Here are the pictures…

Meet my beautiful class!

Outside for our Howard School Peace Assembly with our pinwheels for Peace

My September Students of the Month…Maya Mustafa and  Hadi Nasser

Thank you one and all for your generous donations of classroom supplies!  WOW…you are very kind.  Pencils have been sharpened, glue sticks and erasers passed out, snacks being consumed, wipes being used, Ziploc bags used for book bags, …  thank you.

Yesterday I sent home a Scholastic Book order.  I didn’t see that there was “A Special gift For You” that was to accompany the order form.  The coupon is if you spend $10.00 you get to choose 1 free book worth up to $5.00 with your order.  I wanted to take a picture of the coupon and post it so you could see what is coming home tomorrow but my phone is not cooperating!  I had it updated last Saturday and now I can’t send any pictures from my phone to my school email.  Help!  Anyone know what I need to do??  I also have pictures of my class that I want to share with you.  Today I took pictures of the kids at our Peace Assembly outside around the Peace Pole.  I also took a picture of my September Students of the Month and wanted to share that with you.

My 2 September  Students of the Month, chosen for outstanding behavior, responsibility, and citizenship are…

Hadi Nasser  and Maya Moustafa

Congratulations to these fine choice makers!  Hopefully I will be able to post their pictures very soon.

I will be sending home that Scholastic “Special Gift Coupon” tomorrow so look for it if your are ordering any books.

We also have a new student so we’re up to 25 Kindergarteners in here. 🙂

In case you’re interested, here’s a roster of their names:

Gabriella Agius   Noah Beydoun   Claire Brice   Madleen Chami   Sophia Chami   Chloe Cuevas

Laila Fawaz   Noor Fawaz   Dena Haidar   Houda Hamka   Isabella Hamood   Rami Hider   Mahdi Khanafer

Milena Merhi   Maya Moustafa   Hadi Nasser   Marcel Palikoglou   Brooke Regan   Mila Saad   Mousa Salem

Evelyn Sherding   Jenna Skinner   Sarah Smith   Noah Zahr    Nevaeh Ellsworth

Mrs. Smith

Fall is here!  Can you believe it’s already the last week of September?  Time sure flies by way too fast!

Here’s next week at a glance…

Since this is week 3 of our first unit, we will review concepts, words, and lessons, from weeks 1 and 2.

READING: We’ll read a story called Jazz Baby.  It’s a favorite with the Kindergarteners-lots of rhythm when I read it.

In reading the story, as with all stories that I read, I am looking for ORAL LANGUAGE, PREDICTIONS,  AND COMPREHENSION.

WORDS: We will revisit I    Can    can

WRITING: In class we will have a Shared Writing where we will complete a sentence.

For the District, we will begin our first WRITING PROMPT.  This writing will be a Narrative Piece (telling a story.)

MATH: Numbers Numbers Numbers!!  “What number comes after 13?’ (14)  “How do we make a 13?’

(1 & 3)  “How many buttons are on your jacket?”  “Write the next 5 numbers after 6.” “How many shoes are in your closet?”  “How many steps to get to the car?” “How many stop signs from our house to Kroger?”

They also will be finishing NWEA Reading and completing NWEA Math on the computers.

I think our Specials Schedule is complete.  It looks like my kids will have

Gym-Monday & Friday

Music-Tuesday & Thursday

Art-Thursday & Friday

Media-Wednesday

Library (for book exchange)-Tuesdays

Another busy, happy week coming up.  They have done a lot of writing this week.  That means saying the words we write, listening for the sounds our mouths are making, identifying the letter to go with the sounds and THEN learning how to write the letter correctly!  Please take time every day to let your child read their work to you.  It keeps you involved with what they are learning and doing during their days in here.

Thank you for sharing your children with me.  I love being with them.

Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Smith

“Never regret a day in your life:

good days give you happiness,

bad days give you experience,

worst days give you lessons,

and best days give you memories.”

Surprise…today we went to the Library.  We checked out our first Library book.  We will go every Tuesday to return the book and check out a new one.  Please help your child to put their Library Book in their backpack on Monday nights so they’ll be ready for Tuesday book exchange.

Take a look…

Today is Day 8 of Kindergarten and we wrote another book!  This one has several pages.  Lots of letter formations and directions needed to be learned and the students did a fantastic job!  Sarah gave me permission to post pictures of her book on my blog.    Look for your child’s book to come home tonight.  Have them read it to you.

Thank you Sarah!

A note while I think of it…

Because of the number of Kindergarten students all being dismissed through the same door, we are going to stagger the dismissal times as follows:

3:20- Mrs. Smith

3:25- Ms Mohamed

3:30-Mrs. Aleidaroos

Please be prompt for pickup so we can make room for others waiting to be dismissed.  Thank you for your cooperation.

Next week…

READING-Oral Language  Building Background Information/Vocabulary

COMPREHENSION-We’ll read a story called Hands On.

WORD-  Can  can

PHONEMIC AWARENESS-rhyme

WRITING-We’ll write a complete sentence.

MATH-Next Tuesday will be Day #10 of Kindergarten so we will work with the number 10.  Ask your child now. “What are some different ways to make the number 10?”

Enjoy your weekend!

Mrs. Smith

“Worry is a total waste of time.  It doesn’t change anything.  All it does is steal your joy and keeps you very busy doing nothing.”

