Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dear Parents,                                                                                               from:   December 20^th, to January 2^nd

         The week began with a rocky start due to the nasty weather conditions, but it got better as the week went on. We made little decorated Christmas boxes of Santa and reindeer and fill them with hugs and kisses (chocolate ones.)We wanted to show our buddies how much we appreciate them!  The reading buddies loved the gifts that they received from the kindergarten children.   

We played   “pass the present game” as I read “ T’was the Night Before Christmas” on Thursday, and every time  I read  the word “the” they had to pass the present to the child on their right.  When the book was finished, they all opened the present from me that they were holding.  They also got a ring pop and a certificate for a book from scholastic.

 We got our tickets punched by the conductor “Mrs. Potts” (who by the way really works on the train in Jim Thorpe) and she wore her train outfit and brought her real ticket punch.  The children loved it!!  The movie was a hit.   We had cookies and hot chocolate just like in the movie.   

  I sincerely hope you liked the Christmas ornaments that the children made for you.  Someday, and it goes fast, believe me, you will look back at these keepsakes and wonder where the time went when your little one was in kindergarten.  I also hope you enjoyed the reindeer food, the polar express bell, the book, and the cookie plate for Santa.  We were busy elves this season!

Thank you so much for thinking of me at Christmas.  The wonderful gifts were not necessary but deeply appreciated.  Your children know what the “love of giving” means because they couldn’t wait for me to open their gifts.

We will return to school on January 2^nd, 2013, and it will be day # 5 on the school rotation.

Phonics- We will be working on the new letter Kk, as in kite and kangaroo.  We are learning a new rule in Phonics for the letter “K” to help the children decide which letter to use when spelling words that have the /K/ sound.  We learn “K” first because K always has the /K/ sound; c borrows the sound from k.  The rule is that we spell the /K/ sound with letter k when the sound is followed by the letters e, I, or y. (example-keg, kid. and milky).  We spell the /K/ sound with the letter “c” when the sound is followed by the letters a, o, u, or any consonant. Example cat, cot, cut, and clip.

Math –We will be learning to count to 100, find patterns on the 100^th chart, and count by 10’s to 100. 

Reading- We will begin reading “Little Quack”. The genre is animal fantasy, and the comprehension skill is “plot”.  We will be reviewing the letter “r” in this book.  The children will learn about how people, plants, and animals grow and change.

We will be testing when we return from break because the report cards will be tentatively given out on January 21^st. I have included a list of the sight words that I will be testing the children on for the second report card period. Try and review them during Christmas break.  Keep writing with your children over break, so that they don’t forget how to do it.  They are becoming great authors.  I will be testing word list # 7 when the children return from the break                                                                                                                                                      .

MERRY CHRISTMAS and A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

                                                Mrs. Margaret Bernosky

December 16th-20th 2013

          December 16^th to December 20th

 

Dear Parents,

The week of December 16^th to December 20th will be a busy time in kindergarten.

In Phonics we will be learning about the letter K as in kite and kitten.  We have already introduced the memory word “from” and that can be practiced at home.  We are working on our wordlists and you should have wordlist # 7 in the weekend folder.

In math next week we will finish up topic #5, and begin #6. In this topic we will be learning about counting to 30 and then continuing on to 100 which is expected in kindergarten.  This is something that you can work on at home. The students are learning about trapezoids as we work on our daily calendar.

Our Reading next week might take us to a new story “Little Quack”, and we will cover such things as hibernation, putting things in order, and fact or fiction, to name a few. The social Studies concept is “taking on responsibility”.  We did not get “Little Panda” finished this week, so we begin next week with that.  I showed the children a wonderful web site that they can actually watch the Pandas at the San Diego Zoo with the help of their panda cam.  Just go to the San Diego zoo web site, and you will see a place to click on the live cams.

  Please notice that December 17^th is non - rotation day due to the concert that we will be attending at the H.S.   Monday, December 16^th will be day # 5 and we will have music class.

The kindergarten community service project will end on Friday, December 20^th.  Thank you to all the families that already generously donated.

Thursday December 19^th we will have a PTO sponsored show with Rand Whipple. 

Friday December 20^th we will have an early dismissal.  Lunch will be at 9:15, and we will enjoy hot chocolate and Oreos while we watch the Polar express in our pajamas.  Dismissal will be at 1 o’clock.

Have a cold weekend!

 

                         

November 18th-22nd, 2013

                                     Kindergarten News                                                  November 18^th-22nd

 

 Phonics

  We will begin learning the letter “S” as in sun and snake.  Wordlist #3 was sent home today in the communication folder, and it will be tested at the end of next week.  Please practice all week blending the wordlist words so that your child can find success reading them.

Math

We are working on ordering numbers through ten. The (standard) is for the children to be able to count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at one).

Reading

We will begin the story ”A Bed for the Winter”.  The genre is informational text, and and the comprehension skill is sequence.  The skill taught in our last story was “main idea”.  A good way to help your child with this is after reading a story together, discuss what the story was about.

FYI

.  There will be no school on Nov. 18^th due to an Act 80 day.  Parent-teacher conferences will be held from 12:00-6:00pm.  I am sending a second form in your child’s folder with your conference time on it because I accidentally skipped the time on some of the original forms.  Sorry!!!!

Monday November 18^th is the kick off for the Bowl for Kids Sake Event, Check your child’s folder for the fundraiser packets.

Pick up for the Fall Book Fundraiser is from 4:00PM to 7:00PM in the school gymnasium on Monday, November 25^th, 2013.

We will have show and tell for “S” on Friday.

Tuesday, November 19^th is day # 2 and we have Gym class.  Please remember sneakers! 

Have an incredible day!

 

November 11th-15th

                             November 11^th- November 15th

Kindergarten News

 

**Next week in Phonics we will be learning the vowel I i and its short sound as in igloo and inch, and its long sound as in ice.  Please review sounds and writing of all letters learned so far.  Boys and girls get ready for another tough week for Show & Tell.  We will always have show and tell on a Friday unless I tell you otherwise.

