MARCH IS READING MONTH 

Let’s travel the 7 continents of the world!

Parents included in the packet for this week are four summaries and four March is Reading Month Around the World Antarctica templates.  Please have students fill out the summaries for this week and then whatever book they choose from their reading bag have them fill out the template with their name and book title.  The summaries can be edited by you and will be displayed in the classroom. The Antarctic template will be displayed in the the main lobby and students will be given a ticket to win prizes per week.  The final prize drawing will be a girls and boys bike at the end of March.

Food mobile pantry will be on March 5th from 9:30-10:30am on the Johnathon side. It is a drive up approach right in front of Lowrey for families in need of different types of foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins.

Spelling words:

1. away
2. if
3. find
4. us
5. run
6. top
7. mop
8. cop
9. hop
10. pop

Kindergarten meetings start on March 14 in Dearborn-For Incoming Students!!!

Dearborn Public Schools is inviting parents of next year’s kindergarten students to attend Kindergarten Roundup meetings at their local elementary school to learn more about starting school and how to enroll their child in the district.

Kindergarten Roundups will be held at all 21 of the District’s elementary schools this spring.  A full meeting schedule is listed below.

Roundups provide important information to parents with details about the special kindergarten schedule, needed student assessments, classroom structure and instruction, preparing your child for school, and more.  Enrolling students this spring, if possible, is also important so the district has accurate information to make staffing decisions for the fall.

To enroll in kindergarten, students must be five years old by September 1 and live within the Dearborn Public School District.  Waivers are available for students who will turn five after September 1 but before December 1.  For parents already living in the district, the waivers need to be submitted by June 1.  See the district website at https://dearbornschools.org/enroll for the waiver and more information.

Dearborn Public Schools also offers a free Young Fives program for students who will turn five between June 15 and December 1 this year.  That all-day program is offered at select schools and follows the kindergarten curriculum.  The extra year allows those children to better develop the academic and emotional skills they need to succeed in school.  The following year they would enroll in kindergarten at their neighborhood school.

Space is limited for Young Fives, so interested parents should check for availability at the school they are interested in attending.  Young Fives is held at Geer Park, Haigh, Henry Ford, Lindbergh, Lowrey, Maples, McCollough, McDonald, Oakman, River Oaks, Salina, Whitmore-Bolles and William Ford elementary schools.  For more information, contact Student Services at 313-827-3005.  Busing is available only if the student will attend their home elementary and lives in an area where busing is provided.  In most cases, parents will need to provide transportation for their child.

Kindergarten parents should also be aware Dearborn Schools this year will again use a special schedule for those students.  Kindergarteners will have a soft start, meaning half days of school for the first week of class from Aug. 26 to 29.  There will also be two additional kindergarten-only days off school on Sept. 27, 2019 and Feb. 7, 2020 to allow for additional professional development for those teachers.

New this year for parents will be the option of starting student enrollment online.  Parents can save much of the paperwork by entering information online such as student name, birthday, address, and emergency contact information and completing some required forms electronically.  Parents or guardians will still need to visit the elementary school to provide documents and complete the enrollment, but starting enrollment online should make that process simpler and quicker.  Online pre-enrollment can also be found at https://dearbornschools.org/enroll.

To see which school your child would attend, visit our elementary school enrollment map or call Student Services at 313-943-3005.

Dearborn Public Schools 2019 Kindergarten Roundup Schedule

School                   Date                             Time                     Phone                  Principal

Becker                   Monday, March 18         9 – 10 a.m.             313-827-6950       Zahra Zreik

DuVall                  Thursday, March 14        6 p.m. registration 313-827-2750       Robert Attee

6:30-7:30 p.m. program

Geer Park              Wednesday, April 17      1 – 3 p.m.              313-827-2300       Lamis Srour

Haigh                    Wednesday, March 27     5 – 6 p.m.              313-827-6200       Zachary Short

Henry Ford            Wednesday, March 20     9 – 10 a.m.             313-827-4700       Adrian Moughni

Howard                 Thursday, April 11         5:30-6:30 p.m.       313-827-6350       Linda Lazar

