Dates to Remember:

Wednesday, October 25 – Field Trip – Detroit Zoo. Students need to bring a brown bag lunch with disposable juice box, drink. Please dress your child for the weather, we will be outside. More information will be coming regarding our day at the zoo.

Friday, October 27 – Howard Halloween Trunk or Treat Bash hosted by Howard PTA from 6-8:30 p.m. Students may wear their costumes to event.

Tuesday, October 31 – Halloween Parade will start promptly at 1:30 p.m. Students will report to school wearing regular clothing. Please have your child  bring their costume to school in a bag labeled with your child’s name. Students will change into their costumes when they return from lunch to get ready for the parade. Only “school appropriate” costumes – no masks, weapons, blood or violent themes.

Friday, November 3 – Half-day of school for all students.

Tuesday, November 7 – No school for all students. Teacher Professional Development Day.

Peek at the Week:

Letters of the Week – Nn and Ff      Sight word of week – see

Math – Card Marking 1 – Goals count by ones 1-30, tens 10-30. Writing numbers 1-20. Counting forward from any given number within a sequence. Counting objects and naming number of objects with a written numeral; great activity to do at home. Give your child a group of small objects to count and have them write the number they counted on paper or a dry erase board.

Writing – Opinion writing – students have been working on simple opinion statements and including a reason with their opinion. I like pumpkins because . . . or I do not like pumpkins because . . .

Science – Physical Science – Push and Pulls

Social Studies – How Do I Get Along with Others? How do I solve problems?

Daily Five – Retelling a story; including characters, setting, problem, event. Sounding out words/looking at first letter in word and pictures in story when we come to an unknown word. Understanding the difference between fiction and non-fiction text.

Enjoy this beautiful sunny day!

Mrs. Polgar

 

 

 

 

Dates to Remember:

Wednesday, October 18 – Late start day. School starts an hour later.

Thursday, October 19 – School picture day. Picture order forms were sent out a week ago in your child’s blue folder. Please fill out or you can also order on-line. You are not obligated to purchase school pictures.

Friday, October 20 – PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System) Assembly in afternoon.

Tuesday, October 31 – Halloween Parade will start at 1:30 p.m. Students will walk outside in our traditional Howard Halloween Parade. A note will be going home tomorrow with details tomorrow.

Peek at the Week:

Letters of the Week – Ll, Oo, and Gg  Sight words – we will review sight words – am, I, a, we, the, like, can

Math – Last Friday, students were assigned homework. Please return on math worksheet on Monday.

Student academic goals – last week we talked about student academic goals. Each student has a reading/writing goal for the month that they will be working on such as; learning my letter sounds, learning to write my name, etc. Once, they have mastered their goal they will move on to another academic goal. Bonus: there will be rewards for meeting goals.

At Howard we as teachers think it is important to set goals to measure student achievement and initiate success in learning. Ask your child what their goal is? I will send home their goals so they can practice goal achievement at home also.

Thank you for your support at home.

Mrs. Polgar

 

 

 

 

 

Just a reminder that Friday, October 13th will be a half day for students. Dismissal is at 11:45 am.

I will return to school on Thursday. Thank you for your condolences and kindness during my bereavement.

Mrs. Polgar

October is here and we are moving along nicely in Kindergarten. Students are adjusting to routines and we are building a nice community in our classroom. I am very pleased with how great students are independently working during Daily Five and Math Workshop.

If you have not signed up for Class Dojo, please get started, it just takes a minute to sign up and it is a great way to communicate. I will be using Class Dojo in place of a weekly progress report that I had mentioned using earlier in the school year. I think Class Dojo is a more effective way to communicate for teacher and parent.

Wednesday, October 4 – National Walk to School Day – this is a volunteer activity to promote healthy habits like walking. To participate an adult must be available to walk your child to school. A note went home in blue folders on Friday.

Friday, October 6 – No school for Kindergarten only. Teachers will be attending a district workshop.

Peek at the Week:

Letter of the Week – Ss  Review – Mm, Aa, Tt, Cc

Sight Word of the Week – the   Review – I, am, can, we.

Math – Last Thursday I attended a workshop on a new math program – Bridges/Number Corner that we will be starting this week. I am excited about the curriculum, materials and activities in the program. Students will rotate through math centers and participate in some great math calendar activities, math games and will have student workbooks to work with.

Daily Five – Last week students learned about Work on Word and students worked with a buddy on letters, sounds and making words. We will review the components of Daily Five – Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing and Word on Word before starting Listen to Reading. We will start working in reading groups. Some students have already brought book bags home. In each book bag you will find information on book bags and a reading log to sign.

Science – We will start looking at the Five Senses along with science concepts.

Social Studies – We are still working on Getting Along with Others/Rules in school and at home.

Writing – We continue to work on narratives in Writer’s Workshop along with story elements; characters, setting, beginning, middle and ends in stories.

Enjoy this beautiful October day!

Mrs. Polgar

 

 

Parents,

Please don’t forget to sign up for Class Dojo. A note went home yesterday with instructions to sign-up. Class Dojo is a parent communication tool so you can check-in on your child’s progress and behavior each day of the week. If you have any questions, please let me know. The kids are excited to earn those Dojo points.

Mrs. Polgar

Fall is here! It is the last week of September and we are having a heat wave!

Dates to Remember:

Wednesday, September 27 – Kindergarten students will take the NWEA math assessment in the computer lab in the afternoon.

I will be sending home instructions to sign-up for Class Dojo a parent communication app. that I will be using to communicate with parents regarding student behavior and progress. Also, you will receive information on our classroom behavior color system. I have used Class Dojo in the past and parents along with students really like it. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Peek at the Week:

Letters of the Week: Cc and Dd along with a review of letters – Mm, Aa and Tt.

