Last day of school! First grade here we come!

 

I would like to thank all of my kindergarten parents for allowing me to share in the life of your child for one year.  This class will always hold a special place in my heart because they are my last class that I will ever teach.  Since “kindergarten” means a child’s garden I hope I have planted the seeds of learning in your child and they will continue growing in the future.

     The students will be bringing home several things in their backpack to keep.  They have their journals, kidwriting notebook, and other things that we found in their desks.   The red binder is a gift to you from me, we have been collecting memories all year, and I hope you and your child will cherish it throughout the years!  They also have an autograph book with the student’s names and a picture from the last full day.

Library books need to be returned or you will be expected to pay for the book.

DVD’s and report cards will be distributed on the last day of school.  Report cards are yours to keep, and do not need to be signed and returned.

I hope you have a safe and restful summer, and I want you to know how proud I am of my students.  They worked very hard, and it just goes to show what they can accomplish even at their young age.

I encourage you to keep reading and writing with your child over the summer.  This will prepare them for a smooth transition into first grade.

I hope you enjoyed our graduation ceremony, I thought the kids did a great job!

I love when I get mail (I’m as bad as the kids), so if your child would like to send me a postcard from vacation, or a letter from home, my address is:

Mrs. Bernosky

109 Valley Hill Road

Ashland, Pa. 17921

Thank you for all the wonderful gifts I loved everything!!!

Happy summer!

May 19th-May 23rd

                                           On to the week of May.-19^th to the23rd:

Phonics- We will be learning about digraph “ch” as in cheese, “ee” as in sheep” and combination “or” as in horse.” I know the students will do well with these because we use them in kidwriting.

Reading- We will be reading a story called “Homes Around the World”. It is an informational text and the comprehension skill that will be taught throughout this lesson is “compare and contrast.” 

Math- We doubled up some days in math because the students are doing such a good job with their shapes.  We learned about the numbers of sides and corners of the basic shapes (circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles but we also introduced a hexagon, cube, sphere, cylinder and cone.  The next topic is Topic 15 and we will learn about Position and Location of Shapes.

Attention:

Graduation- Tuesday, May 20^th is the big day!!!!  Our graduation will begin at 6:00PM in the NS high school auditorium. Students should arrive at the lower level and report to the gym around 5:30- 5:45.  The ceremony will begin promptly at 6:00 P.M.  The doors will not open until 5:30.  Students will be exiting the auditorium and going to the Gym after the ceremony, and parents can get pictures of their children there.  Kindergarten caps and gowns must be returned to the teacher after the ceremony. .  Tassels will be taken home as a keepsake.

The children will have their caps and gowns on for the kindergarten graduation so it is not necessary to wear dress clothes that night.  They need a white colored shirt. 

Friday, May 23^rd.-Carnival

Carnival day is a fun filled day with games and snacks provided by the PTO, Please dress your child for the weather and apply sunscreen before your child comes to school,   Students should wear sneakers and Gym day attire, (no jeans, dresses or skirts). 

This year the cafeteria is offering a brown bag lunch for the field trip and the carnival. It is the same price as the regular student lunch.  I know it is confusing, but you have the option to purchase a lunch for these events.  We will be eating our lunch in our classroom the day of the carnival, so you will have to pack a lunch for your child or buy the bagged lunch from the cafeteria. No other meal will be offered.

Monday May 19th will be day # 5 on the school rotation and we will have music class. 

     The kindergarten children did such a wonderful job collecting food and supplies for the soldiers all year that they were recognized at the school board meeting on Wednesday, May 14^th. They were also recognized for the “loose change” collections for the relay for life.  The children received an ice-cream treat on Thursday as a reward.  Thanks for your help!!!

. A few more reminders will be coming home concerning the field trip and graduation. If you are a homeroom parent chaperoning our fieldtrip please make sure you sent the necessary paper work to school as soon as possible.  Have a sunny weekend!

 

May 5th -9th 2014

Kindergarten newsletter - May 5^th-9th^th

This week in:

Phonics-

 The new concept this week is “digraph oo”.  The digraph oo makes two sounds /oo/ as in hook, and /oo/ as in tooth.  I remind the children that a digraph is when two letters come together to make one sound.  The digraph oo that we are learning this week comes in the middle and final positions in some words.

Math

-We have doubled up in Math this week because the students did well with measurement, and we have a lot more to do before we finish school this year.  We will hopefully finish Topic 12 on Friday and move to Topic 13 on Monday of next week.

