Category: Blogs

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday!

Remember, if you have not already sent your child’s library book back, please do so on Monday in order for them to check out a new book!

If you have not yet signed up for a conference, please email me at dimitrm@dearbornschools.org

Upcoming Events

9/25 Late Start – arrival at 9:35am. School starts 9:40am.

9/26 PBIS Party – Yard Games

9/27 No school for Kindergarten students ONLY!!!

Agenda for the Week

We continue learning the routines and procedures of Daily 5. The children had the opportunity to practice work on writing, read to self, and word work. The children are busy building stamina for each round to sit and work quietly longer each day. We learned that there are three ways to read a book. 1) read the words 2) read the pictures 3)retell the story using their own words.

I will be grouping the students next week based on how many uppercase and lowercase letters they know, as well as how many sounds. We will work in small group instruction during our Daily 5 time on letters and sounds. During the month of October I will be assessing reading levels and begin sending books home in November.

This week we worked on the letters Bb and Yy, as well as the sounds these letters make. We learned how to write each letter and where each letter should be written on the line. The children learned that some letters stand on the line, some sit on the line, and some hang down below the line. We practice writing in a straight line without having any letters floating or crooked.

Please utilize RazKids, Readingeggs, and Mathseeds at home. These are all wonderful resources to progress your child’s skills. When your child first logs on to Readingeggs and Mathseeds, it will ask them to take an assessment. This assesses their skill set and places them at the lesson that is best suited for them. Some of your children may start on lesson one or some may start on lesson nine. I love these programs because they place the kids at their own learning level!

We got together with our 2nd grade buddies several times this week to complete an owl project. The children learned facts about owls all week from books and videos. We completed a R.A.N. Strategy together, which stands for Reading and Analyzing Non-Fiction Texts. We wrote down things we thought we knew about owls. Then we watched videos and read books and we confirmed facts that we already knew and wrote down new facts we learned. Our owl project turned out great!

Here is a picture:

We will be adding some facts that we wrote down to our bulletin board next week!

Housekeeping Items:

Snack Time

Please be sure to put the snack in a separate place from their lunch. Please show your child where you will put their snack each day in order to foster independence for them. Sometimes, when the snack is packed inside the lunchbox, the children try to eat their whole lunch at snack time. Please only send one snack with your child. Thank you for your assistance in separating your child’s snack and lunch.

Snacks should be healthy to provide the children with energy for their day. Please send a simple snack such as fruit, vegetables, cheese, and crackers. Please do not send candy as a snack. Juice and milk are not allowed in our classroom. Please do not send any kind of juice box or milk with your child for snack time. The children may have the juice or milk for lunch in the cafeteria.

Folders

Please make sure to empty the folder each night! It is very difficult and time consuming to locate homework or important notes when the folder is full of papers from the day before. Please be sure to send the folder to school each day. It is a big part of our arrival and dismissal routines and the folders help the children keep all of their papers organized

If you did not sign up for a conference time at open house, please send me an email so we can get you signed up for a time!

My email is dimitrm@dearbornschools.org

Thank you!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday!

Remember, if you have not already sent your child’s library book back, please do so on Monday in order for them to check out a new book!

Upcoming Events

9/19 Scholastic Book Order Due (ORDER ONLINE ONLY)

9/20 Half Day – 11:40am

9/25 Late Start – arrival at 9:35am. School starts 9:40am.

9/26 PBIS Party – Yard Games

9/27 No school for Kindergarten students ONLY!!!

Agenda for the Week

We learned the routines and procedures of Daily 5. The children had the opportunity to practice work on writing, read to self, and word work. We were able to learn three out of the five round of Daily 5. We will continue to practice next week and soon the children will learn how to make a choice of which round they would like to do first.

This week we worked on the letters Aa and Zz, as well as the sounds these letters make. We learned a letter sound song to help us with this as well. The children learned that letter sounds help them to become readers and writers.

I am just about finished with our initial round of assessments and this will allow me to begin grouping the children by skill set in order to provide instruction at each individual level.

Please utilize RazKids, Readingeggs, and Mathseeds at home. These are all wonderful resources to progress your child’s skills. When your child first logs on to Readingeggs and Mathseeds, it will ask them to take an assessment. This assesses their skill set and places them at the lesson that is best suited for them. Some of your children may start on lesson one or some may start on lesson nine. I love these programs because they place the kids at their own learning level!

