Polar Express Day 

This Thursday, December 18th, our class is welcome to wear pajamas to school for our Polar Express Day!

North Pole Visitor!

You may have heard that we have a reindeer in our classroom! His name is Jingles and he has been hiding around the room watching over us! If our class is on green, he leaves some bells in a jar.  Here are some of the places we have found him!

Week of December 8

Sight Word: is
Word Study: Continue Middle short vowels: e,o,u

Holiday Shop

Our holiday shop day is this Thursday, December 11th. Please look through the information page that came home for more information. If you need another flyer, let me know! If your child is shopping, please send the cash in on Thursday in an envelope or baggie. 

Retelling

Here are some pictures of our drawings from the story Lots of Latkes. We were practicing retelling the story from beginning to end!

Important Dates:

Monday 12/8 Scholastic Book Orders Due

Thursday 12/11 Holiday Shop

Friday 12/19 Winter Party

Monday 12/22 Winter Break Begins

Monday 1/5 School Resumes

Dads & Donuts

It was great to see and meet all the Dads that came for Dads and Donuts on Thursday! I tried to get a picture of everyone that came! I hope I didn't miss anyone! Here is the link to the pictures!

**I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving Break!**

Week of December 1st

Here is a look ahead to what we will be doing when we Return from Thanksgiving Break!

Sight Word: is
Word Study: Middle short vowel e,o,u

Important Dates:

Thursday 12/11 Holiday Shop
Friday 12/19 Winter Party
12/22-1/2 Winter Break

Week of November 17th

 Book Buddy Bags & RAZ Kids 

We have started guided reading and I am sure you have seen the Book Buddy bag come home! The kids have been so excited to take them home and read it to their families! I meet with each group four times a week.  During our group time we usually work within a book for two days reading it, doing word work and practicing writing. It is okay if the same book comes home a few times during the week. Sometimes, your child may choose to take home the same book as well! Rereading is a great way to build fluency and word recognition! 

Last week I sent home a login code for the RAZ Kids website/app. This is another great resource for practicing reading with leveled books. If your child has read the guided reading book a few times and is looking for a different book, he/she can log on and read! You can also log on to the Scholastic Storia for leveled books too! If you need me to send home the login information for Storia, let me know and I will get it to you!

Winter is Coming!!

I loved the excitement of the first snow of the season Friday brought in! We kept peeking out the window and admiring the beautiful flakes. I did hear a rumor that Elsa may have had something to do with it! With the snow also comes the cold weather. Please practice putting on and taking off winter apparel. This would include: putting on and tying shoes, zipping coats and putting on gloves! THANK YOU! It will be a big help when arriving and dismissing from school!

Since we do not have recess, it is not necessary to wear snow pants every day. However, depending on the temperature outside, we will try to go out for Friday Fun. If we go out, students will need snow pants, boots, and gloves to play in the snow!

Sight Word: is

Word Study: Continue middle sounds a/i

Important Dates:

Thursday 11/20 Dads & Donuts 

Wednesday 11/26-11/28 Thanksgiving Break

Scholastic Book Orders!

If you are ordering books from the November catalog, orders are due tomorrow! If you would like to purchase them as gifts, let me know and I will place the books in a bag before they go home! Thanks again for your support!

Week of November 10

Sight Word: he
Word Study: Middle Vowel sounds: a/i



Important Dates

Tuesday 11/11 Conferences
Thursday 11/20 Dad's and Donuts


Fall Fest Photo Links

Thank you for sending in photos!

A.M. Class
P.M. Class

Letter Name/Sound Fluency

A packet will come home today for you to practice letter fluency with your child.  For this activity, set the timer for one minute.  Have your child read the letters across the row. The students will read the letters across the row and see how many they can read within one minute. When practicing saying the letter name, they only have to say the name of the letter. You can also have your child read the sounds of each letter. When practicing reading the sounds, your child will say the sound only.  Research states that the quicker students are able to recall their letters the better readers they will become! Please spend only a minute or two on this activity a few times a week.

Week of November 3

Fall Festival

Thank you to our Party Volunteers! The classes had a blast! I am putting together all the photos from the party! If you took any photos and would like me to add it to our collection for the blog, please email them to me! I will get the photos posted this week! Thank you again for your time!

Homework

This week I will be sending home this month's math homework and bonus sight words. In math, we are continuing to work on counting from any number to 100, number recognition (especially the teen numbers) and addition and subtraction within 5. Our 5 sight words for this quarter are: the, he, is, as, and you. Please practice reading and writing these words. If your child can read them quickly, move on to working on the bonus words. Also, please remember to review the blue book videos on Mrs. Buettin's blog! As always, thanks for all the support at home!

