Happy Thanksgiving

Dear McCollough Families of Room 111,

Greetings and I hope this message finds you well! This is going to be a LONG blog post today and will cover us for next week as well because it is only two days! I can NOT believe how quickly the year is flying by!!! Here is everything you need to know for the next 7 days of school!

Letter(s) of the week: Aa this week and Ee next week

Word(s) of the week: am this week and for next week combined

LA Focus: Thanksgiving

Writing Focus: I am Thankful For…

Math Focus: New Unit 3! Numbers from 6-10 and all numbers 0-10 now!

Social Studies: New Unit beginning on Needs and Wants

Conferences: If you were unable to attend your conferences last Wednesday, please see Mrs. Ross to reschedule so we can discuss your child’s progress and I can give you their report card and NWEA testing information.

Conferences this week: I am looking forward to seeing you all at your conferences this week on Wednesday the 16th or Thursday the 17th! Please be prompt, conferences are only 15 minutes and they are back to back!

I Am Thankful Grams!

Kindergarten students are doing a fundraiser this week to raise money to buy specific educational websites we use in the classroom that are going to expire soon! I know several parents wanted out passwords for these, and we want to try and buy them for you again! Please take a few minutes to fill our the grams at night and return them to me by Friday the 18th, 2016  with the exact change in the envelope and your child’s friends and their teachers names and room numbers. The Thankful Grams will be $0.50 a piece. I hope the list helps. The kindergarten team and students thank you in advance for your support!

Thanksgiving Feast:

Our class is planning to participate in a k-2 Thanksgiving feast on Tuesday, November 22nd. We will be joining the other students in the hallways to eat a wonderful thanksgiving meal and thanks for our wonderful McUnis school family. This feast is for students only because the hallways has limited space but I PROMISE to post pics on the blog of our feast! I’ll be sending home a note this week on Monday if your family would like to donate some supplies for the feast! If your child would like send in $2 each we can order some pizza!  You can send the paper back in with an x next to what your child would like to bring. I thank you in advance for your generosity and will be updating the blog as the week goes along!

Math/Reading Boot Camp!

This year one of my professional goals is “Parent Communication” as it pertains to your child’s academic and social growth. In order to connect to parents more with our school strategies I plan to help periodic “boot camps” after school where you come in at 3:15pm for about an hour and we learn, make and play a Language Arts and/or Math game! Then when the time is up, you will take this game home to practice the specific skills with your child! If would be awesome if someone from every child’s family was present because all the students love these games and could use more practice at home 🙂 Our first boot camp will be in our room 111 November 21st right before Thanksgiving break from 3:15pm-4:15pm! We’ll work on one LA game and one MATH game to “make and take” home! I hope you can all make it!

If there are more additions/corrections to this weeks newsletter I’ll up date you in the next seven days! I hope you have a warm and blessed Thanksgiving Break.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Ross 🙂

Happy Halloween to all families of our wonderful room 111! This is going to be a very crazy but fun week! I hope you are all able to make it to our party tomorrow. If you can’t make it at 12:30, please feel free to come to the parade and take a spot around the track! The students will be proudly strutting our stuff to show off our cool costumes! I wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all the families that donated such lovely supplies for our party tomorrow. We are so very grateful. There are just a few things we are desperately in need of. If anyone can help out this would be greatly appreciated! Please hit reply to let me know if you are coming tomorrow, and I can give you a “job” to help with the pumpkins lol! I bet you’re so excited!!

Need Still:

pizza (if nobody brings it no worries Mrs. Ross will!)

HAIR DRYERS!!! We need parent volunteers to help Mrs. Ross melt the crayons on the pumpkins! It is SO cool, but I only have 1 maybe 2 hairdryers!

Here is what we have in store this week:

Letter of the week: Vv

Word of the week: it

LA Book study: Stellaluna and Bats

Science: Cont. Becoming a scientist and the 5 Senses

Math: Sorting and Grouping numbers and objects 0-10

Social Studies: End of Unit 1 “Getting Along with Others”

Monday: Happy Halloween! Remember to PACK YOUR CHILD’S COSTUME so that they are not freezing at lunch and uncomfortable during gym class! Halloween party from 12:30-2:00pm. Parade from 2:00pm-? and then continue party and packing up for home! Safe trick-or-treating if you go out. Also, new homework calendars and PBIS calendars are coming home today for November!

Tuesday: Music, Art

Wednesday: Computers

Thursday: Music

Friday: Half Day 11:10 dismissal from our door at room 10 (no lunch that day)

*I am sure there are a million corrections or additions that I will send out as they come! Have a wonderful Halloween and week! I can’t believe it’s already November! Time flies when you love your class I guess 🙂

Woops! Let me try this again. My post never went up yesterday I apologize it was stuck in the “draft world!”