Reading

- We will be a book called “This is the way we go to School” by Edith Baer.  She is an interesting author because in 1940 she escaped Nazi Germany and has written two autobiographical novels based on her experiences.   She also has written many children’s books... The book is fiction, and the comprehension skill is drawing conclusions.

FYI:

The PTO will be having a Book Fair from May 5^th to May 12^th.  The children will able to shop during their library time which will be Friday, May 9^th.On this date they will also be returning their last library book for the year.

J Orders and money for the kindergarten DVD are due on Monday May 5^th.

J Please make sure that you have paid any balance on lunch accounts.

J Please remember to send the permission papers for the field trip back to me as soon as possible.  They should be in your child’s Friday folder.  It is a green packet with information about the field trip, a permission form including a medication part, and a “yes” or “no” section.   You have the option of ordering a lunch from the cafeteria for that day or you can provide a lunch for your child.   We will not be buying any food or souvenirs at the Lokie.  Every page must be filled out and returned to me ASAP.  Please tear the last page off to keep as a reference for the field trip.

J Beginning in the month of May, I am being very strict with classroom discipline because by now the students should know the rules and they should be following them. If they get a sad face on their behavior chart it should have an explanation on it.J We will be testing for the end of the year so keep practicing!!!!!!

Upcoming Dates:

Sunday, May 11^th- Mother’s Day

Tuesday, May 20^th-Kindergarten Graduation @ 6:00pm HS

Friday May 23^rd –Carnival Day@NSE

Monday, May 26^th-Memorial Day/No school

Monday June 2nd-Last day of school/Early dismissal@ 11:15

 

April 28th-May 2nd, 2014

                                            Kindergarten News

- Monday, April 28th^th will be day # 5-Music

 

v  This week, we will be focusing on the two sounds of digraph “th”.   It makes a voiced (vibrating) sound as in feather and unvoiced sound as in thimble.  Watch the daily worksheets to see the differences in the two sounds.  The children already are aware of this digraph and use it frequently in their kid writing.  We try to stick our tongue out to make these sounds.

 

v  No show and tell this week.

 

 

v   You may have noticed that we are practicing for our “end of the year testing” on our phonic worksheets.  The children are given 10 minutes to write as many words as they can as part of their kindergarten testing.  The Reading teachers give the test in the cafeteria because there are no words to copy from, and we will be there to help.  I am trying to teach “word families” like “at, it, ed, ug, etc to make it easy for the children to be successful on this test. Practice this at home. A tentative date for  Diebels testing will be April 28^th.  This will be the last time this year for this test.

 

v   The children attended a show in the gym called “Brain show Mania”.  It was a show with questions and contestants in a game show format. We had fun and even some winners!!!

 

           In Math we took the test for topic 11 on Thursday and it will come home in the Friday   folder for you to look over and sign.  We will begin topic 12 on Friday and continue it next week. We will be learning about measurement.  Please review the pages that come home in your child’s folder daily. 

 

       We are making a DVD for graduation that will have 2 individual pictures of every child in kindergarten on it, along with some group shots from every class. You may purchase it for $ 10.00, please see the form in your child’s folder.

 

v  Tuesday, April 22nd was Earth Day. We discussed the environment, and how to keep our planet clean.

 

 

Congratulations to the winners from the PTO Spring Fling Chinese Auction.   The last day for the school store is May 2^nd.

 

Next week will be the last time the children will have the opportunity to get books from the library.

Note:  Tuesday April 29^th there will be a change in the menu –It will be breaded pork chop with mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit and milk.

 

 

Dates to remember:

^{Fieldtrip- May 28th}

^{Carnival- May 23rd}

Kindergarten graduation- May 20^{h (evening)}

April21st-25th

Kindergarten News

- Monday April 21st to April 25th 

                                      

This week in Phonics we are learning about the diagraph “sh”.  A diagraph is when two letters come together to make one sound.  We code digraphs by drawing a line under them.  This reminds the children that the two letters only make one sound.

 

Monday April 28^nd will begin diebels testing with the Reading department, and very soon we will begin getting the testing started for the last report card.  The reading department retests all of the children at the end of the year.

 

v They are tested on letter identification, sounds, and the students have to give a word that begins with each letter of the alphabet.

 

v  A sentence will be dictated, and the children will have to write it.  This is done one word at a time.

 

v  They will be given 10 minutes to write as many words as they can think of, and that’s why you are seeing us working on word families.  I have had children in past years write more than 100 words.  This you can practice all of these things at home, the more use to doing this, the easier it is for them the day of the test. 