 

**In Math we will be identifying a missing piece in a matrix. Also we will learn to identify, create and extend the AB sound and movement patterns.

 

**In Reading we will begin the book “Bear Snores On” by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman.  We will review the letter Cc and the /k/ sound, and we will be learning about patterns in nature.  The comprehension skill is “realism and fantasy” and the genre is “animal fantasy”.  The new high frequency words are: we, my, and like.  We are also working on the words- one, two, have, was, of, are, and into.

 

**Next week we will be beginning to learn about the “first Thanksgiving”, and closer to Thanksgiving we will be making pilgrim and Native American costumes, and discussing about the things that we are truly grateful for.

 

**I introduced some magnets this week, and next week one of our learning centers will revolve around them.  We packed a lot of learning in for the letter “M”.  We used real Mini marshmallows to graph, sort, count, pattern, and eat, and that was the best part!!!!!

**We read Laura Numeroff’s book “If You Give a Moose a Muffin” and then we did a story recall activity which was a nice challenge for the children.  One of our kidwriting centers is a painting center and the children are painting seasonal pictures.

         

Remember:

No school for students on Monday, November 18^th due to a scheduled ACT 80 day.  Look for the verification of your scheduled conference time in your child’s folder today.

 Monday November 11^th is day # 2 on the special class schedule.  We will begin the week with gym class so don’t forget your sneakers.

 

November 4th-8th, 2013

                             Kindergarten News                        November 4th-Nov. 8th

Next week in Phonics we will be working on the consonant letter Mm as in monkey and mom.  We will have show & tell on Friday as usual. Our theme will be a “mish mash” of M topics, and we will learn a little about magnets and measurement.  It will be “marvelous”!

**In Math we begin the Topic 4: Comparing and Ordering numbers 0-10.

**In Reading, we are introducing the story “Animal babies in grasslands.” Its genre is animal fantasy and the comprehension skill is setting.

Wordlist #1 should be in your child’s folder today.  Please review, sign and return it to me on Monday. I will be sending wordlist # 2 with your child in their Friday folder.  This copy does not have to be returned to me.  Have your child practice the words all week, and I will individually test them on Thursday or Friday.  I will then send the graded list home for you to review, sign it and return it to me.

Since the weather will be getting cooler, we ask that the boys and girls practice at home putting coats on themselves and zipping/buttoning them.  We often spend lots of time struggling with coats and zippers at this time of year.  Thanks for the help!

The Halloween parade and party were a big success.  Thanks to all the homeroom moms that helped to make this day a success!  We could not possibly do it without them!! It was nice to see all the families and friends that came to see the children in the parade.  We had a “Spook-tactular”

      The book orders are due on Monday, November 11th^th and our online activation code is GMXW8.  The October order should be here soon.  Sorry it’s late for Halloween.

      Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Monday, November 18^th, Conference forms are due back to the teacher by Monday, November 4^th.  If you did not return it to me, please send it A.S.A.P. if you would like to speak to me.  Parents will be notified of their scheduled times by the end of next week, Nov. 8^th.

Daylight savings time ends on Sunday, November 3^rd.  Remember to turn your clocks back 1 hour.  The student handbook states that once the clocks change, students are no longer able to wear shorts to school.  When the clocks move forward in spring then the students can begin wearing shorts again.  FALL BACK-SPRING AHEAD!!!!!

Monday is day # 2 and we have gym class.   Please remember to wear sneakers!!!!!!       Have a Nice weekend!

 

 

 

October 21st-25th 2013

                                          Kindergarten news- October 21st-25th, 2013

Next week in phonics we will be learning the letter “A”.  We will learn that apple has a short /a/ sound and acorn has a long /a/ sound.  Show and tell will be on Friday as usual but I will not be sending a bag home anymore.

We will be beginning the story “Life in an Ocean” in Reading.  The genre is “informational text” and the comprehension skill is “compare and contrast”.

For the next week’s lessons in Math we will be focusing on:

* Numbers and operations

* Children will solve problems by analyzing growing patterns to predict what comes next.

*Recognize and write numerals that describe the quantities 8 and 9.

We will not be giving the kindergarten children a report card for the first card period because combined with the change to the common core standards and the new report card format; the assessment might not be valid.  We always believed that the children needed to learn how to be in kindergarten before we can grade them academically.    The things that we have learned so far and that I expect them to have mastered as of now are:  letter and number recognition up to 10, letter and number formation up to 10, and letter sounds for l, o, g, h ,t ,p and a.  Also practice the memory words “I, a, am, to, the, little, love, the words of, have, and is will be introduced shortly. They should be able to make and extend an A,B pattern, and be able to give me a rhyming word when I provide them with a word (tell me word that rhymes with hat) and be able to tell me if two words rhyme(like bug- rug).

 Instead of giving a report card, we will be holding parent conferences to discuss the new report card and your child’s progress thus far.  Look for two notes today in your child’s folder.  Please return the conference form as soon as possible.  If you cannot make it in the day provided, I will arrange to meet with you on a different day if necessary.  I am usually available after school.

 

The fall festival was a huge success.  The children had a wonderful time. A lot of people devoted a huge amount of time to making this an enjoyable day for our students, and it is appreciated.

We had a wonderful time at the pajama party on Wednesday.  Some of the activities were: pasta necklaces, printing with Halloween sponges, pig puppets on purple bags, and painting pussy willows. Everyone looked perfect in their pajamas, and we even had pancakes.  For snack time we munched on popcorn. Thanks to the homeroom moms that helped out.

 If you signed up to be a homeroom mom and have your clearances, and you would like to help out for the Halloween party on October 31^st(Wednesday) please send a note to me and I will be in touch with more details.

The weekender backpack program began last week for participating families.  Please return the empty food bag to school on Monday.  The next distribution is today October 17^th.

Picture retake day is Monday, Nov. 1^st.  Anyone who was absent on picture day is asked to be photographed on re-take day.  Also anyone not happy with their photo taken in September may return the complete package of photos and have their picture retaken.

Monday will be day # 2 and we have gym class!  Don’t forget your sneakers!!!!!

