to read at least 3 times to someone at home, and a skill sheet about the skill we worked on in our small group.  The book and sheet will be in a bag to return the next day.

Five Finger Retell:  After reading a book with your child, check their comprehension about the book.  1.  Who were the characters?  2.  What was the setting?   3.  What happened in the beginning?  4.  What happened in the middle?  5.  What happened at the end?

Bob Books:  A set of 12 books that are on your child's level, can be found on Amazon, Scholastic book order, or in the library.  Set one is the best to begin with so your child is successful!

Book it Program!  The program begins tomorrow, Oct. 1!  Please read at least 10 min. a night with your child and color in the picture for that date.  20 out of 30 earns a free Pizza Hut coupon when the calendar is returned!  If all six months are returned, your child will get a free book!

Reading this week!

We are reading Goldilocks and the Three Bears and doing the Five Finger Retell.  Your child will be tested over the story to check their understanding.  

It's fun to compare/contrast other versions of stories too.  We will also read, Goldirocks and the Three Bears, along with Goldyluck and the Three Pandas!

Sight words:  we, by

Color of the week:  Brown . (Cordy has the brown snack on Thursday!)

Letter of the week:  Tt (the action is to pretend to tickle with both hands)

Math this week!

Topic 3--counting, reading, and writing numbers 6-10.  

Handwriting this week!  N and M

Apple Day is this Friday!  Please send in one green apple by then!

Our Apple Day time is 9:00-11:00.

Coming up!
Thurs. Oct. 3 .       Brown Day!

Fri. Oct. 4            Apple Day in the AM, fire truck visit!  Lap-a-thon donations due!

Thurs. Oct. 10 .    Black Day!  Evelynn has the black snack

Mon. Oct. 14 .      No School--Professional Development Day

Fri. Oct. 18 .         Grades posted

Thurs. Oct. 24 .    Pink Day

Thurs. Oct. 31 .    Halloween Parade at 9:00, Orange Day

The week of Sept. 23-25.

It's a short week, so this will be short!  Please double check your conference times.  Each time is around 30 min. and I will try my best to stay on track!  I look forward to visiting with you all!  If you can not get a sitter for younger siblings, please have your KDG or older siblings watch them in the hall with something to do.  I will have books for them to look at.

Dismissal on Wednesday is at 12:10. 

Reading this week!
We are reading two Fables--The Tortoise and the Hare, along with The Little Helper (The Lion and the Mouse).  We will learn that a Fable teaches a lesson.

Sight word:  see
Letter of the week:  Ss . (practice writing Ss's at home and see if I'm writing them the correct direction)

No color this week!

Math--  We learned how to fill in a 5 frame with the numbers 1-7.  This week we will focus on 10 frames and where to fill in dots to make a number up to 10!  Check out the math sheets coming home tomorrow.

Handwriting--B and R using big lines, little curves, and a little line.

Coming up! 
Wed. Sept. 25        1/2 day school, Parent conferences beginning at 4:15
Thurs. Sept. 26     No School, Parent conferences
Fri. Sept. 27          No School
Fri. Oct. 4            Apple Day in the AM, fire truck visit!  Lap-a-thon donations due!

The week of Sept. 16-20.

The weekend was sure hot, and it's carrying over this week!  We'll look forward to fall weather the following week!

Look for Lap-a-thon pics below!  It was nice of you to come if you made it!  I think the kids enjoyed it!

This week we have the delayed start on Wednesday!  The day will be from 10:45-3:50.  Your child can arrive at 10:30!  I will have a sub. that day.  Mrs. Koehn, who the kids met this morning will be my sub.  Please visit with your child about being on their best behavior that day to help her out!

This week in reading!
Today I introduced the first of what's called, "The Daily Five".  It is five stations that the kids will be going to independently while I work with small groups.  We will be practicing each of them several times before they will be ready to work on their own.
1.  Read to self (they will have their own book box)
2.  Read to someone (with a stuffed animal)
3.  Listening center (listen to a book on a CD or on an Ipad)
4.  Word work--doing little activities in tubs on own
5.  Writing--enjoying writing activities

Letter of the week:  short a (we make and alligator mouth while saying the sound)
Sight words:  the, as
Color of the week:  purple (Brooklyn has the purple snack)

Handwriting:  We have finished writing our numbers to 10 and are beginning on Uppercase letters.  This week we will be writing:  F, E, D, P

Math this week!  We are on the last lessons of Comparing and Ordering 0-5. Our test will be this week and then we will begin Topic 3:  Numbers 6-10.