 

 

v Next week we will be working on topic 11, composing and decomposing numbers to 19.  If your child did not meet the goals for counting to 100, please practice this daily at home.  It is a common core standard that needs to be met before first grade.

 

     JWe are introducing the story “Mayday, Mayday” in Reading. Its genre is” informational text” and the comprehension skills is “cause and effect”. This is a real story full of adventure, and the children love it.  They will be learning about transportation that helps in an emergency.

 

     JMonday April 21st will be day # 5 on the school rotation and we will have music class.  We are beginning to practice the songs for our kindergarten graduation.

 

     JThe children are permitted to wear gym clothes on Monday because we will be going to the baseball field for some fun activities provided by a club at the high school called Teens against Tobacco”.

March 14th-18th

                                     Kindergarten New- April -14^th-18th

 

 

 

v  This week, since we have covered all of the letters of the alphabet, we will now   be working on final digraph ck.  The rule is that when the/k/ sound comes at the end of a word, and there is a short vowel before it, you use the diagraph “ck”.  Examples:  black , duck,  lock

 

v   Keep practicing with your child to help them write as many words as they can in ten minutes so that they will be successful on the end of the year test.

 

v   The wedding of Q and u went very well.  We had a lovely ceremony, and we feasted on wedding cake, ice cream, and punch.  The children had a wonderful time blowing wedding bubbles outside, and we dance at the reception.  All the parts for our wedding were randomly chosen by picking the children’s names from a hat so that it would be fair.

 

v  Reading-We are introducing the story Max Takes the Train.  This book was written by an author you may be familiar with --“Rosemary Wells”.  She has written and illustrated over 60 children’s books.  The genre for this book is animal fantasy and the comprehension skill is realism and fantasy.

 

v  Some of the science concepts that we will be covering are how to mix colors, and make-believe animals.

 

v  The Social studies concepts will be revolved around forms of transportation.

 

v   Report cards should be signed and returned as soon as possible. 

 

       In Math we are finished with Topic 10 and the test will come home to be signed and for you to get an idea of what your student has accomplished.  Please review the pages that come home in your child’s folder daily.

 

      The children are doing a wonderful job with their kidwriting.  You might see some papers coming home that the children are doing at learning centers while I am kidwriting with another group.  All of the learning center activities revolve around things that we introduce in class, and are an extension of their learning.

 

We are not having an Easter party but we will have an egg hunt and my class will have to find eggs with our memory word “said” on them.  Help your child practice this at home.

 

Monday, April 14th^th is day # 1 and we have art class.

 

There will be no school on Friday April 18^th and the children will be back at school on Monday April 21^st, due to make-up snow days.

 

Enjoy the warmer weather this weekend!!!!!!

April 7th-11th

Kindergarten News- April 7^th – 11th

 

v  This week since we have finished all the letters of the alphabet, we will be working on a new concept.  We will learn about long vowels, and the new rule is “a vowel not followed by a consonant is long: code it with a macron.  Some examples are-hi, me he, and she.

 

v  All of the girls enjoyed being “Queen for a day” on Friday. The girls got to wear crowns and the boys did nice things for them all day.

 

 

v  We will try to begin our Foss Science Kit called “Animals Two by Two”.

 

v  Please send any report cards back to school. Please sign and return it in the envelope as soon as you can.  I did not include the rubric since you had the opportunity to review what our expectations were for your child on their first report card.  If you have any questions please feel free to send me a note or an e-mail.

 

v  For Reading we will begin “Abuela” Its genre is fiction, and the comprehension skill is setting.  The social studies concept of this unit is “Adventures You Can Have in the City”.

 

v  In Math we will be working with identifying numbers 11-30, and composing and decomposing 11 through 30.

 

 

v  Kindergarten physicals are on Thursday April 10^th.

 

v  Kindergarten graduation pictures also went well thanks to the help of a few wonderful homeroom moms.

 

 

v  Wordlist # 16 was checked, and almost the whole class got perfect papers!  Wow!!!  Wordlist # 17 should be in your child’s folder today.

 

     The wedding of Q and U will be on Friday, April 11^th...  Mrs. Pott’s class has been invited and they have responded that they will be in attendance.  I am sending a separate reminder note about this event.

 

 

If you are a homeroom parent and have met all of the PTO requirements, we would love to have you help us for the field trip.  If you can go to the Pioneer Tunnel with us please let me know ASAP.

 

The PTO fund raiser pick up will be on Friday from 4 to 7.

 

 

 

Monday - April 7th is Day 1—we will begin the week with art class.