Conferences

Conferences are this Thursday (11/6) and next Tuesday (11/11). I will be handing out reports at your conference time! I look forward to meeting with everyone then. If something comes up and you are unable to attend the conference, please let me know as soon as possible so we can set another date!

Sight Word: he

Word Study: Ending Sounds g,d,l,v

Tuesday 11/4 No School

Thursday 11/20 Dads & Donuts

Author Visit!!

Local author, Eric VanRaepenbusch, came to visit our school today! He did an amazing job talking to the kids about writing. He shared with us how he thinks of a topic and plans his writing before turning his story into a book. We even got a sneak peek of the process he went through to publish his latest book, Baby Beards! Many thanks to Eric for supporting our students and community!

Thinking of an Idea

Rehearsing his Story Out Loud

Writing the story in words and pictures.

Getting his Reading Hat on and sharing the work behind Baby Beards

Reading Baby Beards

You will probably see Eric around town sharing his love of reading and writing with children in the community! Eric's latest book is Baby Beards, published this year. He is also the author of The Three Ghost Friends Series and a blog called Happy Birthday Author. Click the links to learn more!

Behavior Color Chart

Our behavior color chart is changing. The kindergarten team has added some additional colors to support positive behavior. Your child may have colored in a different color than green today, which is okay! We will begin transitioning over to this new system this week.  More information to follow soon!

Week of October 27th

Fall Festival

Our Fall Fest is on Friday! Please remember no masks, or costume weapons or extra treat bags. Send your child's costume in a bag, we will have time to get dressed before the parade. Families are welcome to come watch our Costume Parade:

A.M. Class Parade will be inside at 10:30. Families can line up in the office area.
P.M. Class Parade will be outside at 2:15 (weather permitting, dress in layers). Families can line up along the playground fence.


Sight Word: the
Word Study: Ending Sounds t,n,p,f

**Thank you to all the families who donated books from our Book Fair to our Classroom Library!! It is greatly appreciated and the class will enjoy reading them during our read to self time! **

Book Buddy Bags

This week your child will be coming home with a book buddy bag. Inside this bag is a book that your child has been reading during our small group reading instruction time (Guided Reading). Please have your child practice reading the book and return to school every day. You will also find a letter explaining the bag and strategies you can work on with your child when reading.

Math

During our Math time we will be working on number combinations to five with manipulatives (2 and 3 make 5, 2 and 2 make 4 etc.). We will also continue working on counting, number recognition and number formation.

Important Dates

Friday 10/31 Fall Festival

Tuesday 11/4 No School for Students

Thursday 11/20 Dad's & Donuts

Week of October 20

Field Trip Photos

Thank you to our parent chaperons for helping us out! Luckily the weather held out! Thank you Mrs. Peters for taking some pictures! Below is a link to see some photos from our trip!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d4nj4ywdtnxguh5/AACQFxjLEz7ma7aPnFgJhQCXa?dl=0

Writer’s Workshop: Personal Narratives

During the next few weeks of writer’s workshop we are going to be focusing on narrative writing. Students will be working on writing true stories of things that have happened to them. The standards emphasize the importance of narrating a sequence of events; having students write WHO is in the story, WHERE the story is happening and WHAT is happening. In school, we will be looking closely at this genre of writing, noticing what authors do when writing in this genre.

The first step in helping students become successful in this genre of writing is promoting storytelling. As you know, our students always have stories to tell! They are excited to tell us about what they did the night before or places they have been. Orally rehearsing their stories will help them develop a sense of storybook language. We will be practicing telling our stories orally and then practice bringing those stories to our books in written words and pictures.

How can you support your child with this at home?

Promote storytelling at home! You may not realize it but you are already supporting this at home! When your child gets off the bus, the first question you usually ask is: How was school today? What did you do at school? Although your child may have a two word response or a shrug, you are waiting for all the details of your child’s day from beginning to end!

Book Fair Week

Our book fair starts this week! Our class will be browsing and purchasing books on library day. Family night is Wednesday, September 22, 4:00-7:00. You can walk through and purchase books at the library and meet local author Eric VanRaepenbush for story-time and crafts in the gymnasium.

Sight Word: at

Word Study: ENDING SOUNDS b,m,s,r

Important Dates

Wednesday 10/22 Book Fair Family Night 4:00-7:00

Friday 10/31 Fall Festival

Week of October 13th

Field Trip Information

Field Trip day is this Wednesday, October 15th. Please remember to pack a disposable lunch (paper bag, disposable containers and silverware). We will be going rain or shine, so dress to the weather! If it is a rainy day, it will be very muddy. Let's hope for nice weather! 2:00 is the pick up time for those who checked that off on their permission slip. If you have an a.m. student riding the bus home at the end of the day, please check with neighbors to get an idea of when the bus will arrive at your home.

