October is here!  Can you believe that we’ve already been in school for 16 days?  My Student Teacher, Miss Brennan, commented to me today about how the students have already settled into a routine and “look how much they can do now.”  I told her, “Wait till you see them in the Spring!”

Here’s what is coming up next week…

READING-Our unit theme is Families Get Together.  What can families do together?
What are some things that you do with your family?

We’ll read a folktale about a “Squeaky Old Bed” and a Non-fiction book about Night Animals.  On Friday we’ll compare the two texts.

WRITING-Forming letters correctly and we’ll write about a time when they did something with their family.

WORDS-The  the  

LETTERS-A a  (pronounced “ahh”)

MATH-We’ll be using 10 Frames- a rectangle with 5 boxes on the top row and 5 boxes underneath. For example,  we’ll put tokens in 4 boxes and decide how many more we would need to make 10.  4 + ? = 10.

We’ll also work with patterns using colors.

SCIENCE-We’ll be exploring the 5 Senses.  Monday we’ll start with “Touch.”  

SOCIAL STUDIES-We will continue to work on Classroom Routines and Working Well With Each Other.  🙂

Looking Ahead…

WEDNESDAY IS LATE START.  Students will come to school 1 hour later (9:35 am).  Dismissal is regular time (3:35).  Teachers will be in a Professional Development Meeting.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs. Smith

“Chocolate comes from cocoa which comes out of a tree.  That makes it a plant.  Therefore, chocolate counts as a salad.  The End”

Welcome Fall!!  Football, Apple Cider, Donuts, raking up piles of leaves and jumping in them, smells of cinnamon and baked apple pies, ….Hummm

READING- We begin our unit about MY FAMILY AND ME.  

Our 2 texts for this week are Who’s Baby Am I?   and “A Bundle of Sticks”-                 a fable.

READING STRATEGIES-FLUENCY (recognizing our sight words)

–ACCURACY (We are careful and precise with our reading.)

We also will work on “RETURN SWEEP” (Where do we go when we reach the end of the line?   Left to Right Direction when we read)

WRITING-We will practice correct letter formation of our weekly letters and weekly sight words.

LETTERS-M  m  

WORDS-We  we  Can  can

MATH-Count Count Count    We will be counting from 0-10 and practice writing each the number.  Remember, ALL NUMBER FORMATIONS START AT THE TOP, not the bottom.

Lots of opportunities to Listen, Follow Directions, and, Always Be The Best That You Can Be.

Mrs. Smith

Kindergarteners who share, help others, and show empathy are more likely to have personal, educational, and career success as adults.  -Edutopia

Outside Peace Assembly with our Pinwheels of Peace

 Place Value Chart (yellow)

A short, but busy, week this week.  Today we had Picture Day, PTA Book Fair, and a Peace Assembly.  My class’s agenda today was:

• Pledge of Allegiance
• Group Time
• Story   Jazz Baby
• Work Time
• Media
• Recess
• Story
• LUNCH
• Recess
• Calendar Time
• Math
• Work Time (Pattern Blocks)
• Centers
• Group Time (to discuss our day and mention things for tomorrow)

Whew!  Keep in mind that we have only been in school for 10 days! During Calendar Time, we not only add today’s date, we talk about how what numerals we need to make the date (“21”  needs a 2 and a 1), we add a number to our 100’s chart, and we add a straw to our Place Value Chart.  Since today is the 10th day of school, we banded up the 10 straws in the ONES pocket and moved the bundle of 10 to the TENS pocket.  Now they can see that 10 really means 1 ten  and 0 ones.

We will be finishing up our Smart Start Unit.

Next week we will start UNIT !.

Our THEME for the next 3 week will be FAMILIES.

Unit 1 theme is My Family and Me.

WRITING-Shared List

WORDS-We  we

LETTER-M  m

MATH-Number Awareness 0-10

Please don’t wait for me to start on the above items.  Introduce the letters and words now.  Talk about your family.  What other kinds of families are there?

Looking ahead…

9/23-25  NO SCHOOL

Kindergarteners will be taking the NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Association) Reading and Math tests this year.  These measurements of progress are given 3 times a year, Beginning, Mid-Year, and End.  They measure student growth and  learning needs.

I’ll try to post some pictures.

Enjoy your long weekend.

Mrs. Smith

We have finished our first full week of Kindergarten!  We’re off to a great start.

Thanks for the great turnout last night for Open House.  I always enjoy meeting the families of my students.

This weekend I will post my plans for next week.  Remember it’s a short week.

Looking ahead…

MONDAY 9/21  PICTURE DAY  Please send in the money in the completed envelope.