Greetings Room 111 familes,

I hope you are all out enjoying this beautiful weekend! I dressed up my baby in a light snow suit for Ben’s soccer game and then felt really silly when we were sweating lol! Always smart to layer though 🙂 Speaking of layering the weather this week is going to be colder than usual! Please make sure to send your children in winder coats from now on (like Antonia, we can always remove hot layers!).

Letter of the week: Nn (review) and H h

Words of the week: you and see (review) past words we have worked on so far (to, the, he, we, go, a, I, you, see, in, on)

MOnday: GYM. Your child is taking home their new homework packet. This is the last week of October! Next week, your child will be getting the new November calendar. Way to go all student that have been completeing and returning them! You have been working SO hard and will be rewarded at the end of the year!

Tuesday: Art and Music

Wednesday: Computers

Thursday: Music

Friday: Gym

Important Information:

*We need your help!!! We would love to decorate and explore pumpkins this week and on Halloween! If any parent would like to donate small pumpkins for our kids to have individually we would REALLY appreciate it! IF you can’t, we’d appreciate any help towards our party for supplies and food. See below!

*Elementary Conferences are coming up quickly! PLEASE come to see Mrs. Ross this week anytime after school to sign up for conferences. If I don ‘t hear from you I’ll assign you a date and send the reminders in the mail the week prior to your conference. You must attend this first conference. However, I am ALWAYS available to conference with parents and welcome it every day as long as it’s after school 🙂 The November conference dates will be…

November 10th

November 16th

November 17th

*Halloween:

YES we will be celebrating Halloween this year in school!!! Mr. Farhat our principal is letting all students k-5 dress up woohoo! However, all day is tough for our kids to be in the costumes and some are too cold for outside at lunch! So, please send your child’s costume to school in a big bag with their name on it so they can change after lunch! Our kids also have gym after lunch at 11:30, so you can imagine how hard it will be for little princesses to exercise in their gowns lol! I am also welcoming all families to come on in at 12: 15 to help us get changed and celebrate! We are hoping to take the kids outside around 2:00 pm for a parade on the track for all families to see!!!

In our classroom we would really appreciate any donations for food and decor. Here is a small list of things we could use some help with for Monday. Please hit reply and I will take the first parents who reply online! Thank you in advance for your help and generosity it should be so much fun!!!

23 juice boxes

23 apples

23 donuts

a spool of plastic ribbon to wrap donuts

long rods or broomsticks to hang the donuts for a game! Promise you can take them back home unless you don’t want to sweep anymore lol!

face painting packages (3)

6 black,orange or Halloween themed table cloths

4 or 5 $5 pizzas (a couple parents could go together on this)

pretzels

hair dryers: we need as many hair dryers as we can get!!! I want us to melt crayons and glitter on top of a pumpkin for each kid and it takes a while so the more we have the better lol!

Hot glue guns and glue

glitter

*Students may also bring in individually wrapped goodies for each child. There are 23 students in the class 🙂 Thank you for your help and generosity!

Greetings Aviator Families of room 111!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! The Ross family enjoyed visiting with family and friends at my brother in law’s wedding in Lansing. It was so wonderful watching our two children boogie on the dance floor together (before Antonia would make  a break for an exit). I hope this message finds you all well. Here is what is cooking this week in room 111:

Letter of the week: Tt (please continue to study word cards, letter cards and read for pleasure nightly with your child) The new letter “t” homework assignment will go home this week. This is due on Friday as always.

Word of the week: him Please be able to read and write these words if your child has started receiving flash cards from the “green list” which is list one on the individualized spelling program.

Names: Many students are making a lot of growth with their name writing! Please continue to work on writing their first and last names at home each night with one capital for the beginning of each word.

Homework: We got almost ALL homework assignments last week and I am SO proud of our class! Please continue working hard on these assignments the students were beaming with pride this week over their hard work! In addition, this month our class will begin our official “homework” calendar. I will be copying then on the back of the PBIS behavior notes and you can just turn them over to find out that to do that night! Each night, your child is to complete one meaningful question pertaining to varying subjects such as math and reading. The assignments are sent home on Monday nights and to be returned and completed on Friday mornings for the teacher to check and give her juicy stars! Homework on the weekend will only consist of reading for 10 minutes a night as well as letter and sight word practice.

PBIS: This week our anti-bullying program officially begins. Although our kindergartners are still “learning” we are working harder each day to work towards a goal of more green this month! If your child has  earned it they will attend  reward day at the end of this month. I am so excited to see how many of our wonderful students make it! I just wanted to take a minute here to THANK YOU ALL for all the hard work you do raising such fine boys and girls. This classroom of mine is simply a JOY to work with and I look forward to working with them each day and seeing their smiling and eager faces is amazing.