Sight Word: on,  review of a ,it, in, on
Word Study: y,v,z,q

Doing a Picture Sort for Word Study

Important Dates

Wednesday 10/15 Field Trip
Friday 10/17 No School
Monday 10/20 Book Fair Week
Wednesday 10/22 Family Night @ Book Fair

Other News

Collecting Box Tops will help our school earn money! You can turn them in anytime with your child! Find them on many products from cereal to cake mix to paper products!

Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to be a chaperon for our upcoming field trip. Mrs. M picked names out of a hat this afternoon. Our chaperons will be:

Mrs. Peters, Mrs. Clements, Mrs. Abramovich and Mrs. Konturas

Week of September 29th

Word Study

We have started word study in our classroom. Each week we will focus on a word feature/pattern to study. At the beginning of Kindergarten we focus on noticing and hearing the beginning sounds of words. We then will move onto ending sounds, middle vowels, digraphs and blends. Each week we sort picture cards together on the smartboard. During Word Work time, the students sort the pictures independently or with a partner. After we sort them together as a class, I will send home a copy of the picture sort to be cut out and practiced if needed.

Sight Word- it
Word Study- d,h,l,c

Field Trip Information

If you are interested in being a chaperon on the field trip, please send me a note or email by this Monday. We will be picking names out of the hat. If your name is drawn, I will contact you on Tuesday so you can make any arrangements needed! There will be two parents drawn per class. Thank you ahead of time! Also, don't forget to pack a disposable lunch! We will be there for most of the day!

Important Dates

Thursday 10/2 Picture Day
Wednesday 10/15 Field Trip
Friday 10/17 NEOA Day: No School
Week of 10/20 Book Fair

Other News

I will not be sending home Scholastic Book flyers this month since we will have the book fair. If there are some books you saw online and still would like to purchase, let me know and I can place an order next week. You can also order October books in November. If you would ever like to purchase books as a gift (christmas, birthday etc) let me know and I can make sure your child doesn't see it!

Please remember to check and empty your child's folder every night for important information, school work, etc.

Word Work

During Word Work, students are practicing our 20 Kindergarten sight words. Each week we will focus on one-two new sight words and continue practicing previous sight words. Students can build their sight words out of beans, play doh, stamps, magnetic letters, or rainbow write their words. This will help students build visual memory of the words, read them and write them.

Practicing using the beans by building our names.

Rainbow Writing Sightwords

We have been learning how to use the ipads.

Read to Self

What We Have Been Working On

The past few weeks we have been working on identifying the Character of a story, retelling and sequencing stories. When reading at home talk with your child about the characters or have them retell a story that you have read. We have also been talking about rhyming words.

This week we will continue to talk about sequencing. We will also talk about Cause and Effect and Comparing/Contrasting the stories we have read. 

Sight Word of the Week: it

Important Dates

Tuesday 9/23  Curriculum Night @ Craddock 6:30 pm

Thursday 10/2  Picture Day

Other News

As the cooler weather approaches, please practice zipping/buttoning jackets. On some Fridays, we may go outside on the playground.  Please make sure your child has appropriate attire on those days.

Thank you to everyone who ordered books from scholastic! I was able to order $25 dollars in books for our classroom and I also received 10 free books! The class has been enjoying them during read to self!

Building our Reading Stamina & 3  Ways to Read a Book

You may have heard your child talking about building their Reading Stamina. I use a literacy structure called the Daily 5 that teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. In Kindergarten, we focus on 4 of the 5 tasks: Read to Self, Word Work, Work on Writing and Listening to Reading. Each task is introduced individually where we discuss what it looks like and sounds like to engage in the task independently. During Read to Self, we practice staying in one spot, reading the whole time and reading quietly. We will continue to work on building our stamina for reading (read to self) until they reach about about 7-10 minutes independently. Both classes have been working real hard and average about 6-7 minutes of independent reading time! Wow!

During Read to Self, students have been practicing the 3 Ways to Read a Book:

1. Read the Pictures
2. Read the Words
3. Retell the Story

Ask your child to tell/show you 3 ways they can read a book at home!

Important Dates:

Tuesday 9/9: Scholastic Book Orders are Due
Thursday 9/11: Please wear your red, white, and blue for Patriot Day!
                         Our Ice Cream Social is from 6-8 @ Leighton Elementary
Tuesday 9/23: Curriculum Night starts at 6:30 @ Craddock Elementary

Other Notes:

*If you have not returned the Kindergarten Class Directory form and you would like your name in the directory, please send in by this Wednesday, September 10, and I will get that printed and sent home by Friday! Thanks!

First Week of School!

What a great first week of school! I am so lucky to work with such a great group of students! This week we really focused on classroom routines and what it means to be respectful, responsible and a problem solver. We have also been working to build our stamina for reading! I am so proud of the enthusiasm and hard work each and everyone has put into their learning! I look forward to what is yet to come!