Weekly News: October 29-November 2

News: 

Our class won the BOX TOPS competition for most box tops! Thank you so much for bringing them all in! On Friday, we had a GIANT chocolate bar party :)

We are looking forward to our fun Halloween games and activities during our center time on Wednesday! Remember to wear your PJs!!!

Thank you for allowing me to keep your children after school for assessments. We will continue with assessments in the classroom this week.

It's time again for our annual ILCS food drive. All donations will go towards ILCS families and to our community. This year, Casino Morongo has donated 75 turkeys!! So the school is asking for donations of canned goodies to go along with Morongo's generous donation. We are collecting canned goods by grade level. Kindergarten's suggested canned goods are: Canned Veggies and Evaporated milk. Thank you for contributing to make a wonderful holiday for families in need.

This is the last week to pre-order Fall Festival wristbands. If you would like to purchase a "pre-sale wristband" for your child, please send $10 to school in your child's homework folder in an envelope marked "wristband". You will pick up that wristband at the will-call table at the Fall Festival :) Thank you to the many parents who have signed up to help at {and brought in donations for} the Fall Festival. If you would still like to help, please see Mrs. Proctor. 

We are investigating pumpkins this week! On Friday, we will be measuring pumpkins and counting seeds. Part of our study will be to pull out the insides of the pumpkin to count the seeds. This is REALLY MESSY - it would be a good idea to send an old button-up shirt or apron for your child to wear over their clothes on this day! Also, for our pumpkin day on Friday, we are in need of 4 pumpkins, any pumpkin carving tools, and LOTS of dixie cups for our seeds. If you are able to donate, please let me know! We appreciate your help!! 

Parent Conferences are in two weeks! {November 12-15} Thank you to those parents that have signed up for a conference - I look forward to meeting with you to discuss your child's growth and success in the classroom. If you have not yet signed up for a conference time, please email me or stop by the classroom. 

Upcoming Events:  
Wednesday, October 31: Halloween Party!
Friday, November 2: Pumpkin Day! {more info coming later!}
Thursday, November 8: FALL FESTIVAL!
Monday, November 12: No School - Veteran's Day
Monday, Nov 12 - Thursday, Nov 15: Parent Conference Week
Friday, November 16: Thanksgiving Feast! {more info coming later!} 


If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
HP #75 or #75XL color ink and Staples Heavy Duty Sheet Protectors.  We are starting our BIG end of the year Kindergarten Memory Book project which requires MANY MANY pages of printing per student.  Any help is much appreciated!!  Thank you!!


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: BOY, GIRL, HAS, NICE.

Letter Team:  OY/OI (like in BOY, TOY/COIN).

Word Family: This week we will be making words with the word families -OP (HOP, COP, SHOP) AND -OY (BOY, TOY, JOY).  Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with the word families.

Reading: This week, we will read even more books about pumpkins, books about Halloween, and read our special poem of the week, "Jack-O-Lantern".

Writing:  We will continue learning to put spaces between each word, use an uppercase at the beginning of each sentence with lowercase letters throughout the rest of the sentence, and use a period at the end. We are also learning to use our sight words in our sentences and to listen for the sounds in all unknown words using our sound chart. 

Math: We will review everything we have learned in math this week. Students will explore various math centers as I do my math assessments. Please continue to help your child at home with everything we have learned: addition, geometric shapes, counting by 5's, counting by tens, counting money and telling time to the hour, learning how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and write numbers to 10, learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, counting ordinally, and identifying what number comes next.  

Leadership: Congratulations to our Teamwork Leaders: Ryland, Zayne, Sydney, Jake, and Valine! Our new leadership theme for the months of November and December is GRATEFULNESS.

Homework: October 29-November 2

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (BOY, GIRL, HAS, NICE) and letter teams (OY, OI). Study ALL flashcards EVERY DAY! These are so important for your child's reading. 

Reading:  Book Box and Book Bag reading EVERYDAY! 

Math: Please make sure to practice a little bit of what your child needs for math practice every day. If you see a math paper that has come home with my writing on it or circled problems that your child is struggling with, please reinforce those worksheets at home! 

Writing: Practice writing your sight words and short stories (3 sentences on the SAME TOPIC). A great idea for this point of the year would be to get (or make) a little journal for home and have your child do a little writing every day. 

Sharing: Write a sentence about the life cycle of a pumpkin. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

News: 

It is Kindergarten Assessment Week! You received a note on your child's Homework Folder last week with your child's day to stay. Please remember to send a lunch (we will be eating together in the classroom) and pick up from the classroom at 1:00 on this day. Thank you for your support! 

A note regarding our Book Bags: Many book bags are either not being returned from home and/or getting lost down on the playground. These books are shared by all of the students in our class. Therefore, when they are not returned, we do not have enough books for all students in our reading groups :( Please remember to send these bags to school every day. 

Our school Fall Festival is set for Thursday, November 8th at CSC from 3:00-7:00. Our kindergarten classes will be in charge of the "Duck Pond" and "Tattoo" booths. We are asking for donations of candy and small treasure box prizes for these booths. If you are able, please send these donations to school with your child. ALSO... Fall Festival "wristbands" will be going on sale starting Monday. By purchasing a "pre-sale wristband", students will have access to all booths and activities, one photo from our professional photo booth, and one cotton candy or popcorn. If you would like to purchase a "pre-sale wristband" for your child, please send $10 to school in your child's homework folder in an envelope marked "wristband". You will pick up that wristband at the will-call table at the Fall Festival :) Fun, Fun!

We will be celebrating Halloween with fun Halloween games and activities during our center time next Wednesday! For Halloween, our school will be having a fun pajama dress-up day! We are very excited to come to school in our PJs and celebrate Halloween! If you are interested in donating towards our Halloween activities, please see our wonderful room-mom, Tammy!