Little books--please help your child to make sure the little readers or color books that come home, are put in their bucket at home.  It's really helpful them to feel good about rereading books that they already know to build their confidence that they can read!  Also, please take time each night to read to your child.  It can also be before school, or anytime you can work it in.  Reading everyday to your child builds their vocabulary.  They love it when I read to them at school!  After reading, ask them who the characters, setting (where the story takes place), and what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story to check for comprehension!
Thank you for all you do at home!

Coming up!
Wed. Sept. 18      2 hour delay start of school--Kids come at 10:30, school begins at 10:45--dismissal is the normal time.  Remember to find out your child's lunch choice.  Hamburger, yogurt, or home lunch by the 17th.
Thurs.  Sept. 19    Purple Day,, All school photo at 9:00
Wed. Sept. 25        1/2 day school, Parent conferences beginning at 4:15
Thurs. Sept. 26     No School, Parent conferences
Fri. Sept. 27          No School
Fri. Oct. 4            Apple Day in the AM, fire truck visit!  Lap-a-thon donations due!

Lap-a-thon

The week of Sept. 9-13!

I hope you all had a relaxing, wonderful weekend!  I sure did!  I feel so revived for the 5 day week!
I finally figured out how to download pictures to the blog thanks to my daughter!  I love that we gave her a Macbook a couple years ago, so she's way more familiar with Macs than myself!

Scroll down to view the pics if you haven't seen them yet!  The kids are having so much fun on the new playground and in our Imagination Station!  Has your son/daughter shared their favorite part about both of them?

Lap-a-thon!  The Lapathon is this Friday, Sept. 13.  KDG runs their laps at 12:05-12:20 right in front of our classroom in the bus loop.  All are welcome to come walk/run or cheer on your child!  Grandparents and friends are also welcome!  Each time your child runs a lap, they will get a loop on their wrist to keep track of how many they ran.  If anyone pledges a donation per lap, they will need to wait until after the Lap-a-thon to know how much they will be donating.
The loops will be sent home that day for the number!  If you have anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Reading this week!
This week we are beginning Unit 1 in our Benchmark Advance reading program.  We have been introducing all 26 letters and will now be focusing on a letter a week.  This week is letter M and it's sound /m/ as we act like we are mixing dough.  

I am also reading a nonfiction and fiction short story and comparing/contrasting them.  

Nouns --Person, Place, or Thing will be introduced this week also!  Ask your child to find nouns for you while in your car, walking in your neighborhood, or eating dinner!

Shared Reading is new for us this week.  We have a booklet for each Unit that has a story that we will be looking for different skills in.  Then, the students will be drawing a picture on a topic about the short story and beginning to write a sentence about their picture.  You will watch your child make leaps and bounds as these come home when we finish each unit.  Have fun watching them grow!!

Sight words:  not, if (How is your child doing learning their sight words so far?  Have you had a chance to cut up the 1st quarter sight word cards to review them?)
Color of the week:  Green . Dawson has the green snack Thursday!

Handwriting--We are finishing up learning to write the numbers to 10 . We have 8, 9, 10 left!  A packet will be coming home on Thursday and due back on Monday practicing these numbers!  The 8 is tricky to do, but once each can write an "S", they just go back home to finish the "8".  The 9 needs to be started like a "c", to not reverse it!  Thank you for watching your child make these at home!

Math this week!
This week we are continuing with "As many, more, and fewer" up to 5, which is a hard concept for many.  Reviewing at home by asking how many more or fewer of nouns will help your child get the concept in real world objects!  We are only comparing numbers to 5 to begin with which will help at home!
Writing the numbers 0-5 in order and putting number cards in order is also a concept in this math topic.  It's fun to use number cards, a dry erase board, or sidewalk chalk to write them in order to practice!