PEACE ASSEMBLY for students

WED., THURS., FRI.,  NO SCHOOL

Mrs. Smith

A Quick few notes…

Your child may come home with a little green glitter on them.  The glitter represents “germs.”  We discussed about ways to stay healthy and what to do if we cough or sneeze.  We are seeing how germs are easily spread around the room because we have LOTS of glitter on surfaces in our room.  🙂

Today we went to the LIBRARY!!  They each checked out a book and are bringing it home for the week.  Wednesdays will be our day to exchange LIBRARY BOOKS.  We tell the students to put the book in their backpack at night.  That way they’ll always be prepared to return their book.  (Sometimes Wednesdays (Library Days) sneak up on us and this way we’ll always be prepared.

Also, please take the time to have your child put their book in the backpack-not you.  This way teaches them some responsibility and they will always know if they have their book or not.

Tomorrow is OPEN HOUSE-5:00-6:30

Mrs. Smith

We had a great start to Kindergarten!  Thanks for all your help and cooperation with the Soft Start.  Beginning next Monday, 9/14, we will have a full day!  They will be tired and hungry when they get home…mainly tired.  Kindergarteners need lots of sleep.  They should be in bed and asleep by 8:00 PM.  That means the bedtime process needs to start at 7:30.

A few clarifications/corrections…

My classroom is NUT FREE, meaning that any foods coming into my room (ie birthdays, Halloween party foods) need to be free of nuts. If you would like to pack a peanut butter sandwich for your child’s lunch, please do so.  Those with NUT ALLERGIES will be seated at a different table.

9/17-OPEN HOUSE   5:00-6:30

Also, 9/21-PICTURE DAY  Information will go home next week.

Enjoy your weekend.

Mrs. Smith

We have a Student Teacher…Miss Brennan, from Madonna University.  Miss Brennan will be with us until November.

As of today, I have 24 students in my class.

Here are some more pictures…

Listening to a story

As of today, our Special Classes will be

Monday-Media    Tuesday & Thursday-Music    Wednesday & Friday-Gym   Friday-Art

For Gym days (Wed & Fri) students will need to wear gym shoes.  Please have them WEAR their shoes to school.  We don’t have much time to change into gym shoes during the day so it’s best if they just wear the shoes to school.

EMERGENCY FORMS-Your child is also bringing home an Emergency Form (manila colored).  The front should be complete from registering your child.  However, the back needs to be completed by you and the form returned to me.  Rarely does a day pass that I don’t use these forms to contact a parent- so please provide the information and return the form to me.  Thank you.

Thank you to those who brought in their child for assessment.  I enjoy having some one-on-one time with the students.

Here’s what next week looks like…

READING UNIT THEME for the next 3 weeks-We Are Special

Week1-“Look Around You”

WRITING- I  i

WORD-I

LETTER-We’ll be visiting all of the letters of the Alphabet.

MATH-Number Awareness     We’ll be working with the calendar, the 100’s chart, and we will use straws to show how many days we have been in school.

Looking ahead…

September 17  OPEN HOUSE   6:00-7:30 All  Parents, Grandparents, Students are invited to visit our school!

For your future planning…

September 23-25  NO School

Again, Welcome to Howard School.  If I can be of any assistance, please contact me.  Emails work well for me.

Mrs. Smith

Welcome to Kindergarten! We’re off to a great start.

Here are some pictures of the first days in school.  See if you can spot your little one in Wooden Blocks Center or Playhouse…

As I sit here in my classroom tonight, reflecting on this past year, it’s hard to imagine where the year has gone?  My students have grown in so many ways, socially, emotionally, and academically.  They can tie their shoes (well, most can), zip their jackets, write their name, read a book, write a sentence, tell a story, author and illustrate a book, measure with standard and non-standard tools, count, estimate, predict, problem solve (!!), and, most of all, be a friend to all. If these 5 and 6 year olds are our future, then we’ll be just fine!

The kids had a great time yesterday during Field Day.  I saw great sportsmanship as they cheered on each other.  As Leo told me, “It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about having fun.”  Perfect. 🙂

Today was another fun day for them as we enjoyed a picnic together.  The weather couldn’t have cooperated any better and I enjoy the chance to visit with parents.

Thank you, each one of you, for all your support this year.  Keep up the reading, writing, and math at home.  Do a little of all 3 areas every day.  They brought home their Journals…have them continue to write 2,3,4 or more sentences each day.  Make 1 sentence a math story problem.  Remember, before starting a new day’s entry, reread yesterday’s sentences.  Believe me, a little bit every day really helps keep them in that mode during summer.  Don’t take a break from learning.  Let them see you reading and learning too. I am their teacher for one year but YOU are their life-long teacher.

Thanks for sharing your child with me this year.  Enjoy your summer!

Here is my school email address.  I told them that if they emailed me something, I would answer them.

smiths@dearbornschools.org

Mrs. Smith