 Have a Perfectly Peachy weekend!

 No school for students on Friday, October 18 due to a teacher inservice/Act 80 day.

October 14th-18th, 2013

Happenings for week of October 14 – 18, 2013 • No school for students on Monday, October 14 and Friday, October 18 due to teacher in-service days. Enjoy your long weekend. • We will be having our fall festival next Thursday, October 17th. Please remember to dress your child appropriately for the weather. Dress code is not required; gym clothes are fine but no shorts please. • Next week in math, we will continue with counting and cardinality, and we will be concentrating on numbers 6-10. If your child is having trouble with 0-5 please practice at home. • Due to the short week, we will not be introducing a new letter in phonics but will review the letters we have covered. We will introduce the vowel “A” the week of October 21 so stayed tuned for some fun A activities. • Tuesday will be day 4 in our schedule. Have a wonderful weekend! • The fall festival meeting will be held at the mineshaft in Ashland on Sunday, October 13th at 5 o’clock.

Happenings in Mrs. Bernosky's kindergarten for October 7th-11th

Kindergarten News October 7th-11th, 2013 Next week we will be learning the consonant letter “Pp, as in pink, and pumpkin, and to celebrate we will have a Pajama Party on Wednesday, October 16st. More information will be sent home next week. We will have “show and Tell” for letter “P” on Friday as usual. Picture retakes will be on November 1st. If you are not satisfied with your child’s picture and want it retaken make sure you return the first package on retake day. Any child absent for the original picture day will be photographed. Thank you to all of the homeroom parents and other volunteers who are working so hard for our Fall Festival. It will be held on Thursday, October 17th, rain or shine. If you can help in any way to make this day fun for the children please get in touch with one of the homeroom parents. Our theme for next week is fire prevention. Discuss a designated meeting place with your children in case of a fire in your home. Wilburton Hose Company will be having an open house on Wednesday October 9th @ 7 o’clock and it is opened to the public. We are beginning our unit in science about trees. We will be working on a science journal that will come home when we have it completed. Phonics- letter “P”. Math- We will be finishing up the last lessons in unit 2 and doing the pretest and test for this unit next week. I will be sending it home for you to sign and return. We will also be beginning unit three, which has a concentration of numbers 6-10. Reading: We will begin the new story” Dig, Dig, Digging. The skill is classifying and categorizing, and we will be talking about machines, and how they help people. The boys and girls are doing a good job on their “All about Me” posters. We are doing approximately 3 posters a week, and we are going in alphabetical order. The children have a book order in their folders that will be due October 11th. Thanks to those of you that are ordering on line because we get free books for online orders. Monday will be day 4 on the school rotation and we were scheduled to exchange library books but due to a problem in the library we will not be able to get new books this week. Please check your child’s behavior chart for the dates of our kindergarten events and for your child’s record of classroom behavior. Listening is crucial to learning. Have a terrific weekend!

Sept. 30th - October 3rd

This is the newsletter that was suppose to go home today but our homemade applesauce took my attention and I forgot to give it out!!!!!Look for it on Monday! Sooooo sorry!!!!!! In the upcoming week, we will be learning Tt as in tent, tail, and tie. Take some time to find items at home that begin with the letter Tt sound! Also, boys and girls are asked to learn their telephone numbers. Please practice at home! Our theme for the upcoming weeks and October will be Fire Safety. We have many activities planned to teach the students about fire safety such as; videos, stories, and art projects. Don’t forget to ask your child what he/she has learned! In reading we will be starting the story Julius. Our focus skills for unit one are story setting, characters, sequence, and comparing and contrasting the story elements. The genre is animal fantasy. We will soon begin our writing program titled Kid writing. Several times during the week we work in small groups writing stories. Once we complete several pieces I will send home your child’s writing for you to keep and enjoy. It is very exciting to watch the children grow into writers! In Math we will be working on reading and writing zero and continuing with as many, more and fewer. Most of the students are doing a good job with this!!! The Kindergarten Fall Festival will be held at the school on Thursday, Oct. 17th. There will be a fall festival meeting on Sunday, Sept. 27thh, at 5:30 at the Mineshaft in Ashland. Parent and grandparent volunteers are welcome and needed to help the homeroom parents with this fun-filled day! Please send your $4.00 dollar donation ASAP. If you cannot help at the festival, there are many small things that we need donated to defray the cost of the larger items. If you would be willing to donate something let me know and I will send a list of needed items to pick from. If you signed up to be a homeroom helper please attend the meeting or get in touch with our homeroom coordinator Tiffany Urbanowicz. Parents are encouraged to check out your teacher’s BLOG for homework and important information for the week. You can access each teacher’s blog by going to the NS website at www.northschuylkill.net and clicking on Elementary School; then drop down to Homework Helpline and click on the teacher’s name. This should take you directly to each teacher’s blog. (The blogs will be updated at least once a week) Please make sure their children have their names on their homework. If you did not get a corrected homework paper returned, it could be because there was no name on it and the children could not identify it. Some of the homework I don’t return so do not panic if you don’t get it back. November 1st is picture retakes. If you are unhappy with your child’s picture for any reason the package can be returned to school on retake day . Wednesday October 2nd is day # 1 on the school rotation and we have art class. Mrs. Zink will be painting with in class and she suggests that you send an old shirt to school to be used as a painting smock. It will be kept in school all year to use in art class. Monday, September 30th will be Day 4 on our special classes’ schedule. Our class has library class and I am hoping that we can begin borrowing books!!!! Hip, Hip, Hooray it’s the weekend!

