Weekly News: December 13

I was so sad to have missed the Winter Performance on Friday, but heard the kids did a WONDERFUL job singing Jingle Bells!!!

Thank you to the parents who stayed in class ALL DAY on Friday to work on Copy/Staple/Prep for next month! I am incredibly lucky to have such amazing parents!

I have really enjoyed reading the writing homework the past few weeks. Many of the kids are writing two sentences each day for homework AND in class! They are really coming along with details and sticking to one topic. Thank you very much for supporting your child with writing at home. It is really showing!

There is NO SCHOOL for two weeks due to Christmas vacation!!!! This is our last week together in 2010. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I will see you back at school on Tuesday, January 4, 2011!!!

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday, December 15th: SUPER SANTA SHOP for all ILCS kids to shop this year will take place 1:00-7:00 at the Bryant St. Campus!!!! Parents can bring little shoppers and enjoy a cup of coffee or cocoa while your kiddos shop with the help of the PTO elves! Don't miss this great opportunity!

Friday, December 17th: Our Kindergarten Christmas Centers & Pizza Party - Thank you for signing up to donate your time and items for this special event!! We are still collecting $2 per student for the pizza party - if you are able to contribute, please send this donation to school in your child's GO folder. Thank you!

What Are We Learning This Week??:

Sight Words: ABOUT, THAT, WHAT, WANT, WAS.

Letter Team: ED (We are learning that tricky Mr. ED goes at the end of the word to tell us that something has already happened - making the word past tense. Mr. ED is tricky because sometimes he makes the "T" sound - like in LOOKED, and sometimes he makes the "D" sound - like in PLAYED).

Leadership Theme of the Month: SELF-CONTROL. We will also be discussing GENEROSITY in our classroom and how we can give to others and show our generosity during the holiday season.

Reading: I hope you enjoyed your first of many "Parent Education Newsletters" about reading comprehension. The kids have learned that schema is "what we know" and we have started applying this to our reading. This week we will continue to learn all about text-to-self connections and how to use our scheme before, during, and after our reading.. This week, we will also read books about the holidays, Santa, generosity, and our poem of the week, "Santa Clause is Coming to Town".

Writing: We are continuing to work on our "Writer's Checklist" - a list of things that all good writers do, such as proper punctuation, uppercases at the beginning of a sentence and name, finger spaces between each word, spelling word wall words correctly, adding details, making sure our writing makes sense, and trying our best! We will read this checklist everyday to make sure we are applying each of those skills in our writing.

Math: The students have been doing well with the MATH TIMED TESTS. Students are timed on addition skills and move up levels at their own pace. Some of our friends are already on +3!!!  We will continue to practice addition "DOUBLES" in our fun DOUBLES SONG. My goal for all students is to memorize all the doubles facts. Please work on basic addition (stories!) and doubles at home. Please also continue to reinforce LEFT and RIGHT with your child.

Homework: December 13

Every day and each week, homework should consist of:


READING:

• Make new flashcards for the new words and letter teams. 
• Study flashcards EVERYDAY! 
• Read Book Bag books 3 times each everyday! 
• RAZ-Kids Reading and quizzes - these quizzes will come back to me so I can see how you are doing!
• Have a parent read to child, asking HOTS comprehension questions before, during, and after reading. 
• Initial the Reading Log. 

WRITING: 

• Sharing - Write two sentences about a holiday tradition in your family. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Sharing is due any day this week.
• Write sight words - Practice writing your sight words of the week (challenge: write a sentence with each sight word!) Due Friday.
• Write a story -  write a short story consisting of two-three sentences on one topic. Don't forget your details, Neat Nancy penmanship, and proper punctuation. Due Friday.
• Take a practice spelling and dictation sentence test on Thursday to prepare for your Friday test!

MATH: 

• Our new math curriculum (with a homework component) will begin sometime after Christmas. Until then, go over the SAXON MATH page in your GO Folder each day, helping your child with any concept that is difficult. 
• Practice the following math concepts ONLY AS NEEDED:
• Write numbers 1-30 (challenge: 1-100). Focus on number reversals!
• Read numbers 1-30 (use number flashcards if your child is still struggling with number identification out of order).
• Practice counting 5s and 10s.
• Practice telling time to the hour and half hour.
• Practice counting money (pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters). 
• Practice making patterns (AB, ABB, ABC, AAB)
• Practice what number comes before, after, in between.
• Practice larger than, greater than, less than, fewer than.
• Practice days of the week and months of the year. 
• Practice addition (story problems are great too!)
• Practice LEFT and RIGHT - for example, ask your children to raise their right hand/left hand, draw a square in the upper left corner, draw a circle in the lower right corner, etc.

Homework due Friday. Please write your name on the Reading Log and staple that to the front of homework. Thank you!

Weekly News: December 6

We had a great week back to school and we have been having so much fun getting ready for Christmas!


We have a classroom elf on the shelf that we named "Sandy". Sandy has been watching us everyday in school and reporting our behavior back to Santa!

Copy/Staple Party this Friday! Thank you in advance for all of your help!