Language Arts: This week we will continue building our stamina for Daily 5 and introduce a second choice called “work on writing”. I am so happy with the progress of the class so far. They are so motivated and adorable when we practice our letters and sounds and new words! we have been googling for free off of youtube and typing in: Letter ___ song have fun teaching video and also the “and” song Have Fun Teaching video. With your help, your child will enjoy practicing reading these words and letters at home! Students got their reading packs last week. Please continue using the materials in side each night and then returning them for school each day.

Media: This week is our library check out day! So please make sure your child’s library book is in their backpacks on Tuesday night. Thank you for your help!

Science: This week we will read a book about a little girl who is very inquisitive and what it means to be a scientist. We will begin our unit on being a scientist, using tools, and the five senses. This week we will explore our 5 senses with apples!

I’m sure there will be more updates throughout the week. Have a great evening and see you all bright and early Monday morning!

Mrs. Ross 🙂

Dear 111 Families,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I have enjoyed more family time and of course two more soccer games with Benjamin! Thank you to all the families who came last week to our back to school carnival it was so much fun and great to see you there. Here is what you need to know for this upcoming week:

Monday: Gym (wear gym shoes and appropriate attire!) Your child did a great job last week sending in their “Alphabet Homework”! way to go mom and dad! Please continue to work on your child’s letter/sound recognition with the flash cards each night at home. This will dramatically help your child grasp the written word. Tonight your child will bring home their letter “Rr” homework page that will be due on Friday (or before we LOVE to share them as the week goes on). Please return with THREE pictures that begin with the letter Rr and have your child attempt to phonetically write the word. What do they hear?

Tuesday: Music and Art Today we will enjoy a long day of learning and also two great specials.

Wednesday: Computers

Thursday: Music

Friday: Gym (wear gym shoes and appropriate attire!)

*Important Notes/Reminders:

Homework: Reading for fun from family personal library, letter/sound cards in reading pack, alphabet letter Rr

*Arrival must be at door 10. Please sign students in late at the office and let them walk down alone to promote independence. Parents need to say goodbye at the door! If a parent is to volunteer/chaperone at McCollough Elementary they need to have a “background check” completed and okayed through the state of Michigan. I will be sending these home this week.

*Lunch: Lunch has been going SO well! Please make sure that you are going over the lunch menu every night with your child so they know what if for lunch each day. If you have a lunch you need to drop off you can take it to the office and they will call us. Please help us promote independence. Thank you 🙂

*Dismissal has been really crazy lately. In order to keep things safe for your child please make sure that you are here on time and stand to one side of the door. I would like to keep my parents on the grass and just let the students exit to the right. I have an idea, If you show up at 2:55pm I will start dismissing the students early. I think this helps to avoid the mad rush of the second grade families and older siblings. So let’s try this starting tomorrow? Hopefully it will me more smooth for all it is so hard to make sure that each one of my precious babies are safely in their loved ones arms and I am very responsible for each and every one. Thank you so much for your help!

*If you have NOT signed up for parent teachers conferences please come and see the teacher after school this week to sign up. I do need to pick up Benjamin after school still because of my husband’s injured hip so I can only stay until 3:10pm. If you come at 2:55pm it will help in this matter as well 🙂

Book Bags: This week your children will begin bringing home a book bag. Be patient the teacher will begin meeting individually with each child during our Daily Five stamina practice and will get All reading packs home by Friday afternoon! This bag will contain materials that will help your child reach their literacy goal. Since each child in the class has DIFFERENT needs and goals and is learning to read at their own pace the materials in each child’s bag will be different. Please don’t worry or compare your child to another child we are all unique and at different developmental levels. However, this is where you and I MUST partner to help your child PROGRESS  and move forward. Please have your child practice the items in their bags each night for about 20-30 minutes TOPS and return it each school day. The yellow and green flash cards belong in here now. In addition, your child may be ready for the “sight word” program and will also have their “green card” in the bag as well. This much LIVE in here and never be left at home. Thank you so much in advance for your help this year it’s going to be a GREAT one!!! Directions will be on the Learning Log inside. The learning Log will need to be signed each night by you. Good luck and have fun!

Dear families of 111,

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weather over the weekend! We are still excited over at the Ross house for the start of soccer season. Our son Benjamin is on the Dearborn “Little Kickers” team and it is so adorable. Well we have been working SO hard last week to build up our stamina and expectations for Daily 5 Read-to-Self, Poetry and Math workshop. I am so proud to announce that our class was able to work independently for 10 MINUTES on day 1 and 15 MINUTES on day two of practice! We enjoyed a cookie treat Friday to celebrate our hard work. In the first month of kindergarten it is important to remember that your child is working so hard and tired when getting home. I am going to begin sending home small things for you to work on at home with your child, but we will slowly build up homework expectations. As something new comes home, I will post new blog directions.