September 23rd- 27th, 2013

Kindergarten News ~In the upcoming week we will be learning the letter Hh as in hat, hippo, and horse. Letter Hh is a consonant. As part of our study with the letter Hh we will have a “Hat Day” on Friday, September 27th. Students are asked to wear a favorite hat, a funny hat, or even a homemade hat. You can be creative with this if you want! Students will be able to wear the hat all day—we do just ask that students do not share hats. Show and Tell will be with items that begin with the /h/ sound. Check your schedule and start hunting! ~ Our theme for next week will be apples... We are asking that each student bring in an apple on Monday, Sept.23rd. The apple can be any color, size, or kind. Each day of the week we will use the apples for sorting, graphing, and/or tasting! We will celebrate Johnny Appleseed’s birthday, and we will have all kinds of apple activities planned. It should be a sweet week!!!! ~In Math we are learning about more, fewer, and as many. We also will be learning about the order of numbers using the term ordinal numbers. ~In reading, we will begin the story Miss Bindergarten Takes a field Trip. This book will teach about classifying and categorizing, and the genre is “animal fantasy”. ~We have been practicing writing our first names. Please watch your child as he/she is writing. Be sure to check if letters are beginning at the top, not the bottom and also guide him/her to use the lines when forming the letters. Thank you! ~Box tops for education, Turkey Hill Moo lids and Campbell’s labels will be collected at the end of each month. If you have any at your home, then please send them to school with your child. The box tops, lids and labels help our school to earn extra money and the homeroom with the most collected each month will receive a treat from PTO! There will be a fall festival meeting on Sunday, Sept. 22th @ 5:30pm at the “Mine Shaft” in Ashland. Any interested parent that would like to help with the fall festival is welcome to attend. You must have clearances but do not need to be a member of PTO. The school will begin the “citizen of the month” program in September. Any child that shows good citizenship characteristics will be eligible to get this award. We pick one a month so not all children will get this award. An Elementary Newsletter will come home every month with information about the happenings in each grade level for the month, and the children that earned this award. The children are encouraged to bring a pencil box to school with some supplies like crayons, scissors, and glue sticks to keep in their desk at school. They are beginning to want their own things to use every day. Thanks!!! Everyone did a great job returning the word cards. We will be adding to these each week. Monday will be day # 4 on the school rotation and we have Library class.

*Mrs. Bernosky’s Kindergarten Newsletter* *First week of school* We made it!! The first week of school is over and all the children and the “teacher” survived!!! The girls and boys learned a lot about the school rules and the consequences if they are not followed. We even learned a song about school rules. I saw an improvement of behavior each day as the children became aware of my expectations. I believe that we are off to a great start and I am looking forward to a great year. We began this week exploring how many objects in a set, and learning about the numbers 1 to 5 in Math, and we learned the correct way to write them. Keep practicing writing these numbers at home. The children are doing a great job writing their names, and did a super job returning the homework all week. I will send homework on Monday through Thursday, and no homework will be given on the weekends! Phonics began on Tuesday introducing the very first letter, the letter Ll. We are learning that there is a capital and a lowercase letter. We learned the sound of “L” and that we always begin at the top to write both the capital and lowercase “L”. We will begin our Reading Series by reading the book “The Little School Bus” by Carol Roth. The genre of this story is a rhyming story, and the comprehension skill is character. A “Family Times” newsletter will be sent home with details about the story and the skills that we will be working on. We will continue this unit next week. We practiced a fire drill on Thursday so that the children can get use to walking to the high school football field which is where we assembly for fire drills. Friday afternoon, we hiked over to the football field for a school wide pep rally. Go Spartans!!!!!!!! Week of September 2nd– 6th Monday- Labor Day – no school Tuesday- The students will be upset because they have to start all over again getting adjusted to being at school. Due to the change in the schedule because of the pep-rally, Tuesday will be day # 5 and we will have music class. We will begin our Reading Series by reading the book “The Little School Bus” by Carol Roth. The genre of this story is a rhyming story, and the comprehension skill is character. A “Family Times” newsletter will be sent home with details about the story and the skills that we will be working on. We will continue this unit next week. Wednesday- We will finish up with the letter “L” for phonics, and continue with our reading story. Thursday- We have finished up the letter “L” this week and to celebrate we are having a “Little Luau” in Mrs. Bernosky’s class. The children can dress in tropical prints, bright colors, Hawaiian shirts, etc. It is ok if your child is not dressed according to the dress code policy on this day, but please no denim or flip flops. We will begin learning the letter “O” this week .Make sure that you go over all of the papers at home with your child to keep you informed about what your child is doing at school. *Friday, September 6th will be school pictures and the order forms will come home in your child’s folder. You must send the money in the envelope provided on or before picture day or your child will not be permitted to have their picture taken. This will be day # 3, computer class, so the children don’t have to worry about wearing “gym attire” on picture day. *Every Friday of the school year is spirit day. This is an optional activity that our school does to promote school spirit for our sport teams. The children are permitted to wear any North Schuylkill t-shirt or NS shirt and uniform pants or shorts. They can also still wear the regular uniform clothing if they wish. *Snack and lunch is getting better, but some of the children are still struggling. Please discuss what they are going to pick if they are eating the cafeteria food, and show them what they will have for snack. *Please keep wearing bus tags every day because the children don’t know their bus numbers yet. *Some parents have not returned all of the required forms from the beginning of the school year yet. Please submit them no later than Tuesday, Sept. 4th. I will try to send extra papers to the people who are missing them. If you don’t get any them you know you are fine. Have a great long weekend and great Labor Day! Mrs. Bernosky