Thank you for visiting our classroom and spending your evening with your Kindergartener.  Here is where your child spends so many of their days and it is such a huge part of their lives.  It was also nice for me to meet some of the other important family members…brothers, sisters, grandmas and grandpas.  Thank you for taking time last night to be with us.

We are into some routines in Kindergarten and are making new friends.  Life is good!

This week’s post will be short because you will see a lot tomorrow night at OPEN HOUSE. 6:00-7:30.  You may also sign up for November Conferences at that time.

I have assigned some “jobs” to 6 students.  Every one will get a turn at each job.  They each have a book box and have a desk.  Everybody needs a place to call their own.

READING AND WRITING-Yesterday they made their second book!!  Imagine that…making 2 books within the first 4 days of Kindergarten.  Lots of listening and following directions are included with those things.  Their second book is in their book box and will eventually go home.  right now they are reading it during our READ TO SELF time, which is part of our Literacy Program.

MATH-We are starting with the calendar and looking for the correct date (numeral).  I also started a “Counting to 100 Chart.”  We put a number in a pocket chart for each day that we are in school.  Today is DAY 5.  With each number, I also put a straw in a pocket chart to show what the number would look like in ONES, TENS, HUNDREDS.

I wrote an opening letter to you and proceeded to leave it on my husband’s computer at home.  So today, he printed it and brought it to school for me.  However, the margins were off so I’ll try for tomorrow to get the letter to you!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday…

Center Time

READ TO SELF-First day

Even Snack time is a lesson-We “made” the word I with our snack, since we are writing that word a lot this week.

  Marcel

Enjoy the rest of your week and I’ll see you tomorrow night at Open House.

Mrs. Smith

Happy Eid to everyone who is celebrating the holiday with family and friends.

Today I will be helping my daughter with her 2 week old new daughter, Lila! She also has a 6 year old daughter, Lucy, and a 2 1/2 year old daughter, Mollie.  Lucy is in school so I’ll be playing with Mollie and helping with Lila.  I’m such a blessed Grammy.

While the girls are napping this afternoon, I’ll be finishing my lesson plans for this week so you’ll have another post from me later tonight or tomorrow with the details for the week.

In the meantime, I’m off to the grocery store (you know how moms always bring food to their daughters 🙂  ) to get dinner fixings and then to help my daughter.

Enjoy this beautiful day and all of your blessings!

Mrs. Smith

Another busy and HOT day in here.  Bring on the Snow!

Today your student is bringing home “a book” that they made titled I Can…

Please have your child get it out of their backpack and read it to you.  I repeat, Let them get it out of the backpack. Teaching independence.  They can do it.  I am looking for following directions as I teach them how to make the letters and looking for attempts at writing, drawing, etc.  Most did very well.  I am pleased at their listening, watching, and imitating skills.  It also shows me that they realize this is school and a time to learn.  Excellent.

We had MUSIC class today…always fun.  It was too wet for a recess and we were so busy with our book that we didn’t get to Centers either.  We were busy in here.

Of course we had lunch!  Again, they were asking at 9:30 “When’s lunch?  I’m hungry.”

I’m very impressed at their readiness, both academically and socially.  Arrivals and dismissals are going well too.  They are a great bunch.  As I shared with some of my friends last Tuesday (first day), I’ve already fallen in love with them.

Thanks for your support on the home front.  One more day of 12:15 dismissal.

Looking ahead…

Monday, Sept. 12  NO SCHOOL

Tuesday, Sept. 13 HOWARD WELCOME BACK PICNIC  4:00-6:00

Thursday, Sept. 15 OPEN HOUSE 6:00-7:30  Parents and students are welcome to visit the classroom, meet me, and tour the school.

Enjoy your weekend.

Mrs. Smith

Another busy day in Kindergarten.

I can’t thank you enough for your patience with the beginning of this year.  On top of the high numbers in Kindergarten, we high temperatures too!  Tough for little and big people.  Thank you again for your patience…you are wonderful.

Today we began with creating our day’s agenda.  Of course, because they had their lunches with them, they were all hungry by 9:30.  🙂  Good lunch choices.  All of my students brought their lunches today, which made things go so smoothly for them when we went into the cafeteria.  They were hungry and didn’t have to wait in a lunch line to buy their lunch.  They went straight to their table and started eating.  Wonderful.

We started making a book today and will finish it tomorrow.  Look for it to come home.  The title is “I Can…”  Let them point as they read their book to you.  Yes, it’s short but that’s how we start. Imagine making a book on your first 2 days of Kindergarten…pretty fabulous!

We read 3 stories, talked about the different ways we get to school, made a chart with those different ways with our names on it, counted, and graphed the results.  Pretty amazing for beginning Kindergarten.

We also had Centers-Playhouse, Wooden Blocks, Math (Pattern Blocks) and Science (Balance Scales).

We had Recess and finished our day (after Lunch) with a Group time, discussing things we did today.  No photos today…didn’t get my phone backed up last night.

With the Assessments that I have given, I am very pleased with the readiness of these students. They seem to know most of the letters, upper and lower case, can count to 30 and higher, and can tell me some things about themselves and their family.  Some are reading words form a beginning Sight Word List.
Great Job Parents!!!  Keep up your good work.

Here’s to another fun day tomorrow.

Mrs. Smith

“You will never regret being kind.”