Howe                    Monday, April 22           5 – 6 p.m.              313-827-7000       Tammy Fournier

Lindbergh              Wednesday, March 20     6 – 7 p.m.              313-827-6300       Zainah Tiba

Long                     Thursday, March 21        6 – 7 p.m.              313-827-6100       Veronica Jakubus

Lowrey                  Wednesday, April 17      8:30-9:30 a.m.        313-827-1800       Rima Younes

Maples                   Wednesday, April 24      8:30-9:30 a.m.        313-827-6450       Donna Jakubik

McCollough           Tuesday, April 16           8:30-9:30 a.m.        313-827-1700       Chadi Farhat

McDonald              Wednesday, April 17      8:45-9:45 a.m.        313-827-6700       Amy Biolette-Modica

Miller                    Tuesday, April 23           Noon – 1 p.m.        313-827-6850       Radewin Awada

Nowlin                  Tuesday, March 12         6 – 7 p.m.              313-827-6900       Joshua Tynan

Oakman                 Thursday, March 28        9 – 10:30 a.m.        313-827-6500       Mohmoud Abu-Rus

River Oaks             Tuesday, March 26         1:30-3 p.m.            313-827-6750       Joseph Martin

Salina Elem.          Friday, March 22           8:10-9:10 a.m.        313-827-6550       Susan Stanley

Snow                     Wednesday, April 10      5:30-6:30 p.m.       313-827-6250       Amal Alcodray

Whitmore-Bolles    Monday, April 22           9:30 – 10:30 a.m.    313-827-6800       Kristin Waddell

William Ford     Tuesday, March 26         9 – 10 a.m.        313-827-6400                David Higgins

From the desk of the Kindergarten Teachers:

As educators, our hope is to develop joyful, self-directed, engaged learners. Learners who are curious about the world around them, who are excited to take on challenges, who are willing to take risks, and who are resilient and flexible in the face of failure.  Our goal here at Lowrey, is to have learners who have a growth mindset.

The Kindergarten TEAM has found that building a classroom culture of growth mindset changes how students approach their learning, and is transformational in helping them build the habits of mind to be successful within and beyond the classroom. As one of our kindergartners explains, “If you don’t know how to do something, you can try it again and again and fix your mistakes, and if you don’t give up, you really showed growth mindset.”

We start by asking our kindergartners to share how their muscles get stronger.  We give our students the example of working out our muscles through exercise to working out our brains through the effort of purposeful practice (building stamina). By showing brain images of growth, students can discover the way that their brains change as they learn new things.

You can also extend and enrich this understanding of growth mindset by reading aloud literature that celebrates a growth and facilitating discussions about how growth mindset plays out in different contexts. Students may also be inspired to read the biographies of famous athletes or thinkers who overcame huge obstacles and who embody a growth mindset…

100 Day Project

We will be celebrating the 100^th day of school by sharing our 100^th day family bottle projects and doing other activities in the classroom. To prepare for this up-coming event, the students will need to make a 100^th Day Bottle.  Make this a fun activity to do at home.

How to do this:  You need 100 items, a plastic (not glass) water/pop/juice bottle works great.  Make sure there are only 100 items in the bottle. Please have your child bring it back to school onTuesday, February 25^6h to share with the class. J

Paper Clips

Pennies

Buttons

Stickers

Toothpicks

Beads

Cotton balls

Q-Tips

Marshmallows

M&M’s

Sweetheart Candy

Pom-Pom Balls

Remember to have fun when you do this!

The 100^th Day Project is due on Tuesday, February 26th.

Thank you

The Kindergarten Teachers:)

Mid-Winter Break is Friday, February 15^th thru Monday, February 18^th.

Please work on Math Workbook pages in their Succeed Eureka Math Books.  Students may keep these work books at home as they are already topics discussed in class and are extra practice.

With Common Core Mathematics, kindergartners learn about (1) representing, relating, and operating on whole numbers, initially with sets of objects; and (2) describing shapes and space. More learning time in Kindergarten should be devoted to number than to other topics.