Housekeeping Items:

Snack Time

Please be sure to put the snack in a separate place from their lunch. Please show your child where you will put their snack each day in order to foster independence for them. Sometimes, when the snack is packed inside the lunchbox, the children try to eat their whole lunch at snack time. Please only send one snack with your child. Thank you for your assistance in separating your child’s snack and lunch.

Snacks should be healthy to provide the children with energy for their day. Please send a simple snack such as fruit, vegetables, cheese, and crackers. Please do not send candy as a snack. Juice and milk are not allowed in our classroom. Please do not send any kind of juice box or milk with your child for snack time. The children may have the juice or milk for lunch in the cafeteria.

Folders

Please make sure to empty the folder each night! It is very difficult and time consuming to locate homework or important notes when the folder is full of papers from the day before. Please be sure to send the folder to school each day. It is a big part of our arrival and dismissal routines and the folders help the children keep all of their papers organized.

Reminder:

If you would like a class t-shirt for your child, the order form and $9 cash is due by Friday, September 13th.

Thank you!

Money

When sending money to school with your child, it needs to be in an envelope or baggie with your child’s name on it. It would help if you wrote Dimitriou on it as well. Sometimes the envelope or baggie fall out in the hallway and if it has the teacher’s name on it, it is easier to locate the teacher than a student.

Homework

The homework this year is not a packet, it is one sheet of paper. The children will complete a half sheet for each day. On top of this homework, there is math homework each night. The math homework will be completed in their math workbooks which came home yesterday. The math workbooks stay at home and do not need to be returned to school. These are for extra practice at home.

In addition to the above mentioned homework, today the login information for RazKids, Readingeggs, and Mathseeds will be coming home. Razkids is a great resource for books and comprehension activities. Readingseggs helps the children with letter identification, letter sounds, word families, spelling and much more. Mathseeds teaches about number sense, counting, addition, and subtraction. These are all interactive subscription based websites that Haigh pays for and provides for our families. We will also be using these websites in class.

Windows

We would love to have our shades open, but having parents looking in the windows at arrival and dismissal does not help the children gain independence or help them to start their day. Especially if your child is have separation anxiety, standing in the window is not helping. Please be respectful and do not stand in the windows in the morning or afternoon. We love to have our windows open and observe the weather and enjoy the sunshine.

Thank you for your help i

We had a great first week of full days. Next week will still be a bit of an adjustment for the children as it is a 5-day week of full days.

There are lots of items coming home on Monday. Please be sure to check your child’s folder as there will be important notes such as, a class t-shirt order, the communication log for the week (please keep in the folder all week), homework, and information about open house. The children will also be bringing home their math workbooks. These books are to be kept at home always. It is extra practice to be done at home. A second math homework book will be sent home later this year. The math workbook has a note attached to the front cover with a schedule of which modules to complete for each month.

Homework will be coming home on Monday. The children will have homework each week. It will be a half page to complete each day. I will collect homework on Fridays.

Upcoming Events

9/12 Open House 6:00 – 7:30 pm

(This is a chance for your child to give you a tour of the room)

9/13 Class T-shirt Money Due

9/19 Scholastic Book Order Due

(Note and catalog coming home next week! ORDER ONLINE ONLY)

9/20 Half Day – 11:40am

9/25 Late Start – arrival at 9:35am. School starts 9:40am.

9/27 No school for Kindergarten students ONLY!!!

Agenda for the Week

We continued focusing on learning the rules of the classroom and school. We also spent a lot of time learning different procedures such as how to walk in the hallway, how to transition from tables to carpet, and much more! The children are hard at work trying to be the best class in the school by following directions and setting good examples for others. Please remind your child about being a good listener and rule follower while at school.

We read many books this week and began learning the parts of the book. We also worked on activities related to the books we read. The children practiced their names and will continue to practice writing their names next week. Some of the children already know how to write their names, however they are writing their name in all uppercase letters. Please work with your children at home on writing the first letter as an uppercase letter and the rest of the letters lowercase.

Next week, we will be diving into our curriculum and practicing letters, letter sounds, Daily 5, and beginning our math curriculum. Please make sure the children are well rested and ready to be learners next week as our days will be very full.

I am working on assessing letters, letter sounds, and much more. We also took our first round of NWEA testing. We will continue completing this testing next week. Once we have completed testing, we will be working on creating small groups based on the skills each child needs help progressing in.

