I am thrilled to announce that I am due with my first child on November 12, 2018. This means that I will be taking maternity leave to be home with my baby beginning sometime in November. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I am planning on working up until this little one decides to make her debut. I will return either at the beginning of January or at the beginning of February, depending upon my approved leave through the school district.
Once I leave, the children will be left in very capable hands. The long term substitute for our classroom is Mrs. Lynda Smith. She has been working in the district for ten years and has completed many long-term substitute positions for friends of mine who have gone on maternity leave. Mrs. Smith will be working in our classroom before I begin my maternity leave, so that she may get to know the children and the routines of our classroom. This will allow the children to become familiar with her too. I am dedicated to the success of every child in my classroom and feel confident that I have found a substitute for our class who has the same goals. I will be preparing the children for my leave by talking to them about the baby, talking to them about Mrs. Smith, and working hard to get all of our routines in place to provide a seamless transition.
It is my privilege to teach your children and I look forward to completing the year with all of you! As always, should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.
Today was the first day that homework was due. Please make sure this is turned in and completed by Friday. If the week became hectic and you need to finish the packet over the weekend, please turn it in on Monday. The reading log should be completed each night. Even if your child was absent, the expectation is that they are reading every night for at least 10 minutes. The reading log is not optional. Reading eggs and RAZ-kids may count towards their reading. The math worksheets do not need to be torn out and returned to school. Please make sure you are keeping up with the math homework which will be listed in one of the boxes on the homework packet each week. One page from the packet and one lesson from the math booklet should be completed each night. I will not collect homework early, even if it has been completed. I will take homework out of folders on Friday only, or on the last day school is in session for the week (example: if there is no school on Friday, homework will be due on Thursday). I hope this helps to clarify some questions that came up this week. Thank you for working with your child at home.
If you have more questions about how to complete the homework, please watch this video:
I am still working on assessing letters, letter sounds, and much more. We will take our second round of NWEA 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.
This week you received all of the login information for RAZ-kids, reading eggs, and math seeds. Please put your child on these programs throughout the week as they help to build upon skills we are learning in school.
Upcoming Events
9/19 Late Start – arrival at 9:35am. School starts 9:40am.
9/19 Scholastic Book Order Due
(Note and catalog coming home today)
9/28 No school for Kindergarten students ONLY!!!
Agenda for the Week
Reading and Writing: We learned the letters A and Z and focused on the sound of each letter. The children brainstormed items that begin with each letter and completed activities which helped them find, identify, and write these letters.
If you need some ideas on how to help your child learn their name or letters in general, or your child needs to work on letter sounds, please watch the video below:
We use videos in class to help solidify concepts we are learning. Here are two videos to support the letters and letter sounds we learned this week:
The children participated in many read-alouds and learned to identify parts of the book such as front cover, back cover, spine, title page, author, illustrator, and characters. We will continue to talk more about these concepts over the next few weeks and introduce setting, problem, and solution as well.
This week we practiced one rotation of Daily 5. The children learned that there are three ways to read a book 1) read the words 2) read the pictures 3) retell the story. The children used these strategies during our Daily 5 – Read to Self rotation to read books quietly and build stamina. We will continue practicing these strategies next week.
Math: We began our new math program this week and are working through it. We will continue to learn how to complete math workshop centers and continue learning number concepts next week.
We use videos in class to help solidify concepts we are learning. Here are some videos to support the our learning this week:
Social Studies: We continued focusing on learning the rules of the classroom and school. We are working hard at being good listener. Some of the children are struggling with keeping their hands to themselves and knowing when it is appropriate to play pretend superheroes or zombies. Please help me and the class by going over expectations and rules with your child each morning before drop-off. Thank you for your support!
Housekeeping Items:
Name Practice
If your child is struggling with writing their name and other letters, it is important that you work with them at home on this skill. We are spending time in class working on these skills, but will be moving on quickly and if your child is struggling to form letters, they will struggle to complete their work. Here is a great resource for handwriting practice: https://www.handwritingworksheets.com/flash/printdots/index.htm
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. 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.
ALLERGY ALERT: We have nut allergies in our room. Please make sure that you are not sending any snacks which contain any nuts. Our room is NUT FREE!
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.
Change of clothes
Please send in a change of clothes (pants, shirt, underwear, socks) in a gallon bag with their name clearly written on the baggie. My most frequent call home is to ask for parents to bring a change of clothes to school. Even the most disciplined children have accidents at school sometimes. We have so much fun during the day that sometimes the children do not want to stop to use the bathroom when needed. Not only do bathroom accidents happen, but sometimes the playground equipment is wet or the ground is muddy. Having a change of clothes at school makes it easy for me and for you to help your child feel clean and comfortable in the quickest way possible. We will leave the baggie of clothes in their locker at school.