Here is what you can expect this week in kindergarten…

Letter Focus: M m

Word(s) of the week: to

Reading: Practicing Daily 5 stamina for Read-to-Self and working with the book “Rainbow Fish”

Math: Continuing working on numbers from 0-5 and number sense talks and math workshop expectations and work stations

Poetry: Little Miss Muffett looking for the letter M, S, and the words the and to and rhyming words

Writer’s Workshop: What is a writer? Expectations and working on “Rainbow Fish” connections how to be a good friend.

PBIS: This week we will continue to work on learning about the PBIS behavior system for great behavior and positive rewards. Monday, your child will bring home their folder with the PBIS calendar in the back. PLEASE KEEP IT in the folder in the back all year and I will collect it and switch it each month. As a parent, I need your help to partner with me and discuss all the wonderful and challenging days your child has each day/week/month this year. Also, at the end of the week please initial the column for parents and I will know you are communicating with your child about their school manners. Remember, your child is NOT a perfect person and we do not expect them to be! But, this PBIS system is meant to stop bullying in school and reward your child when they are actively behaving well and being “respectful, responsible and safe.” Please help me “teach” your child how to correct and maintain the desired behaviors of McCollough Students. In addition, this month is practice and the colors they bring home will NOT count officially until October!

Homework:

This week we will ease into homework by working on the letter ‘M m’ assigned for phonics. This homework assignment is due on Friday and will be added to your child’s spelling and phonics folder in school.

#1. Cut or print 3 pictures from the internet, magazines, grocery store flyers etc. to place on the back of the paper (pictures must be small enough to paste on this single page). In addition, you and your child will work hard on all the letters and sounds in the alphabet, your child’s name reading and writing, and any of the suggested activities you wish to do on the front of the paper!

#2 Your child needs to practice writing their name at the top of the page on the back.

#3Underneath each picture you cut and paste please have your child attempt to phonetically spell the word. For example under the picture of a milk jug they would write milk the best they can. Have them stretch it our slowly and write what they hear. You do not need to fix it unless it is completely unreadable lol (I’d like to see what they hear!)

#4 Write the capital and lowercase letter 5 times each in the correct square.

*Each Friday, I will collect these and the idea is to create a folder to help your child practice letters and sounds during “word work” in Daily5! Thank you in advance for all your help!

                                                                                            ex.)    Mieelk

*Dates to Remember:

September 22, back to school carnival!

NWEA: testing has begun and this month your child will be pulled out individually to see how well they do in math and language arts. This is just the first/baseline test. Please make sure your child is getting a good night sleep!

Greetings families of room 111!

We did it! We survived our first week of kindergarten. Whew, it was a hot one. Well let me officially welcome you to my blog and ask that you reply “hello Mrs. Ross” if you have gotten this post today at your nearest convenience. I just want to make sure that you are getting the up to date important information each week. As we head into our first whole week here is what you need to know! Please make sure you child brings their blue homework folder from Mrs. Ross every day and also a backpack/lunch every day! School begins at 8:00am and ends at 3:00pm each day at door 10. If you ever need to pick up your child early please remember to go to the office and have them CALL down to have your child meet you there. Also, make sure your child wears the proper gym clothes on Friday this week!

In addition, I would like to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to families that have sent in supplies for their child and/or dry erase markers, pencils, wipes for the class etc. If you would still like to donate supplies we’d greatly appreciate it 🙂

Week ahead at a glance: We will begin to slowly introduce the expectations and daily routines for Writer’s Workshop, Daily 5 Literacy program (Read to Self) and Math Workshop. Be sure to ask your child about these content areas and how it is going. We will be tracking our “stamina” for Daily 5 Read-to-Self so make sure to ask how many minutes we have! We will also begin building our word wall immediately with our names and a few sight words this week. We will be on the lookout for the letter “s” everywhere so help your child find it at home and discuss what it sounds like! We will enjoy the poem the “Itsy Bitsy Spider”!

It is going to be a VERY busy week! Thank you very much for meeting with me last week during soft start. You have helped give me great insight about where to begin with your child and I thank you for your time!

Monday: No school (I hope you had a wonderful long weekend and holiday) We usually go to gym class on Mondays. Remember gym shoes for Friday!
Tuesday: First full day! Remember to get a great sleep and pack a lunch/bring your money. Today we will go to music and art class. Please make sure your child brings their homework folder every day. We are also going to introduce our PBIS school expectations this week and will place the paper in the back of the homework folders. Please discuss your child’s behavior every night and make sure to initial it at the close of each week.

Wednesday: Enrichment (computer class) Also, please join us Wednesday, September 14th from 4:00pm to 5:30pm!

Thursday: Today we will go to music

Friday: Today we will have gym again so please remember to dress accordingly and wear the proper gym shoes!

Looking forward to another wonderful week in kindergarten!

Mrs. Ross