May 20th - May 24th 2013

Kindergarten New - Monday, May 20th- Friday May 24th Monday will be day # 2- music class  This week, in phonics we will be working on combination ar , or, and er. A combination is when two letters come together to make an unexpected sound. We use an arc to code them.  Reading-We are working on a new story called “Building Beavers”. Its genre is informational text and the comprehension skill is main idea.  Math- We will be estimation, measuring, capacity and solid figures.  All library books that are overdue must be returned ASAP. If a library book is lost it must be paid for by the last day of school. Students with outstanding library books will not receive their report cards.  We will be participating in the “Mini-Relay Recess” on Monday, May 20th. At the football field there will be three main activities going on. There will be “track stations” for the students to completer fitness activities. They will also be field games and even a “hydration station” where the students can get water and fruit and get out of the sun. We plan on eating our lunch outside on this day. The children are permitted to dress in gym clothes attire for this day!! Sneakers are a must!!!!!!!!  Field trip-Thursday May 23rd we will be traveling to the Giant center in Hershey, Pa. for the circus. Your child has a yellow “field trip” note in their folder today with all the field trip information. Remember to provide a lunch for your child if you did not order one from the cafeteria, and they must wear their blue North Schuylkill T-shirt that was given to them this year. Sneakers should be worn. No money is needed. Chaperones and students need to be at the school no later than 8:30. Students need to eat breakfast at home on this day; they will not have time to go to breakfast at school. We will be leaving the school at approximately 8:45 AM and if your student is late, we cannot wait for them.  Carnival Day- Friday May 24th is our school wide carnival. The PTO has worked very hard to make this a fun filled day for our students. This is also a day that thechildren can wear gym clothes attire.  Kindergarten will practice for graduation on Tuesday, May 21st, Wednesday, May 22nd, and Tuesday May 28th in the morning at the high school. We will be walking to the high school each day so have your child wear sneakers, and a jacket in case of rain.  Remember: Kindergarten graduation will be held on May 28th @ 6 PM at the NSHS auditorium. Next week I will send a special note with specifics concerning the graduation ceremony.

May 6th - May 10th

Kindergarten News-May6th-May 10th Phonics: The children are doing a wonderful job applying the new information that they learned about the “digraph oo”. The children are taught that when two letters come together to make one sound it is called a digraph. We learned that diagraph oo makes two different sounds – oo like in tooth and oo as in hook. We are experimenting with both sounds and discovering which one to use so that the word makes sense.  This week we are learning about a new long vowel rule that we refer to in kindergarten as “sneaky e”. The rule is that when a vowel is followed by a consonant and a silent “e”, the vowel is long: code the vowel with a macron, and cross out the silent “e”. Some examples are: hope, name, rule and theme.  Please prepare your child for testing for the report cards by reviewing all of the areas that we tested them on in the last three report cards. Also keep working on the words that your child will be required to write in ten minutes.  For Reading we will begin 0ur last unit, unit 6 and the first story is “Homes Around the World”. Its genre is informational text, and the comprehension skill is compare and contrast. The social studies component concentrates on learning about what makes a house a home. The science concepts are: comparing human and animal homes, comparing and contrasting transportation, and exploring different building materials. I am monitoring the children’s progress by using some assessments on areas like plot, characters, etc. They will come home for you to sign and return.  We worked on our “wood and paper” unit in science today. Some of the goals of this unit are that the students observe the properties of wood and paper, comparing how they are alike and different, and how they can use what they have learned to create new things. We used sandpaper to change wood into sawdust. We worked on our “Wood and Paper” Journal, which will come home when completed.  In Math we will be working on money, counting by 2’s 5’s and 10’s, identifying geometric solids, identifying even and odd, and identifying and making symmetrical designs. Orientation for new students will be held on June 3rd at 10:00. Field trip- May 23th Carnival- May 24th Graduation-May 28th Monday, May 6th is Day 2 and we have music class. We are practicing, practicing, practicing. Please remember to send your orders and money for the DVD if you wish to purchase one. Parents that are accompanying us on our field trip should send their money to school if you didn’t already .

April 29th to May 3rd

Kindergarten News-March 29thnd-May 3rd To begin this week we will be learning about a new digraph, the “digraph oo”. The children are taught that when two letters come together to make one sound it is called a digraph. We will learn that diagraph oo makes two different sounds – oo like in tooth and oo as in hook.  This week we will also learn about a new long vowel rule that we refer to in kindergarten as “sneaky e”. The rule is when a vowel is followed by a consonant and a silent “e”, the vowel is long: code the vowel with a macron, and cross out the silent “e”. Some examples are: hope, name, rule and theme.  Please prepare your child for testing for the report cards by reviewing all of the areas that we tested them on in the last three report cards. Also keep working on the words that your child will be required to write in ten minutes.  For Reading we will begin “This is the Way We go to School”. Its genre is fiction, and the comprehension skill is drawing conclusions. The social studies component concentrates on learning about towns and country sides, and we will learn about mountains and valleys.   We worked on our “wood and paper” unit in science today. Some of the goals of this unit are that the students observe the properties of wood and paper, comparing how they are alike and different, and how they can use what they have learned to create new things. We used sandpaper to change wood into sawdust.  In Math we will be working on money, counting by 2’s 5’s and 10’s, identifying geometric solids, addition and subtraction, and identifying and making symmetrical designs.  Orientation for new students will be held on May 31st in the afternoon. Field trip- May 23th Carnival- May 24th Graduation-May 28th Monday, March29th is Day 2.

April 22nd - 26th, 2013

Kindergarten News- - Tuesday April 22nd will be day # 2  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.  Thursday ,April 25th there will be a supplement to the Republican Herald newspaper that will have our children’s responses to “What I want to be When I Grow Up”. Every kindergarten class at NSE participated in this.  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 29th. This will be the last time this year for this test.  Thursday morning April 25th I will be visiting the Child Development Center in Ft. Springs to meet the girls and boys who will be attending kindergarten next year. This is a transitioning tool that we, in cooperation with child development, use to help the student feel more comfortable about coming to kindergarten next year. The children will be attending a show in the gym called “Brain show Mania”. It is a show with questions and contestants in a game show format.  In Math we will work on identifying and making symmetrical designs, counting pennies to pay for items that together cost less than 30 cents and writing numerals through 30 to label sets. Please review the pages that come home in your child’s folder daily.  Monday, April 22nd is Earth Day. Discuss the environment, and how to keep our planet clean. Dates to remember: Fieldtrip- May 23rd Carnival- May 24th Kindergarten graduation- May 28th (evening)

April 15th-19th

Kindergarten News - Monday April 15th to April 19th 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 22nd 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.  They are tested on letter identification, sounds, and the students have to give a word that begins with each letter of the alphabet.  A sentence will be dictated, and the children will have to write it. This is done one word at a time.  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.  Next week we will be working on identifying and matching equivalent sets and identifying doubles by using dominoes. Please continue to practice money at home. The children are expected to know the name of a penny, nickel, dime and quarter and the value of each coin.  We are beginning unit 5-4 in Reading. This weeks’ story is “The Little Engine that Could”: its genre is” classic fantasy” and the comprehension skills is “plot”. Most of the children will be familiar with this book and its author Watty Piper, pen name of Mabel C. Bragg. Monday April 15th will be day # 2 on the school rotation and we will have music class. We are beginning to practice the songs for our kindergarten graduation.

