We have had a FABULOUS three weeks of Kindergarten!  I hope that your children are adjusting to the new schedule of attending school each day.  Please make sure they are getting to bed early and having a good breakfast each day so that they can come to school Ready to Learn.

 

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   Leader In Me- 7 Habits for Happy Kids

We are continuing our study of Habit #1 Be Proactive.   Habit #1  Be Proactive ~ I’m in charge of me!  This week we are focusing on what it means to be a leader.  A leader is someone who is proactive and gets things done.  When I am PROACTIVE I am free to choose and am responsible for my choices.  Although we have been learning how to do this in class our goal is to be proactive at home, too. I have already seen great examples of our students being proactive and I love it when they tell me how they have been proactive at home.  Use the word “Proactive” at home and see what great results you will get.  I will be giving your student bright pink tickets if they are displaying this habit at school so that you will know that “I SPIED” your student using these skills.  Please feel free share to experiences your student is having at home with me via email and I will present them with a ticket in class.

• Homework

Thanks to all the families that are being PROACTIVE with your child’s homework each week!  Please take a look at the following list to make sure your child receives full credit for their homework each week.

This is what a completed Home Learn folder looks like:   

1. Each assignment is completed 100% on the bookmark
2. All handwriting is done in PENCIL (not pen or marker)
3. You have initialed or placed a check mark next to each assignment on the bookmark. The bookmark is returned to school on time

Homework is worth 10 points each week.  Points are deducted for late, missing, or partially completed assignments (unless absent).  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, have your student complete ALL the Homework activities. You do not need to send work back unless requested on special occasions. RETURN the Home Learn Bookmark, each Thursday, thanks!!

Grandparent Luncheon ~ Wednesday, Sept. 14^th at 11:30

You may purchase lunch ticket any time prior to that day at the front office and bring your receipt on the 14th.  Please have the grandparents arrive at 11:20 on the 14th and purchase their lunch ticket if needed from the secretary in the office.  Then go directly to the lunchroom with the receipt.  Please get in the lunch line and get your lunch.  The Kindergarten classes eat on table 7.  Please meet your grandchild near that area.  We will join you there.

•    NEW THIS MONTH-READING MINUTES-  You will be asked each week to log your child’s reading minutes.  Please read the orange paper-It explain how your child can read or be read to.  Our goal is 60 minutes each week. (MORE IS BETTER) 20 min Monday, 20 min Tuesday and 20 min Wednesday.   Please log your TH – Sun.  minutes and add it to the Monday line each week.  Remember during the week your student can:

1.       Read the pictures-just look at the picture and make up a story

2.      Read for ONE letter- look at the text and find m, m, m, m, m-This is wonderful for learning letters in our name.

3.      Read for “snap words- look at the text and find the, the, the, the.  We have introduced the High Frequency Sight Words: “the”  “my” “ and” “ a”  if your student can not identify these yet they are behind. Use your “snap word” cards at home.

Snap Words: During the first week a green sheet with 7 words was sent home in the Home Learn red folder.  Students were to cut out these words and put them in a baggie to keep at home.  KEEP AT HOME We will be adding to this bag all year long as we begin to learn new words.  Please practice these words.  Your student should be able to spell these words and say them in a snap. We have learned the word “the” in week 1 of school.  If your student can already read the word they are ready to start writing and illustrating pictures.: The cat., The book.,  The rainbow.  Have your student look for the word “the” in books he/she is reading.  We introduced “my”  and “a” this past week as well.  We will be learning and practicing “and” this week, plus reviewing all others learned thus far.

The LAST 3 WEEKS…   We learned how to:   

• THINK
• OBSERVE
• MAKE GOOD CHOICES
• COOPERATE
• BE PATIENT        Talk to your child at home and ask them about our class rules.  Point out times at home when they are doing them.

We Can Cooperate!

Make Good Choices, Be Patient, Observe and Think!

• MATHEMATICS    
  

We just finished learning the math attribute of sorting.  We learned to sort objects that are identical, similar, or different into sets.  Your child’s Unit 1 Math Test will be sent home in the red folder on the 6^th.  Thanks for supporting our “Hat Sorting” activity!!  Here are your mathematicians in action!!!!  Go EAGLES!