I am getting the materials ready to send home for our reading eggs and math seeds passwords as well as our RAZ-kids accounts. RAZ-kids will be the exact same username and password as reading eggs. Thank you for your patience as I get all the accounts set up and all of the login information sent home. All of these resources are wonderful to encourage academic success for every child in a fun and engaging way!

Housekeeping Items:

Snack Time

Please be sure to put the snack in a separate place from their lunch. Please show your child where you will put their snack each day in order to foster independence for them. Sometimes, when the snack is packed inside the lunchbox, the children try to eat their whole lunch at snack time. Please only send one snack with your child. Thank you for your assistance in separating your child’s snack and lunch.

Snacks should be healthy to provide the children with energy for their day. Please send a simple snack such as fruit, vegetables, cheese, and crackers. Please do not send candy as a snack. Juice and milk are not allowed in our classroom. Please do not send any kind of juice box or milk with your child for snack time. The children may have the juice or milk for lunch in the cafeteria.

Folders

Please make sure to empty the folder each night! It is very difficult and time consuming to locate homework or important notes when the folder is full of papers from the day before. Please be sure to send the folder to school each day. It is a big part of our arrival and dismissal routines and the folders help the children keep all of their papers organized.

Thank you for your patience as we get the class used to full days and new rules and routines.

You can find our specials schedule listed under the “class specials schedule” tab at the top of the page.

For your convenience, I have also listed a schedule of our specials here:

Monday: Music

Tuesday: Music

Wednesday: Gym (wear gym shoes) and Technology

Thursday: Gym (wear gym shoes)

Friday: Art

I hope you all are enjoying your long weekend!

Here are a couple reminders for Tuesday:

1. Please talk with your child and make sure they know they will be staying for a full day!
2. Send a healthy snack to school with your child. Please just send one snack. It is also helpful if you put it in a separate area in their backpack. If you put it inside their lunch box, they think they are supposed to eat their whole lunch. Please discuss with your child what they should be eating for their snack and what items are for lunch.
3. Make sure your child knows if they brought a lunch from home or if they will be buying a lunch from school. Please discuss with them which lunch choice they will be making.
   • 1st choice: Mac & Cheese
   • 2nd choice: Vegetable & Cheese Croissant
   • 3rd choice: Chicken Tenders with a Roll
4. If you have not yet turned in your child’s kissing hand, please do so! I would like the children to be able to share their kissing hands in our community circle (sharing time) and for every child to have a kissing hand hanging in the classroom!

Thank you so much for your help in making our first full day of school run smoothly!

We have had a wonderful first week of learning about school and making new friends! The children have learned and practiced how to walk in a line. We took a tour of the school to learn where places are such as gym, art, music, library, lunch room, office, and more. The children learned the rules and how to play on our kindergarten playground right outside our classroom and also on the “big playground” which they will play on after lunch each day.

We are learning about our feelings and how to use our words when someone does something we do not like. The phrase we will use in the classroom this year is, “I don’t like it when…. Please (do an action) OR Next time…..!” An example of a time we used this phrasing was when one friend cut in line in front of another friend. We said, “I don’t like it when you cut in front of me in line. Please go to the end of the line. OR I told the children they could have said, “It is ok today, but next time please go to the end.” This will help the children identify how they are feeling and give them the tools to be able to problem solve situations by expressing themselves with words!

Next week we have full days, Tuesday through Friday. This week of full days can be a big adjustment for some of the children. Please be sure to send a snack with them and pack them a lunch if they will be bringing a lunch from home. If they are buying a lunch from the school, please talk with them about the three lunch choices and make sure they know which one they would like to have. This routine is a difficult one for the children to learn and it really helps when you have talked with them about if they are a buyer or a packer! This will help us to not have to check each backpack in order to help the children know what lunch choice they will be making.

Next week we will be working on building independence, so please say goodbye at the door. Moving forward, no parents will be allowed in the building without signing in at the office. The children all did a great job this week of finding their lockers and unpacking their belongings. I know they will do a great job next week too!

Thank you for all of your help and patience and we build their confidence and independence for a successful school year!

I hope you all enjoy the long weekend!

Today was a great first day of school!

Remember to send a snack with your child to school tomorrow and a water bottle.

All week it is half days. We will dismiss at 11:40am.

See you in the morning!