I can NOT believe how busy the start of this school year has been for me!  I am working hard to keep my boat afloat!

Last week we focused on lots of different skills we use during reader’s workshop.  We learned how to read with “Reader Respect” and how to work with an “elbow partner”.  Our skill focused on learning parts of a book.  Please continue to have your child practice these skills at home with you when you read together.  You can read with respect.  Then lean and tell your partner the title of the story or name one of the characters.  Then you can turn and talk about your favorite part of the story and explain why it is your favorite.  You can also talk about book parts every time you start a new story.  Your child could lean and tell the parts as you point to them.

We are still working on learning the names of the letters and the sounds they make.  We focus on one letter/sound a day.  We are putting LOTS of focus on the SOUNDS of letters as the sounds help us learn to read….not the letter name.  It is still important to know the name of the letter for handwriting…but AGAIN make sure your child can also make the sound.  So…..when I show him/her a letter, I always say…”What sound does it make?” (they make sound)  “What sound does it make?” (they make sound)  “What sound does it make?” (they make sound) “How do we write it?” (they name the letter).

 

Last week we practiced drawing scenes for 4 and 5.  We also introduced the words “addition” and “subtraction”.  “Addition”  is when you take a number…and then you take another number…and you put the to numbers together to make a new number.  “Subtraction” is when we take a number and break that number apart.  We have motions that go with the words.  Ask your child to show you!

 

Writing is simply learning how to form our “letters the school way” right now.  Later we will work on telling stories and writing words to go with them…but you can’t write stories until you know how to print your letters correctly.  Please make sure your child is starting letters at the TOP..TOP..TOP when he/she writes….especially on homework.  Here a is letter formation chart to help!

Please encourage correct pinch grip…one finger/one thumb OR two fingers/one thumb…the rest of the fingers hide inside and go for a ride.  Here is a link to a youtube video you may find helpful:

This week 9/25-9/29

Monday: Crazy Hair Day

Tuesday: 80’s Day

Wednesday: Favorite Sports Team

Thursday: Pajama Day

Friday: Hudsonville Pride

We had a kick-off assembly today.  Collection envelopes will be sent home tomorrow!

 

Friday, October 13

 

Order is due by Friday, October 13.  Go to https://clubs.scholastic.com/ and you can search for me!

I will submit all orders on Saturday at 9:00 AM.

is always on Mondays!  Please remember to send back library books each and every Monday!

 

 

So sorry the blog post is late:

1.  I had a meeting all day at the Freshman building learning CPR
2. When I came here at 3:30….a man was in my room taking down all my bulletin boards and marker boards (they ordered the wrong ones the first time)
3. My furniture was moved all over the place
4. The bulletin boards that were decorated, were now in disarray

So I stayed Friday night to redo my already decorated new classroom and left at 1:00 AM Saturday morning…now mind you that was with NO lesson plans in place for the following week.  I did those on Sunday….who says teachers don’t work hard….not me!

So the blog post will be short…sorry about that too (but I have another meeting tomorrow and have to type sub plans still…they will be a novel as it is the beginning of the school year!)  Wow!  This has certainly been a hectic start to my school year.  I hope yours is going more smoothly!

Here is the attached newsletter from last week Thursday.  Specials have been corrected so you can fix your “hard” copy if you would like.  K News 9:14:17-1u2bng8

We also started individual clips on our behavior chart today.  I will send a note home about all the details of the chart on Wednesday, as I won’t be here tomorrow.

Kids have CALENDARS in their folders today that they colored to show you where they ended their day.  If your child gets on green or above, he/she had a good day.  PRAISE him/her.  If he/she colors yellow, orange, or red…I would appreciate you having a conversation about what a good choice might have been instead.  PLEASE make sure to leave calendars in your child’s folder as they are for the whole month.  Thanks!

That is all the new things I can think of for now!  I’ll blog again on Friday!

Tomorrow….Wednesday, September 13 is

 

Please remember to send in the envelope from Geskus that was sent home in your child’s folder.  You may send payment in the envelope.  You may order online.  You may choose not to order pictures at all.  Whatever your choice may be, ENVELOPES must be returned to school tomorrow!  Please return it in your child’s folder on the return to school side!  Thank you!

 

 

We had a great week!  Kids are getting used to routines, expectations, and rules.  Speaking of rules…we have now learned all 5 Rules for our classroom.

Rule 1:  Focus your Attention (eyes on, ears on, mouth closed)

Rule 2:  Follow Directions Quickly (this one is still tricky!)

Rule 3:  Raise your Hand to Talk (getting really good at this)

Rule 4:  Use Kind Hands, Mouth and Hearts 

Rule 5:  Make Smart Choices (that makes our school a happy/safe place be)

We will continue to work on these rules on a daily basis.  We even started to use the clip chart as a class on Friday to “show” the kids when they were making smart choices.  We are using a “CLASS” clip right now.  I will start individual clips soon.   You will know when individual clips are being used as a monthly calendar will be in their folder.

We read LOTS of stories together this week….I was not able to put all the titles on the newsletter.  Here are the books we read.

Please, Mr. Panda – teaches us to ask when we would like something…not tell

The Pout, Pout Fish and The Pout, Pout Fish in the Big, Big Dark – teaches us to have a positive I CAN attitude which helps us make smart choices (Rule 5)

What Does it Mean to be Kind? – went along with rule number 4

Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom – teaches us how to read a book looking at the pictures and we can read it by naming the letters or by making their sounds…that way we become letter experts!

 LETTER BOOTCAMP

 

We have letter centers (capital letter focus this week) that help us practice letters/sounds.  These are our centers:

Write the Room – letters hidden around room kids find and color on paper

Spin the Letter – kids use a spinner with capital letters and color the matching letter on a paper

Letter Puzzles – match the capital to the lower case letter

Find the Sound – read the picture clue, listen to the sound, color the letter that makes that sound

Sound Clippers – read the picture, use a clothespin to clip the letter that makes that sound

Magnet Letters – put the missing capital letter in the correct spot (ex.  M, __, O)

Please remember to send 2 snack each day.  Our little brains do a lot of thinking and need to be fueled.  Please make sure snack are healthy.  No candy please! (and thank you!)  Please make sure to pack your child’s snack in a special pocket of their backpack…NOT in their lunchbox. 

Shoes can be distracting for kindergartners and their teacher.  PLEASE send your child to school in shoes he/she can do independently.  If they do not know how to tie, please send him/her in slip-on shoes or velcro shoes.  Kids are tripping over laces or eating the laces (yuck).  So for safety sake and to help your child follow Rule #1…please send other shoes.  If your child can tie shoes, independently…he/she may certainly wear them to school.

Save the Date:  Wednesday, September 13

Please remember to return the envelope from Geskus that was sent home with your child on Friday.  All envelopes need to be returned whether you are purchasing pictures or not.   Please do not send it in until Wednesday, September 13.  That way envelopes will not get lost in our classroom.  Thanks for your help and understanding!

Here is a link to this week’s newletter as well:  K News 9:7:17-2952rr4

Have a super weekend!  Home football game tonight!  Go Eagles!