This set includes all of the Grade K modules:
Module 1: Numbers to 10
Module 2: Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Shapes
Module 3: Comparison with Length, Weight, and Numbers to 10

Please also work on their reading bag books and spelling words that have already been introduced.(-at family, -an family and –et family words)!!!The next pages have some great Language Arts websites for even more fun!!!

Have a wonderful break and see you on Tuesday, February 19^th!!!

Thank you for all your support,

Ms. Wentland

Kindergarten Compiled List of Resources

LANGUAGE ARTS

Authors

Jan Brett: a wonderful site by a wonderful author
https://www.janbrett.com

Suessville
https://www.randomhouse.com/seussville/

The Official Berenstain Bears Website: activities, story videos, email the bears
https://www.berenstainbears.com/index.html

Robert Munsch: listen to him read his books
https://www.robertmunsch.com

Dav Pilkey
https://www.pilkey.com

Children’s Books Forever: Many Hans Wilhelm books to print out or use on SMART Board
https://www.childrensbooksforever.com/

General Language Arts Sites

The Best Children’s Books.org: helps teachers find children’s literature that supports various language arts skills and concepts
https://www.the-best-childrens-books.org/

freeReading: open source free reading intervention program for preK-6
https://www.free-reading.net/index.php?title=Main_Page

Cando’s Helper Page: reading activities for primary grades
https://candohelperpage.com/index.html

Into the Book: great site for teachers and students to teach comprehension skills
https://reading.ecb.org/index.html

SpellingCity.com: great site to put your spelling words online for students to practice
https://www.spellingcity.com/

read-write-think: standards-based resources for teaching reading and language arts
https://www.readwritethink.org

Starfall:interactive books and word games for long and short vowels
https://www.starfall.com

Handwriting for Kids: handwriting worksheets and lined paper to print out for manuscript and cursive
https://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite

Primary Success: free little books to download
https://members.shaw.ca/primarysuccessideas/

Between the Lions: show on PBS with games, stories, and video clips
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/lions/

Words and Pictures: short and long vowel games and things to print out
https://www.bbc.co.uk/education/wordsandpictures/

WritingFix for Kids: kids create their own writing prompts; stories may be written on- or offline
https://writingfix.com/traits_primary.htm#forkids

Story It Word Magnets: Practice making sentences with short and long vowel words
https://www.storyit.com/magnets/wmagnets.htm

Florida Center for Reading Research: excellent resource for literacy centers for K-1
https://www.fcrr.org/

Woodlands Literacy Zone: interactive literacy activities
https://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/interactive/literacy.html

Kizclub: Go to Resources for flashcards story patterns to go with many popular children’s books, nursery rhymes, etc.
https://kizclub.com

Roy Tale of a Singing Zebra: free interactive literacy games and the story of Roy the Zebra with questions, activities, and worksheets
https://www.roythezebra.com

Reading First: Click on Games for online alphabet and sound games
https://roe.stclair.k12.il.us/reading1st

Carl’s Corner: a fabulous resource for primary teachers
https://www.carlscorner.us.com

Leveling Books

Beaverton School District Leveled Book Database
https://leveledbooks.beaverton.k12.or.us/search.php

Scholastic Teacher Book Wizard
https://bookwizard.scholastic.com

Leveled Books Database from A to Z Teacher Stuff
https://books.atozteacherstuff.com/leveled-books/

Nursery Rhymes

Nicky’s Nursery Rhymes: lots of nursery rhymes and other songs, many with coloring pages
https://www.nurseryrhymes4u.com/

Land of Nursery Rhymes
https://www.landofnurseryrhymes.co.uk/

Rimes and Rhymes: Nursery Rhymes for Early Literacy
https://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/go/wil/rimes_and_rhymes.htm

Poetry

PoetryTeachers.com: teaching poetry
https://www.poetryteachers.com/

Poems and songs
https://www.canteach.ca/elementary/songspoems.html

Reader’s Theater

Readers Theater at ReadingLady.com: Click on Readers Theater in her menu
https://www.readinglady.com

Forever Young Readers Theatre Scripts
https://www.thebestclass.org/rtscripts.html