Sight word of the week: we along with a review of sight words – I, am, can.

Daily Five – We have been working on building reading stamina while working on Read to Self and we have also been working on writing stamina with Work on Writing. Students in my class really like to read!! It makes my heart happy! This week Read to Someone and Work on Word will be introduced. Students really enjoy Daily Five and working independently. We have been working on writing our names and learning that our names begin with an upper case letter followed by lower case letters. Please have your child practice writing their name at home and naming each letter in their name. For some students it is easier to learn the first two letters in their name and when they master these letters then they can move on to the next two letters and so on.

Math – We will focus on numbers 9 and 10. Review writing numbers 1-10. Looking at different ways to make a 6 for example; with a tally mark, Dominoe pattern, dice pattern, fingers and ten frame. Practicing counting by ones 1-30 for this card marking. Counting by tens and counting down from 10 and 20. Reviewing sensory counting and one-to-one matching when counting.

Writing – Learning about narratives and narrative story elements. Last week, we focused on characters and settings. This week we will add these story elements to our stories while listening to narrative stories and identifying characters and settings in stories.

Science – Learning about Science and what we do in Science. What is a Scientist?

Social Studies – Getting Along with Others. Understanding why rules are important.

Have a great day!

Mrs. Polgar

 

Families,

Thank you for donating supplies to the classroom. We have enough baby wipes and tissue boxes.

If we run short on any supplies throughout the year I will post a note for donations.

Mrs. Polgar

Dates to Remember:

Monday, September 18 – On Monday my class will take the NWEA reading test on the computer in the computer lab. This is an assessment tool that tracks students progress and skills. The NWEA test is given in the Fall, Winter and Spring.

Tuesday, September 19 – Don’t forget to wear your gym shoes!

Wednesday, September 20 – Another gym day – Don’t forget to wear your gym shoes!

Thursday, September 21 – Library check-in and check-out. Students will return their library books from last Thursday and check out a new book.

Friday, September 22 – No school for Kindergarten only. Kindergarten teachers will be attending a professional development workshop.

A Peek at the Week:

Letters – Review letters – Aa, Mm and introduce letters Tt and Dd.

Sight words – Review sight words I, am. Introduce sight word – can

Daily Five – Review Read to Self – work on building reading stamina. Introduce Work on Writing with Daily Five I chart. Learning reading strategies; where the front and back cover of book is, where to begin reading, learning to  read from left to right and listening with understanding when listening to a read-a-loud.

Math – Review numbers 1-10. Practice writing numbers and learning different ways we can make a number; ten frame, picture, tally marks, etc. Practice sensory counting along with one-to-one correspondence with counting.

Social Studies – Learning and reviewing classroom rules. How do I get along with others?

Writing – Personal Narrative Writing. Learning about characters and settings in stories and adding them to our writing.

I will also be sending home log-in instructions for MobyMax and MyON educational websites your child can use at home on the computer. These are great sites to help with math and reading skills.

It looks like the weather may be hot next week. So have your child dress in light clothing, my classroom gets warm!

Have a great day!

Mrs. Polgar

This week begins a full week with school starting at 8:35 a.m. and dismissal at 3:35 p.m. As a reminder, please make sure your child brings a healthy snack for the afternoon and brings their blue folder to school each day. Students will also have the option of buying a lunch or bringing their lunch.

Dates to Remember:

Tuesday, September 12 – Welcome Back to School Picnic 4-6pm. Food will be served 4:30-5:30 pm. Cost of picnic $5 PTA members and $7 non-members. Join the PTA at the picnic.

Thursday, September 14 – Join us at Open House 6-7:30 pm. Visit your child’s classroom and meet the staff at Howard Elementary.

Friday, September 22 – No school for Kindergarten only.

We will begin specials this week. Please note on Tuesday and Wednesday students have Gym. Please have your child wear gym shoes on these days. On Thursdays students will visit the library and they will check-out books. Students will have a week until they return their library book. The following is the Special Schedule:

Monday – Media (Computer Lab) 12:50-1:35

Tuesday – Gym 9:50-10:35  Music 2:30-3:15

Wednesday – Gym 2:30 – 3:15

Thursday – Library 9:35 -10:00 Art 1:40 -2:25

Friday – Art 9:00 – 9:45

Peek at the Week:

Letters of the Week – Aa and Mm    Sight word – I

Literacy – This week I will introduce Daily Five a Literacy block where students Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing and Work on Words. I will introduce 3 Ways to read a book and Read to Self.

Math – We will explore patterns with blocks and shapes. Work on one-to-one matching and work on counting.

Social Studies – We will learn why rules are important in school.

Science – Introduction to Science – Learning about germs; washing our hands.

Writing – Introduction to Writer’s Workshop. We will learn about narrative writing and begin writing stories with pictures.

Reading – We will begin looking at the concept of print; identifying the front and back of a book, title, author and illustrator. Learning about characters and identifying characters in books.

I hope you all have a great weekend! I look forward to seeing my class on Monday.

Mrs. Polgar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dates to Remember:

Monday, June 12 – Year End Class Picnic will be held from 11:50-3:15 p.m. on the lower elementary playground. Grades K-2 will join us. Families are welcome to join us. Bring a chair or blanket/beach and relax. Students will have lunch in the cafeteria prior to the picnic from 11:00-11:35 p.m. If you signed up for snack items, please bring it tomorrow to set out on the table.

Friday, June 16 – Last Day of School – 1/2 day. Dismissal is at 11:45 a.m.

Lost and Found – In the lobby are items/clothing left behind in classrooms. Check and see if any of these things might be something your child left behind.

Have a great night and I will see some of you tomorrow at the picnic.

Mrs. Polgar