April 8th-12th

Kindergarten New- April -8th-12th  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  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.  The wedding of Q and u went very well. We had a lovely ceremony, and we feasted on wedding cake 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.  Reading-We are introducing the story Messenger, Messenger . This book will expand the concept of transportation from the past stories by learning about the kinds of transportation that help people do their jobs.  We will start a science journal just like Jack used in the Magic tree house books, for our unit “Animals Two by Two”.  Report cards should be signed and returned as soon as possible. In Math we will continue to work on money, graphing, and problem solving. We will be covering designs using tangrams and exploring slides, turns and flips. 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. Kindergarten graduation pictures went very well, and it is hard to believe that we are at this point in your child’s kindergarten year. Thanks to the wonderful homeroom moms that helped out with the graduation pictures! Monday, April 8th is day # 2 and we have music class. Enjoy the warmer weather this weekend!!!!!!

April 3rd to April 5th, 2013

Kindergarten News -April 3rd -5th - Wednesday April 3rd will be day # 4 Even though we are finished with all of the letters of the alphabet, we still have much to learn. Next week we will finish up the Phonic lessons about long vowels. Remember the rule- “If a vowel is not followed by a consonant, the vowel is long and we code it with a macron.” Ask your child to tell you about long vowels.  No show and tell for the rest of the year unless I notify otherwise.  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,og, ad, op, etc to make it easy for the children to be successful on this test. Practice this at home. In Math we will work on identifying and making symmetrical designs, counting pennies to pay for items that together cost less than 30 cents and writing numerals through 30 to label sets. Please review the pages that come home in your child’s folder daily. . We had a great Easter egg hunt and we actually incorporated some learning into fun. Each teacher wrote a “memory” word for their class on their eggs and the children had to only find only those eggs. Our word was “said”.  Thanks to Mrs. Love for filling the eggs for me.  Have a Happy Easter and spring break! There will be no school for teachers and students Friday, March 28th and Monday and Tuesday April 1st and 2nd. School will be in session Wednesday, April 3rd. Kindergarten pictures: Thursday April 4th- Please send in your Graduation picture order envelope and form by Wednesday-April 3rd with money included. The students need a white colored shirt because they will be wearing a rounded neck graduation gown and the collar will be the only thing showing of their clothing. Each child’s picture will be taken for the group shot, so we would appreciate if you would dress your child appropriately even if you are not interested in purchasing the pictures. The pictures are being taken at 9:00 AM and there is no make-up date so please make sure your child is at school on time. The children will be wearing graduations caps so please no ponytails or barrettes, because they will not fit under the cap. Dates to remember: Fieldtrip- May 23rd Carnival- May 24th Kindergarten graduation- May 28th (evening)

Kindergarten News- March 25th-29th  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.  All of the girls enjoyed being “Queen for a day” on Thursday. The girls got to wear crowns and the boys did nice things for them all day.  We will try to begin our Foss Science Kit called “Animals Two by Two”. We will be exploring and observing a few different animals in nature including our own aquarium of goldfish. We are working on a “fish journal, “also.  Report cards will be given out on Wednesday, March 27th. We are still testing so keep working at home.  For Reading we will begin “Mayday! Mayday!” Its genre is informational text, and the comprehension skill is cause and effect. We will continue with transportation, but this week we will concentrate on transportation that helps us in an emergency. We will continue to discuss weather changes.  In Math we will be working with identifying numbers 11-30, identifying a Sphere, and identifying a quarter and a dollar... We will also be comparing events according to duration of time.  Wordlist # 16 will be checked this week and Wordlist # 17 should be in your child’s folder today. I like to give it to you in advance so you can take your time practicing with your child. FYI: *Don’t be alarmed if your child does not bring home some of their Phonics or Math worksheets , or if you seem to be getting them out of order. For their report cards, I use their everyday worksheets along with the additional testing to come up with the grades for their report cards. *April 4th are kindergarten graduation pictures. Remember that your child needs a white collared shirt because they will be wearing caps and gowns. The wedding of Q and U will be on Friday April 5th. 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 closer to the date. School will not be in session on March 28th to April 2nd. April 3rd will be the first day back for students, and it will be day # 4.

Kindergarten News- March 18th-22nd This week we will be working on the letter Qq and its sound as in queen and quarter. Review identifying and writing letters learned. Also practice blending letters in three, four, and five letter words. We will have Show & Tell on Friday as usual  To go along with our letter Qq, we will have” Queen for a day “on Thursday. The girls get to wear crowns and the boys will do nice things for them all day.  The theme this week will be “spring”.  For Reading we will continue with “Max Takes The train” by Rosemary Wells. You probably recognize this author, she had written over 60 children’s books. It is an animal fantasy, and the comprehension skills that we will be concentrating on are realism and fantasy. The social studies aspect covered in this book is exploring all different forms of transportation.  In Math we will be working with graphing, and problem solving, among other things. Please review the pages that come home in your child’s folder daily.  Kindergarten graduation pictures will be taken in the morning of Thursday, April 4th. Envelopes were sent home today with portrait package information. If interested in purchasing pictures then please return the money before or on the day of pictures. (CASH or MONEY ORDERS ONLY!!)**Each child will be photographed as part of a class photo even if a package is not purchased, so please plan on your child wearing a WHITE COLLARED SHIRT and girls, no hairstyles on top of your heads because you will be wearing graduation caps and gowns!  Report card testing will continue next week. Wacky hair day was a huge success with many wonderful hair dos and wigs, ----Wow, wow, wow!!!!!!!! We had a wonderful time on our treasure hunt and the children found their treasure by following clues which took us all around the building. I loved all the Irish outfits that the children came to school in today, they looked very green and my Irish eyes were smiling!!!!!!! FYI: Spring break-March 29th-April 2nd. Children will return to school on April 3rd. Kindergarten graduation pictures-April 4th. May 23rd- Fieldtrip to circus May 24th- Carnival May 28th-Evening graduation Monday, March 18th is Day 5—we will begin the week with gym class.