Drawing monkeys and writing Mm

• LANGUAGE ARTS  

  

  Learning about letter Mm

In Language Arts we are working on spelling our first name.  If your child can do this then they are working on their last name.  We are also learning about the difference between a letter and a word.  Also students need to be able to identify the HFW “snap words” in books.

  

Ss is for snake

We have had fun learning about  letters Mm and Ss. The science teacher from the Jr. High brought a visitor to Kindergarten and we are going to name this little baby snake!!

We will be reviewing the letters in our names and reviewing and learning letters Mm, Ss, Rr, and Tt this week.

Handwriting

1. We are learning that lowercase letters fall into one of three categories.  They are TALL, SMALL, or FALL below the bottom line.  When your child is writing at home encourage them to identify which one each letter is.
2. We also start writing ALL letters at the top and go to the bottom.  This will help them do their best handwriting.  Make sure you refer to the ABC handwriting page I sent home in their folder the 1st week. Please correct them if they are writing letters from the bottom up.
3. We have a 2 week goal to know how to WRITE our first name.  If your student is unable to  identify all letters in their name they need to PRACTICE, practice, practice!!

We also learned about "GOOD FIT" books.  When we read books that are a good fit for our skill level we are more successful at learning to read.  Ask your student about their book baggies at school.  Here is our "I PICK" song too.

• Questions:  
  

Please ask your child about what they are doing and learning at school.  Open ended responses are great instead of questions that they can just give a yes or no answer for.  Ask them what they are learning in math and Language Arts.  Ask them about their friends and relationships in the class.  Talking about and discussing what they are learning will reinforce concepts being taught.

 READING BUDDIES

We are going to be study buddies with Mrs. Rivas’ 4^th grade class this year.  The kiddos enjoy this partner activity so much!  We meet every Wed. at 9:05 with her class to read and study our books in our book baggies, HFW cards, and other language activities.  Your student has a partner or 2 in some cases.  Ask them how it is going periodically.

Kindergarten Monthly Learning Goals: Learn to write my name correctly beginning with a capital or uppercase letter and all other letters in the name should be lower case letters.  Ex.) Lauretta Hill   Learn to identify and name all the letters in my first name and last name if my first name has been mastered. Identify, count, write and order numbers 0-5.

The Giving Tree:      

Our class “Giving Tree” is out in the hall on the wall near our classroom.  This is a way that I notify parents what our class needs are in the way of supplies and donations.  The tree has sticky notes that can be taken off and the items returned to school with your child.  It will be up all year.  I just want to say THANKS in advance for any donations that you make to our classroom.  Right now we really need some prizes for our PRIZE box, please!

Volunteers:   

    

Thanks to all of the responses that I received regarding opportunities to volunteer for the school.  We still are in need of a DVD Creator for the End of Year video.  AND we need 2- Class Room Parents.  These volunteers plan several activities with teacher throughout the year, organize the needed volunteers and execute the activities on the day of the event.  They also will be the school volunteer contacts for big school events that our school volunteer coordinator needs help with during the year.  Thanks! Thanks!

Here are the some cute pics of the week:

September Calendar Events

September 5th- NO SCHOOL Labor Day

6th- Library Day: Please return your book every TUESDAY is LIBRARY day

8th - Home Learn Folder DUE and GRANPARENT LUNCH ORDER SLIP

13^th- School Book Fair starts this week (see the flyer in red folder for details)- NO LIBRARY this week, you may return books but we will not be checking out a new book

14th- Mrs. Hill's Class Grandparent's Day Lunch 11:30

15th- Minimum Day- dismiss at 12:45  Parent Conferences at the Jr. High ONLY

16th- NO SCHOOL due to Parent Conferences at the Jr. High, elementary staff will be in Professional Development sessions.

30th- School Carnival

OPAPO parent organization sponsored School Carnival Event-  please look for more information coming soon!  SAVE THE DATE- September 30th!

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS WILL BE THE ONLY POST FOR THE MONTH so Please REFER to it OFTEN, thanks!!