Newsletter for Week 10 (RECAP and NEW info!)

What we did during our week:

Language Arts and Writing: We worked on recognizing and writing the letter I and the letter R. These are the letters we have learned thus far: Aa, Bb, Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii  and Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy and Zz.  Make sure to focus on these letters/sounds at home to observe if your child has mastered each letter that was taught in class.  I will administer a 2nd test in letter recognition very soon!  Also, please make sure to go over LIST TWO for the sight word list; make it  a part of their homework routine:)  Our sight word test for LIST TWO will be  Thursday, November, 16th!   “Sight words are an important building block for early readers because they make up much of what a child will encounter when reading any book, worksheet or environmental print.  Children are encouraged and expected to recognize these words by sight; that is, to memorize them without sounding out or using other strategies.” -heidisongs.com

Math: We practiced recognizing, writing and representing numbers 19 and 20.   I have also introduced decomposing numbers: how to rip them apart and put it back together (whole); This will help us with simple addition and comparing and contrasting!  Also, I will be teaching the students how to count by 5’s and 10’s to 100 in addition to counting by 1’s:)  Here are some pictures of us having fun during math centers!

Science: We started our unit on Weather: sunny, cloudy and rainy!  We completed a R.A.N on weather!  Here is our work:)  

Social Studies: We started our unit on Needs and Wants!  We completed a C.E.R on Needs!  Here is our work:)

Other:

• We will start our unit on Turkeys next week…Gobble Gobble!
• Thank you to Elliana’s family for donating a brand new radio to the classroom…we appreciate it so much!
• In writing, we have learned how to use finger spaces in our sentences, writing from left to right and using punctuation at the end of our sentences!  Please practice this at home when writing sentences with sight words!
• **STAR Student: We have officially launched STAR student of the week in Kindergarten!  Each Friday, I will choose one child to be selected for star student.  That child will come home with an ALL ABOUT ME poster to be completed over the weekend and returned Monday morning.  All week we will talk about the star student, look at his/her poster and also write about that student in class.  At the end of the week, the star student will come home with a published book to keep and read with family!  Star student is a great way to highlight all of the amazing kids we have here in Kindergarten!  It’s a feel good activity and makes the kids really excited about writing and learning new things about their friends!  Be as creative as you want with the Star student poster.  Add pictures, drawings, crafts, stickers, objects to the board…there is no wrong answer!  If you have any questions about the Star Student Poster, please feel free to email me at any time!  *Here are some pictures of us writing about our star student Ameena during our Writing Block!
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Housekeeping items:

• For your convenience, I will have the Parent Teacher Conference reminder times at arrival and dismissal starting on Wednesday.  I will also send home two additional reminders in your child’s folder about your conference day/time.  You will only attend ONE conference, not all 3 that is offered. I have back to back conferences, so please make sure to be on time so you are able to receive all the information you need about your child and also ask any questions you may have:)  We have conferences on Wednesday, November 15th and Thursday the 16th.
• Please make sure to log onto math seeds and reading eggs when there is downtime at home, especially on the weekends!  I have laminated and attached logins/passwords for EACH child on their communication log this week!  Please keep this in a safe place, so it doesn’t get lost.  These programs are free for you to use, how awesome is that?  All you need to do is to show your child how to log in and they can begin learning!  Parents, in the classroom, I am trying to teach each child to login typing their own username and password…independency is the name of the game!   If you could be so kind, to help your child do the same at home, it would help so much!  Thank you!
• We will start sending book bags home Monday, November 13th. There is a note in the bag outlining how these will work. Just to reiterate, these bags come home and come back to school every single day. We use these during small group instruction. Please read these books at home with your child, and have them work on reading independently. We are working on one-to-one finger pointing. This mean that they should be pointing to each word as they read it. We are also working on reading words from left to right, spotting sight words easily in text and stretching sounds out when coming to an unknown word!  Make sure to jot down your child’s reading in the reading log each night!
• Our Book Fair Preview will be Tuesday, November 14th!  We can’t wait to see all of the different books offered at the Book Fair!
• This Wednesday is a LATE Start day!  School will start at 9:35a.m.
• Make sure to send in your canned goods throughout the week!  This is the last week for our food drive!  All cans are due by Thursday, November 16th!
• Savory Orders need to be picked up on Thursday, November 16th between 2:30-5:00 p.m.
• Our sight word test LIST TWO and homework will be on Thursday, November 16th.
• There is NO SCHOOl for Kindergarten students ONLY on November 17th.
• Thank you to the families who donated to our classroom fund celebration!  This money will be used to purchase items needed for our holiday celebrations and our end of the year party!  If you weren’t able to send in the donation and would still like to, there is still time!  Thank you:)
• New library books will come home today!  Enjoy these books over the weekend and for next week’s reading log.  If you forgot to bring in your child’s library book today, they will wait another 3 weeks to check out another book, considering we don’t have school next Friday or Thanksgiving weekend.  Happy Reading!

Upcoming Events:

November 13th-17th- Scholastic book fair at school (Family night 15th and 16th)

November 14th– Book Fair Preview!

November 15th– LATE start @ 9:35 a.m.

November 15th– Parent Teacher Conference Day (4-7pm)

November 16th– Parent Teacher Conference Day (4-7pm)

November 16th- Sight word test LIST TWO!

November 16th– Homework DUE!

November 17th– NO SCHOOL for Kindergarten ONLY!

November 22nd-24th- NO SCHOOL for Thanksgiving!

November 30th- PBIS turkey bowling! This event will be for students who have flipped their card less than 4 times in the classroom!  Keep up the good behavior Kindergarten!

Enjoy your weekend with loved ones:)  See you Monday!