March 11th-15th

Kindergarten News- March11th- 15th  This week we will be working on the letter Ww and its sound as in wagon and watermelon. Review identifying and writing letters learned. Also practice blending letters in three, four, and five letter words. We will have Show & Tell on Friday for the letter “W”.  Wednesday, March13th will be WATERY WEDNESDAY. We will be talking about water and completing different experiments involving water throughout the day. It will be WONDERFUL!  As a theme for the week we will be discussing different kinds of weather. Maybe we will even have a future meteorologist in our midst!  For Reading we will be beginning the story “Max Takes the Train”. The genre is animal fantasy and we will be talking a lot about realism and fantasy. We will be learning about transportation.  In Math we will be working with graphing, and problem solving. Please review the pages that come home in your child’s folder daily. If your child is not bringing daily papers home, they might be “forgetting them” in their desk, so let me know and I will check.  Report cards will be distributed on Wednesday, March 27th. We will be beginning to test for them this week. Please help your child with letter recognition, letter sounds, blending those sounds to read words, rhyming words, and practicing the memory and high frequency words. For math please work on counting to 100, identifying numbers from 0-30, identifying the coins penny, nickel, and dime, knowing the value of each coin, and being able to tell time to the hour.  On Thursday March 14th we will have Wacky Hair Day, to go along with the letter “W”. Remember boys and girls with short hair can always wear wigs because wigs are wacky too!  We had a very busy week as we worked on the letter” X”. To end our lessons on X we will have a “treasure hunt” around our school. With the help of our 6th grade helpers we will follow clues to get to our treasure. This will be held sometime next week. We didn’t have it this week due to Kindergarten registration.  Newspaper in Education Week ends on Friday, March 8th and the white “I’m a Reader” form must be returned to me by Tuesday March 12th. It must have a parent’s signature and initials for each day of the week. Student names that participated will be printed in the newspaper if your child returns the form properly filled out. FYI: Friday March 15th we will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day so don’t forget to get into the spirit and wear something green!!! There is a little bit of Irish in all of us on this day!!!! Monday, March 11th is Day # 5 and we have gym class. Be sure to wear your sneakers, students cannot participate without them. Daylight savings Time takes place this weekend! Fall back-Spring ahead!

March4th-8th, 2013

What’s happening in Kindergarten? March 4th-March 8th Phonics: We will be learning the letter Xx, like the end of fox and six. We will separate words in compound words, and we will be working on testing wordlist # 12, and you can begin practicing wordlist # 13 at home. Due to such a fun filled week, we did not get the opportunity to test wordlist # 12. Math: We will be creating, identifying and extending ABBC patterns, compare numbers through ten by using playing cards, identifying right and left, exploring tangrams, and learn to divide by sharing. Keep practicing number writing at home, especially if you see a lot of reversals, or a lot of homework practice being sent home. Reading: We will be finishing the lessons from the book” If You Could go to Antarctica” and we begin reading the next book “ Abuela”. Its genre is fiction, and the comprehension skill is setting. The phonics review for this story is the vowel “Ee”, and it is always good to have as much practice as we can for our vowels. Social Studies: The children will learn about transportation and the culture of areas other than where we live. Many children are forgetting their library books on day # 3. They get very disappointed if they can’t get a new book. Also many students are forgetting about show and tell and they do get very upset when they forget. Remember that we will always have show-and-tell on Fridays of each week, and it is for the letter that we are learning that week. If the time arises that we don’t have it, I will inform you in the Friday newsletter. Information: *We are beginning to read a chapter book series called “The Magic Tree House” by Mary Pope Osborne. The children really like these books. You can usually buy them from the Scholastic book order. *We go out to recess any day that it is above 32 degrees and there is an area that is not covered with snow for the children to run around and get some exercise. Many children are coming to school with no hat and gloves. Please make sure that they are properly dressed for the cold weather. If you want to keep an extra pair of gloves to keep in their cubbies that would be fine. Monday March 4th will be day #5, and we will have gym class. Don’t forget sneakers!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had a” Seussifully wonderful day today!!!!” We were lucky enough to have Ms. Amy who is a graduate student from Bloomsburg University as our first guest reader, and she read “Green Eggs and Ham, and she even played her guitar and sang with us! We also had my wonderful daughter Carlee read “Oh the Thinks You can Think” and she gave the children beautiful cookies in the shape of the cat’s Hat. Last but not least Mr. Brown came to read to us and he read a very appropriate book “Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You”. He brought lollipops for the kids. What a great day” And remember—A Person’s a Person No Matter How Small”

-February 4th-8th

Kindergarten News- February 4th-February 8th *Letter Yy and its sounds as in yarn and yellow will be our focus in Phonics next week. Keep practicing the use of the “K” and “C” spelling rule, and the both sounds of “e”. *In math, we will be working on identifying the seasons of the year, identifying and comparing lengths, and comparing temperatures during different seasons. * Our new book for this week is “My Little Mouse” which is an animal fantasy, and the comprehension skill is “cause and effect.” We will be doing some work with “consonant blends”, especially pl, bi, dl fl ,hl and cl. *The standard covered in this unit for science is “animal characteristics similarities, and differences, and habitats. The concept question revolves around adventures. *Thursday, February 14th will be our Valentine party from 1:40-3:00 . Also remember to bring your valentines to school by Wednesday of that week, and don’t forget to include all the students in the class so that no one has hurt feelings. *February is National Children’s dental Health Month. Please encourage your child to brush his/her teeth at least twice a day and to practice good dental health habits. Look for an” at home” toothbrush activity that will be coming home next week. We celebrated the 100th day with many fun activities. I brought 5 different things that each student had to count 20 of, and we made a snack mix of 100 pieces to have for snacktime. I also gave the kids a sugar cookie and two Nilla vanilla cookies and they made “100” with them. We licked a tootsie pop 100 times to see if we got to the middle! We did 100 exercises, weighed 100 cotton balls and Q-tips, and so many other activities it would take too long to list. Thanks to Bonnie Klingerman for donating the 100 day crowns and tatoos to our class. Saturday is groundhog day and we had a great Weekly Reader about the groundhog. We also looked at Punxsutswney Phil on a few web sites on the computer to actually show the children the actual event. We then made a graph about the children’s predictions. Lastly, we graphed the children’s predictions about who will win the superbowl. *Feb. 15th is an Act 80 day for teachers, remember there will be no school for students. Also Monday, Feb. 18th there will no school for students due to Presidents Day. This is an inservice Day for teachers. Monday will be day # 3 and we have library class. Try not to forget library books!