You are invited to open house tonight, September 13th, 2018 from 6-7:30pm.
The purpose of Open House is for your child to show you around the classroom and the school. With open house being only a couple weeks into school and for confidentiality reasons, please save all questions about your child’s progress for conferences, which will be at a later time. There will be sign up sheets, in the classroom, for Parent Teacher Conferences. Conferences are the time where we can talk together all about your child and how they are doing so far. Thank you so much for your cooperation.
I look forward to meeting you at Open House and getting your child excited about school!
I cut my half sheet note in half and the bottom half should have been saved for January. Oops! I will send home the whole sheet today, which details the math homework schedule for the entire year. You have only one book which contains the homework from now until January. In January, another book will be sent home, in which you may continue the math homework.
This is a new program this year, so we are working through the bumps along the way and figuring out the best way to manage all of the materials. Thank you for your patience!
Some of you mentioned that you did not receive the homework or the logins for RAZ kids and reading eggs yesterday. Some of the children are still learning our end of the day routine and are not emptying their cubbies. If you did not receive these papers yesterday, I have found them inside your child’s cubby and they will be coming home today.
Also, if you have questions about how to complete the homework, please reference my how-to homework video at the top of the page under the tab “how-to videos.”
For your convenience, I have also included the video below:
ALLERGY ALERT: We have nut allergies in our room. Please make sure that you are not sending any snacks which contain any nuts. Our room is NUT FREE!
Upcoming Events
9/13 Open House 6:00 – 7:30 pm
(This is a chance for your child to give you a tour of the room)
9/14 ½ Day
9/19 Late Start – arrival at 9:35am. School starts 9:40am.
9/19 Scholastic Book Order Due
(Note and catalog coming home today)
9/28 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 ready the materials to send home 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:
Lunch Cards
If you need to load money on to your child’s lunch card throughout the year, all you need to do is put cash or check in an envelope labeled with your child’s name, place it in their folder, and I will turn this in to the office for you.
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. 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.
ALLERGY ALERT: We have nut allergies in our room. Please make sure that you are not sending any snacks which contain any nuts. Our room is NUT FREE!
Folders
Folders came home yesterday. 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.
Change of clothes
Please send in a change of clothes (pants, shirt, underwear, socks) in a gallon bag with their name clearly written on the baggie. My most frequent call home is to ask for parents to bring a change of clothes to school. Even the most disciplined children have accidents at school sometimes. We have so much fun during the day that sometimes the children do not want to stop to use the bathroom when needed. Not only do bathroom accidents happen, but sometimes the playground equipment is wet or the ground is muddy. Having a change of clothes at school makes it easy for me and for you to help your child feel clean and comfortable in the quickest way possible. We will leave the baggie of clothes in their locker at school.
Emergency Cards
If you have not returned your emergency cards yet, please check the information to make sure it is correct and return it to school ASAP. Don’t forget to write in any missing information and sign the bottom.
Thank you for your patience as we get the class used to full days and new rules and routines.
Some of the notes for today fell out of folders and ended up on the floor.
Here are two notes which came home today:
Dear Parents,
Here at Haigh, we use the Positive Behavior Behavior Support System (PBIS) as our school wide behavior plan. We are excited about this system and how it will provide our students with a consistent, fair, and positive behavior plan. We have been practicing our classroom rules and routines and are ready to start using our communication logs. Every morning your child’s card will start on an owl. When the rules are not followed, they will have to flip their card to yellow, and so on if the behavior continues. Special area teachers will be using the PBIS plan in their classrooms.
Here are the Positive Behavior colors and their consequences:
OWL: Doing their absolute best (box will be left blank)
YELLOW: Five minute time out in the room or at recess and a note
BLUE: Ten minute time out in the room or at recess and a note
RED: See the principal
Thank you for your cooperation!
The other note is below:
Dear Parents –
Please help our snack time go more smoothly by putting your child’s snack in their backpack separate from their lunch. When the children have their snack packed inside their lunch box with the rest of the food, they think they can eat their lunch for snack time. Please send a healthy snack each day such as fruit, vegetables, cheese, or crackers. Also, we do not allow juice in our classroom because it is messy and we get several bugs in our room due to our proximity to the playground.
Please see Mr. Short’s blog post regarding parents in the classroom at arrival and dismissal times for tomorrow and moving forward for the rest of the year.
Please see Mr. Short’s blog post for details on where to line up at arrival tomorrow morning. These locations are also where you will need to come at the end of the day for dismissal.
Please remember that Kindergarten always dismisses 5 minutes earlier than the rest of the school. Tomorrow we will be at our door at 11:40 for dismissal.
I am looking forward to meeting all of you in the morning!
