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!