January 21st- January 25th

Dear Parents, January 21st –January 25th The children did a fantastic job on their state projects, and it just goes to show you the capabilities of our students. All of the children should have taken their state project home. Again, good job children! Monday January 21st is day # 4 on the school rotation, and we have art class. Tuesday is gym class so don’t forget to wear or bring sneakers. Phonics: We will be learning the letter Cc with a /K/ sound as in cat and candy. We will learn the K and C Spelling Rule. This rule is that we spell the /K/ sound with the letter k when the sound is followed by the letters e, i, and y. We spell the /k/ sound with the letter c when the sound is followed by the letters a, o, u and any consonant. Example: K before e, i, or y- Keg kid milky C before a, o, u, or any consonant. Cat cot cup clip Reading: We are still working on Unit # 3 in Reading. Our new book is “Hide Clyde”, and it is a concept book. The comprehension skill is “main idea”. When you are reading a story to your child, discuss what they thought it was about and explain that that is the main idea of the story. The social studies concept is “identifying the events in a sequence”, and for science we will be learning about animal characteristics and camouflage, as we discuss how animals change. Math- Lessons 72-80 will cover number and operations, measurement, and geometry. I introduced the students to a few different scales because we are learning about weighing objects by using nonstandard units, and ordering objects from lightest to heaviest. The students will be able to use the scales in a learning center all week. Note: Very soon it will be the 100th day of school! Start thinking about what your child would like to bring in for the 100th day. I will ask you to send 100 of something to be counted by 1’s, 5’s and tens on that day. It should be something small like cereal pieces, m&ms, buttons, etc. Report cards will be given out on Wednesday. Please sigh and return as soon as possible. Note: I am finding it impossible to cover all the worksheets that can be helpful in reviewing the topics that we are discussing in our curriculum. I have decided to send home every Friday, any worksheets that I didn’t get covered in class for you to do at home. I know it is important to parents to be able to help their child and this is one way I feel that you can help them review what we have covered in class. I do not want the worksheets to be considered homework, so they do not need to bring them back to me. Mrs. Bernosky

January 14th-18th

Kindergarten news Next week in Phonics we will be learning the consonant letter “Z” as in zebra and zoo. Show and tell will continue on Friday as usual! Reading-We will begin the book “Seeds”” which is classified as “an informational text. The children will be learning how to draw conclusions for the comprehension skill in the lessons this week. Science- We will learn about seed growth, and how things change as they grow. Math- We will continue to about solid figures, one to one correspondence, and counting by tens. We will also learn about dimes, and comparing events according to duration of time. Monday will be Day # 4, and we will have art class. Report cards will be distributed on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013. They are on an e-schoolbook template and are standard based. Please return them as soon as possible. Congratulations to all the students who successfully completed their United States project! I am so proud of you. It was a fun and educational way to learn about some of the states in our country. You can go on You-tube and find some cute songs about the fifty states. Thanks to all the parents who helped “prepare” the children for their first oral report. Friday January 18th will be an act 80 half day for students. Dismissal will be at 11:45. Lunch on this day will be served at 9:15, and it will be breaded chicken rings. There will not be breakfast offered on this day. I am attending a conference from Tuesday Jan. 15th to Friday January 18th. I am going to let it up to you to decide if you want your child to know this or not. Some students might give you a hard time about coming if they know that I am not going to be here. If you have a question during the week Mrs. Titus will be here in my place. Mrs Bernosky

January7th-11th

Jan.7th to Jan. 11th Next week: Reading- At the beginning of the week we will finish the story “See How we Grow”. Then we will begin “Farfallina and Marcel” which is classified as an “Animal Fantasy”. The comprehension skill that will be taught throughout this lesson is “plot”. We will be learning about how things change as they grow, and lots of information about changes in animals and plants. Math- We will be working on “matching numbers to sets using dot cubes (dice). We will also be spending a lot of time on money, especially a penny and a dime. This report card period the children only learned about a penny, but for the next report card period, the children will be graded on the recognition of a penny, nickel, dime and quarter, and be able to tell me the value of each. Phonics-We will be learning about the vowel “U” and we will be discussing the long and short sound of it. We will be learning /u/ as in unicorn for the long sound and /u/ as in umbrella and underwear for the short sound. We are going to have a State project for the letter U and I will sent more information next week. With all the testing this week for the report card, I did not get wordlist # 7 tested. Wordlist 1 through 7 were used for a grade on the report card (applies phonic skills). We will not have Show-and Tell on Friday January 11th for the letter “U.” instead of show and tell, we will be working on a “state project”, and each child will have the opportunity to present his/her state to the class. Look for the day and date on the enclosed paper that will be sent home on Monday. We will do several projects per day, beginning on Thursday, so it will take more than a week to do the whole class. FYI If your child’s folder needs replacing, it is perfectly fine if you get them a new one. It can be any design or color. Thanks in advance! Enjoy the nice, long weekend! We are making a bulletin board revolving around our Reading story “See How we Grow”, so if possible please send a baby picture to school with your child. It will be returned when we are finished with it!!!! Monday will be day # 4 and we have art class. There will be a PTO meeting on Tuesday January 8th @ 6:30. Mrs. Bernosky