Coming up!
Wed. Sept. 11      Pizza Shoppe family night for CCE!  A percentage of your meal will go back                                  to CCE.
Thurs. Sept. 12    Green Day and Roller Skating Party 6-8 pm
Fri. Sept 13          Lap-a-thon --see above!
Wed. Sept. 18      2 hour delay start of school--Kids come at 10:30, school begins at 10:45--dismissal is the normal time.  Remember to find out your child's lunch choice.  Hamburger, yogurt, or home lunch by the 17th.
Thurs.  Sept. 19    Purple Day,, All school photo at 9:00
Wed. Sept. 25        1/2 day school, Parent conferences beginning at 4:15
Thurs. Sept. 26     No School, Parent conferences
Fri. Sept. 27          No School
Fri. Oct. 4            Apple Day in the AM

Pictures Galore!

I finally figured out how to download pictures to our blog!  Enjoy!

First Day of School pics!

Imagination Station Fun!

Color Days!

Red Day!

Yellow Day!

Blue Day!

The week of Sept. 3-6.

I hope you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend with your family!

Reading this week!
This week we are continuing with reading more books about school!  I have been focusing a lot on using kind words and kind faces with our friends.

Letters:  We will finish introducing all of the letters, sounds, and actions except for W-Z.  The kids are continuing to amaze me with their memory!

Sight words:  can, do (Please study the sight words each week, so your child doesn't get behind!)

Rhyming:  Each day I am picking a consonant-vowel-consonant word for the children to rhyme with.  These are words with short vowels such as: cat, hen, pig, dog, hut
They are really catching on to thinking of words that have the same ending!
We will also continue with learning how to count syllables in words.  Last week, we counted by clapping the syllables in their names.  Both rhyming and syllable counting can be done in while riding somewhere, making dinner, getting dressed, etc!  

Color of the week!  Blue (Hadley has the blue snack for Thursday!) . Thank you to Cooper for bringing the yellow snack last week!

2nd Step!  This program is a social/emotional program we will be doing throughout the year.  It teaches skills in 4 areas.
1. Skills for learning--how to focus their attention, listen carefully, using self-talk to stay on task and wait their turn, and be assertive when asking for help!
2. Empathy--Student learn to identify and understand their own and others' feelings.  They also learn how to take another's perspective and how to show compassion.
3. Emotion Management-Students learn specific skills for calming down when experiencing strong feelings, such as anxiety or anger.
4. Problem Solving-Students learn a process for solving problems with others in a positive way.

There are also puppet friends that help us learn too!  Ask your child who our friends are!

Math this week!
You will get your child's math test back tomorrow, so look for that!
Today we began Topic 2 over Comparing and Ordering 0 to 5.  We will also be talking a lot about "more and fewer", along with "same as".  "More" is a lot easier than understanding "fewer".  We learn that "fewer" and "less" mean the same thing, but students still struggle with that term.  So, it would help to use "fewer" when counting or when pointing out how many of something to your child at home.  One-to-one correspondence will also be our new math term.  We will be able to notice more and fewer easier by matching items and see how many more, how many fewer there are or if we have the same number.

We are going to be writing 6 and 7 this week!  6 is "big line down, curl up in the corner". 7 is "little line over, big line down".

Delayed start!  Sept. 18 is or first delayed start.  Kids can come at 10:30 and school begins at 10:45.  Dismissal is the same.  Lunch will only be 2 choices.  Choice B-Hamburger or Choice C-yogurt or sack lunch from home.  Please visit with your child at home and decide what they will want.  The cooks want an estimate of lunches the day before on the 17th.  So, I will take lunch count on Tues. the 17th for Wed. the 18th.

Coming up!
Thurs. Sept. 5    Blue Day and Apple Day planning meeting at 4:15 in Ms. Arnote's room
Fri. Sept. 6         The author, Bridget Heos, will visit and talk about her Mustache Baby books!
                             Order forms are in the school newsletter!  Turn in the order form and check                                 by 9/4
Wed. Sept. 11      Pizza Shoppe family night for CCE!  A percentage of your meal will go back                                  to CCE.
Thurs. Sept. 12    Green Day and Roller Skating Party 6-8 pm
Fri. Sept 13         Lap-a-thon (more info. to come on our big fundraiser)
Wed. Sept. 18 .    2 hour delay start of school--Kids come at 10:30