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

December 24th-January 2nd, 2013 Happy New Year!

Dear Parents, The reading buddies loved the gifts that they received from the kindergarten children. I hope you enjoyed the “Night before Christmas” book that the reading buddies gave to the children as gifts; they put a lot of time and effort into making them. 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 that they were holding. I got them activity books to keep them occupied for a short time for you over the long days off! My other gifts to the children were two books and a notebook. They can bring the notebook back to school l to use during free time. 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 books, 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 2nd, 2013, and it will be day # 1 on the school rotation. Phonics- We will be working on the new letter Bb, as in ball and baby. The lowercase “b” is always a challenge for kindergarten children, so we will be doing more handwriting practice. Math –We will continue working on shapes on the geoboards, and also learning about line segments. A cube will also be introduced. Reading- We will begin reading ”See How We Grow”. It’s genre is “biography”, and the comprehension skill is cause and effect. We will be testing when we return from break because the report cards will be given out on January 18th. 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 3rd-7th

December 3rd- 7th Dear Parents, In Phonics we will be learning about the letter “R” as in ran and rabbit. We have already introduced the memory word “are” and that can be practiced at home. We are working on or wordlists and you should have wordlist # 5 in the weekend folder. In math next week we will learn about comparing objects by weight (mass). The students are learning how to use geoboards, and relative position. Our Reading next week will take us to a new story “Little Panda”. The genre is “Informational Text” and the comprehension skill is “compare and contrast”. We will be integrating the social studies skills-sequence and responsibility, and many science skills about animals. We will learn about a wonderful panda called “Hua Mei” in our Reading story “Little Panda”. There is a wonderful internet site from the San Diego zoo that you can observe a live “panda cam (along with other animal cams.) Check it out, the children will love it! We will be making “reindeer food” next week to go along with the letter “R”, and also to make sure Santa gets to our houses. We will still have show-and tell on Friday for the letter “R”. The kindergarten children will not be exchanging presents with each other. I bought little holiday boxes and we will fill them with a treat for the 4th grade buddies so it’s not necessary to buy gifts for them. We spent some time graphing with m&m’s this week at learning centers, along with learning some facts about the “Fox”. We made a “fish bowl” for our memory book with paint, and we learned to recognize the “plot” in our stories. In phonics we learned about “twin consonants” and we learned how to code them. We finished the week with a program about “safety” and show-and-tell for the letter “Ff”. Monday will be day # 2 and we will have music class. Have a good weekend! Mrs. Bernosky PS- Don't forget the letters to Santa next week!

Nov.26th-Nov.30th

Kindergarten newsletter November 26th- November 30th  Next week in Phonics we will be focusing on the letter “F” and its sound as in fish and feather. We will have show and tell on Friday as usual. Wordlist # 4 was sent home and I will be testing it next week. Most of the children did a great job on wordlist # 3. Math- We will continue with pattern, and we will compare objects by weight and explore the use of a geoboard. Reading- Our new book will be “Who’s Garden is It”. It is a rhyming story, and the comprehension skill is “realism and fantasy”. We ended our unit for Thanksgiving by writing about what we were thankful for, and making butter in our classroom almost the same way as the pilgrims did. We watched “Charlie Browns Thanksgiving while munching on popcorn with our read-a-long friends. Reminders: Book orders are due Friday, November 30thth. Due to the holiday rush we must order early to get it shipped in time for Christmas. If you would like to use any of the books for Christmas presents that you ordered, I will hold them for you and you can pick them up in the office. You can order on line by simply using a one-time activation code(GMXW8). When you do this we get $3.00 in free books for out class every time you order on line, and you get a coupon for a book worth up to $5.00. Please make sure your child is dressed warmly for the cold weather. We will be playing outside for recess in the cold weather until we get a snow covering. Tuesday will be day # 3 and we have library class. Please return the letters to Santa in an envelope before Monday Dec. 3rd if possible. The postman will be coming to school sometime during the week of Dec. 3rd.

Thanksgiving Week---- Nov.19th-23rd

Kindergarten News Phonics We will be finishing the letter “S” as in sun and snake. Due to the shortened week for the Thanksgiving holiday, we will not begin a new letter next week. Wordlist #4 was sent home today in the communication folder, but I will not test the students until November 29th or 30th. Most of the children are doing very well on their wordlists. Math We will continue to learn about money and time, and continue to identify the numbers 0-10. We will identify before, after and between. Directions are important for many areas of study. At home you can help with this skill by playing Simon Says, and including words like: up, down, in front of, behind, below, up, left, right; etc. Reading We will continue the story “A Bed for the Winter”. The genre is “informational text” and the comprehension skill is sequence. Many science concepts will be covered in this book including day to day weather changes, preparing for winter weather, and the four seasons. FYI We did an experiment for the letter “I” with Total cereal to show the children how to find iron in the cereal we eat. They were amazed. To conclude our unit for fall, we painted pieces of pumpkin pie and then made a predictable chart about one fact that we knew about pumpkin pie. We then made our own “pumpkin pie with pumpkin and vanilla pudding, and graphed if we liked it or not. Next week we will make some Native American vests and headdresses that will be taken home on Wednesday just in time for your Thanksgiving dinner. We have been invited on Wednesday morning to watch “Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving” in Mrs. Burda’s room (4th grade classroom), and celebrate Thanksgiving together with our friends. Popcorn will be enjoyed by all. Wednesday November 21st will be an early dismissal @ 1 PM. There will be no school from Nov. 22th through November 26th. We will return to school on Tuesday, November 27th. There will be no breakfast served on Wed. November 21st due to early dismissal. The kindergarten will eat lunch at 9:15-9:45 on that day!!!!!!!!! Please remember not to send candy for snack time. We encourage healthy snacks. Monday, November 19th is day # 5 and we have gym class. Fundraiser pickup-Monday Nov.19th from 3:45 until 8:00pm