Upcoming Events:

Monday, December 6th: Our Drama classes proudly present, "A Classic Christmas". Come support your ILCS friends (and Miss Reeve!) and see a great show! The show will take place at the Bryant St. campus church at 6:00.

Tuesday, December 7th - THIS HAS CHANGED: SANTA CRAFT WORKSHOP 12:30-3:30 open at our West Campus for kiddos to come by and make a fun Christmas craft (for a small fee per item made). If you are able to help out at this event, please contact PTO :)

Friday, December 10th - THIS HAS CHANGED: ILCS WINTER PERFORMANCE 6:00-8:00 at the Parkview Middle School Fine Arts Building (34875 Tahoe Drive, Yucaipa 92399). Our class will be singing "Jingle Bells" with the other kindergarten classes! Come watch your adorable children!! Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend, but Mrs. Stanley and Mrs. Woolcock will be there to take care of our class!

Wednesday, December 15th: SUPER SANTA SHOP for all ILCS kids to shop this year will take place 1:00-7:00 at the Bryant St. Campus!!!! Parents can bring little shoppers and enjoy a cup of coffee or cocoa while your kiddos shop with the help of the PTO elves! Don't miss this great opportunity!

Friday, December 17th: Our Kindergarten Christmas Centers & Pizza Party - more information is coming home in your GO Folder on Monday and a sign-up sheet will be posted on the classroom door on Tuesday!

What Are We Learning This Week??:

Sight Words: AS, THROUGH, AROUND, NO, KNOW.

Letter Team: KN (the K is silent, like in KNOW and KNIGHT) and EW (like in NEW and STEW).

Leadership Theme of the Month: SELF-CONTROL. We will also be discussing GENEROSITY in our classroom and how we can give to others and show our generosity during the holiday season.

Reading: I hope you enjoyed your first of many "Parent Education Newsletters" about reading comprehension. The kids have learned that schema is "what we know" and we have started applying this to our reading. This week we will learn all about text-to-self connections. This week, we will also read books about the holidays, Santa, generosity, and our poem of the week, "The Gingerbread Man". We will also study landforms (like mountains, valleys, deserts, and plains) and bodies of water (like rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds) in our reading.

Writing: Last week we made a "Writer's Checklist" - a list of things that all good writers do, such as proper punctuation, uppercases at the beginning of a sentence and name, finger spaces between each word, spelling word wall words correctly, adding details, making sure our writing makes sense, and trying our best! We will read this checklist everyday to make sure we are applying each of those skills in our writing.

Math: Last week, we began MATH TIMED TESTS. Students are timed on addition skills and move up levels at their own pace. The kids did a great job! We also learned the addition "DOUBLES" in our fun DOUBLES SONG. Please work on basic addition and doubles at home. This week, we will start reading math stories and making number sentences with the stories. For example, "Billy had three apples and Susie had five apples. How many apples did they have altogether? Answer: 3+5=8" Please try these math stories at home! We are also learning the directions RIGHT and LEFT - please reinforce this at home. 

Homework: December 6

There will be NO more monthly homework calendars! Check back on the website EACH WEEK to read what we are learning and the homework for the week! Also, check out and print our NEW READING LOG on the Attachment Library page.

Every day and each week, homework should consist of:


READING:

• Make new flashcards for the new words and letter teams. 
• Study flashcards EVERYDAY! 
• Read Book Bag books 3 times each everyday! 
• RAZ-Kids Reading and quizzes - these quizzes will come back to me so I can see how you are doing!
• Have a parent read to child, asking HOTS comprehension questions before, during, and after reading. 
• Initial the Reading Log. 

WRITING: 

• Sharing - Write two sentences about a landform we are learning (mountain, valley, desert, plain) and a body of water (river, ocean, lake, pond). For example: Mountains are tall and made of rock. Oceans are made of salt water. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Sharing is due any day this week.
• Write sight words - Practice writing your sight words (challenge: write a sentence with each sight word!) Due Friday.
• Write a story -  write a short story consisting of two-three sentences on one topic. Don't forget your details, Neat Nancy penmanship, and proper punctuation. Due Friday.
• Take a practice spelling and dictation sentence test on Thursday to prepare for your Friday test!

MATH: 

• Our new math curriculum (with a homework component) will begin sometime after Christmas. Until then, go over the SAXON MATH page in your GO Folder each day, helping your child with any concept that is difficult. 
• Practice the following math concepts ONLY AS NEEDED:
• Write numbers 1-30 (challenge: 1-100). Focus on number reversals!
• Read numbers 1-30 (use number flashcards if your child is still struggling with number identification out of order).
• Practice counting 5s and 10s.
• Practice telling time to the hour and half hour.
• Practice counting money (pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters). 
• Practice making patterns (AB, ABB, ABC, AAB)
• Practice what number comes before, after, in between.
• Practice larger than, greater than, less than, fewer than.
• Practice days of the week and months of the year. 
• Practice addition (story problems are great too!)
• Practice LEFT and RIGHT - for example, ask your children to raise their right hand/left hand, draw a square in the upper left corner, draw a circle in the lower right corner, etc.

Homework due Friday. Please write your name on the Reading Log and staple that to the front of homework. Thank you!