Sites that Read Stories to Students

TumbleBooks, TumbleReadables, TumbleTalkingBooks at the Portland Public Library: Fabulous! Library version does not give access to Tumblequizzes or Teacher Resources:
https://www.portlandlibrary.com/kidsplace/tumblebooks.htm

Speakaboos: watch and listen to favorite stories (like Arthur), songs, fables, fairy tales, etc.
https://speakaboos.com/

Mrs. P’s Magic Library: an interactive digital story site
https://www.mrsp.com/v1/mrsp.html

MightyBook: usually about 50 selections are free; access to all selections is by subscription; good for interactive whiteboard
https://www.mightybook.com/

RobertMunsch.com: Robert Munsch tells many of his stories, including Love You Forever
https://www.robertmunsch.com

BookPals Storyline Online: books read by famous people–wonderful site!
https://www.storylineonline.net/storyline.swf

Fables from Aesop
https://us.penguingroup.com/static/packages/us/yreaders/aesop/index.html

Storynory: Free audio stories for kids (can download to computer or iPod)
https://storynory.com/

Clifford Interactive Storybooks
https://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/index.htm

• NWEA is an assessment that is based on academic levels and it provides the
  instructional level of a student in the tested area.  If a student is performing at two
  grade levels below the norm grade level, he or she would not put be put back two grade
  levels. Instead, teachers would work to remediate in the weak areas. The same holds
  true for a student who may be performing at a higher than average level.  There is certain
  content that requires student learning and exposure, but a teacher may need to
  differentiate how the content is delivered.  There are standards and content specific to
  grade levels that are important to a student. The teacher brings the complexity and rigor
  to the classroom.  MAP NWEA data is just the springboard for targeted instruction.
•  NWEA provides a norms chart that shows beginning, middle, and end of year
  normative data based on the RIT (Rasch Unit) scale.  The norms chart is a document to
  show what NWEA has seen as the AVERAGE student performance on the
  assessments.  NWEA has additional documents including the Michigan Linking Study
  and the College and Career Readiness Linking study that show at what student
  performance percentile a student needs to be performing at in order to be proficient on
  the MEAP or ACT.  While the norm chart shows the 50%ile, the Michigan Linking Study
  and College and Career Readiness Linking study will show higher percentiles. What is
  reported on the norms chart again is the 50%ile at each grade level.  For parents who see
  that their 4 th  grader is performing at a 6 th  grade level based on the norms chart, the student
  is performing at only an average (50%ile) 6 th  grade level. See parent resource link.
• NWEA data is used in many districts when making decisions about what instructional program may be most appropriate for students.  This document is the“Comparative Data to Inform Instructional Decisions.”   The top line represents the 95%for each grade level (see parent resources).  Many districts use this percentile as one ofthe many indicators for identifying students for placement in a gifted program.  Therounded mean is the 50%ile from the norm document. See parent resource link.
• NWEA is one of multiple assessments used in the Dearborn Public Schools. It isnationally normed and an objective instrument. It should be interpreted and used withcare to provide appropriate and differentiated instruction for students K-8 th grades.Dearborn has provided a grade level equivalent in reading and math on the standardbased report card based on the NWEA 2011 Normative Study.
• NWEA Parent Resources can be found at the following link: https://legacysupport.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/resources/ParentToolkit.pdf

VALENTINE’S DAY FAMILY PROJECT

In February, we will be celebrating all the friendships we have made this year by having a valentine card exchange.

Please decorate a box (Kleenex or Shoe Box) with your child to collect their valentine cards.  Be creative!  Make your project into anything you want!  Just remember to leave a slot for mail to be deposited and removed. J

Please have your project to school by Thursday, February 14th. We look forward to seeing your creation. J

Here are some examples:

If you decide to bring in Valentine cards, please make sure that you bring in one for every student. We have 22 students…13 girls and 9 boys.  It would be easier and quicker for your child to pass out their cards if they just sign their name on the cards.

We are looking forward to a special day with fun activities, passing out Valentines to our classmates and sharing some yummy treats!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Ms. Wentland