I hope you’ve been enjoying your first few months in Kindergarten!  My name is Mrs. Kelly Muston and I am the Early Childhood Specialist at River Oaks.  I work with the students every day in reading and writing.  I hope they’ve come home talking about some of the work we have done.

You may have noticed your student coming home with a book bag.  This bag contains books and letter/word cards for you to read with your child at home.  It must be returned EVERY DAY to school.  This is very important!  Without this bag, we will be unable to give your child new or additional books to practice.

You should plan to spend 10-15 minutes each night reading the books and cards in the bag.  Books can be read multiple times each and children should be able to point to each word as they say it aloud.  This is also a good opportunity to identify the front and back of the book as well as the different punctuation marks a story has (  ,   .   ?   !   “  )

Many of the books coming home are not in color.  Please do not allow your child to color the black and white books.  You should also keep all food, drinks and pets away from the books.  

Should your child’s book bag get lost, stolen or damaged, you will be responsible for replacement costs.  Each book is $5 and the bag is $6.  Examples of damage would be things like:  bag getting rained on or water spilled on it, books getting food on them, materials smelling like cigarette smoke and/or any rips or coloring done on the books or bags.  Many children travel with 2-3 books at a time so if an entire bag is lost it could cost you $20-$25.

Please sign up for my blog at www.iblog.dearbornschools.org/rocketsupport to get all the latest updates and see pictures of your students reading.  You may also contact me via email at mustonk@dearbornschools.org if you have any questions.

Thank you!