A look ahead: There is NO school on Monday, November 12 due to Veterans Day. However, I WILL be at school on that day to offer parent conferences for our first trimester report cards. There will also be parent conference times available Tuesday, November 13 - Thursday, November 15 before and after school. I know this is early notice, but I will be posting a parent conference schedule on the Classroom Clipboard down at the playground Monday morning so that you can begin thinking of a good time that suits your schedule. If you are not able to come down to the playground area before school to sign up, please email me {Jenn.christine@yahoo.com} and we can choose a time for you! I look forward to meeting with you and discussing your child's progress!

Many friends have been leaving jackets down at the playground and lunch tables :( While we ask the students which jackets belong to which friend, we are also teaching responsibility. If your little one has misplaced a jacket, you may check the "Lost and Found" down at the playground. Items not claimed at the end of each month are donated. 


Upcoming Events:  
Monday, October 22-Thursday, October 25: Kindergarten Assessment Week
Wednesday, October 24: Make-up Picture Day 
Wednesday, October 31: Halloween Party!
Friday, November 2: Pumpkin Day! {more info coming later!}
Thursday, November 8: FALL FESTIVAL!
Monday, November 12: No School - Veteran's Day
Monday, November 12 - Thursday, November 15: Parent Conference Week
Friday, November 16: Thanksgiving Feast! {more info coming later!} 


If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
Fun Halloween stickers and prizes 
Black expo markers
Staples Heavy-duty sheet protectors 


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: ARE, LITTLE, BIG, FOR

Letter Team:  IGH (like in BRIGHT, LIGHT, RIGHT) and AR (like in CAR, FAR, JAR).

Word Family: -IG. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -IG. I am sending home a fun worksheet/activity that you can do at home this week!

Reading: This week, we will focus on a new strategy, "Look for 2 vowels go a-walkin'" (Please see Reading Strategies Tab). This week, we will read books about pumpkins and Halloween and read our special poem of the week, "Five Little Pumpkins". 

Writing:   We will continue learning to put spaces between each word, use an uppercase at the beginning of each sentence with lowercase letters throughout the rest of the sentence, and use a period at the end. We are also learning to use our sight words in our sentences and to listen for the sounds in all unknown words using our sound chart.

Math:   We will continue addition, geometric shapes, and start focusing on counting by 5's, writing our numbers by 5, and counting nickels. We will continue counting by tens, counting money and telling time to the hour, learning how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and write numbers to 10, learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, and identify what number comes next.

Leadership: TEAMWORK

Homework: October 22-26

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (ARE, LITTLE, BIG, FOR) and letter teams (AR, IGH). Study all flashcards every day. 

Reading:  Book Box and Book Bag reading EVERYDAY! 

Math: There are times when we are having so much fun learning time on the carpet or at centers that we do not get to finish our math papers. If you see a math paper come home incomplete, please take this opportunity to complete at home for homework! Please also have your child practice number writing, number flashcards, place value, and simple addition. 

Writing: Practice writing your sight words and short stories (3 sentences on the SAME TOPIC).

Sharing: Last week we learned all about spiders and bats. Write a sentence about your favorite creature and what you learned about it. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

Weekly News: October 15-19

News:

We had so much fun on our field trip to Los Rios Rancho. Thank you to ALL of our wonderful parent chaperones. Feel free to check out our pictures on our Photo Site. 

I placed our Scholastic Order on Friday night, so you should be receiving your October books in a couple of weeks! 

Stop by Fresh and Easy for our school shopping night on Wednesday, October 17th. Proceeds will be going towards our school. 

A huge THANK YOU to the many parents that have been stopping by to help cut, copy, and prep materials for our class. We have the best helpers and we could not do it without you! 

Next week (beginning October 22) will be Kindergarten Assessment Week! I can't believe are almost done with our first trimester of kindergarten!! Report cards and parent conferences are coming up mid-November (more information to come!) and we are starting our end of the trimester assessments! Please note that there are so many assessments to give and in kindergarten, they are typically administered one-on-one. While we do a majority of assessments in class, we would like to give your child our full attention during his or her assessment. In order to do so, (and in order to keep our normal teaching schedule during the school day), we are requesting that each child stay after school one day next week until 1:00 to complete his or her assessment. You will receive a note on your Homework Folder with your child's day for next week. Please send a lunch on this day and pick up your child from the classroom at 1:00. Thank you so much for your support!

Our school Fall Festival is set for Thursday, November 8th at CSC from 3:00-7:00. Our kindergarten classes will be in charge of the "Duck Pond" and "Tattoo" booths. We are asking for donations of candy and small treasure box prizes for these booths. If you are able, please send these donations to school with your child. ALSO... Fall Festival "wristbands" will be going on sale starting Monday. By purchasing a "pre-sale wristband", students will have access to all booths and activities, one photo from our professional photo booth, and one cotton candy or popcorn. If you would like to purchase a "pre-sale wristband" for your child, please send $10 to school in your child's homework folder in an envelope marked "wristband". You will pick up that wristband at the will-call table at the Fall Festival :) Fun, Fun!

Upcoming Events: 
Wednesday, October 19: Fresh and Easy Shop Night 
Monday, October 22: Kindergarten Assessment Week
Wednesday, October 24: Make-up Picture Day 
Wednesday, October 31: Halloween Party! {more info coming later!}
Friday, November 2: Pumpkin Day! {more info coming later!}
Thursday, November 8: FALL FESTIVAL!
Monday, November 13: No School - Veteran's Day

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
Fun Halloween stickers and prizes 
Black expo markers


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: WHEN, HAVE, BE, AM

Letter Team:  AW/AU (like in SAW/CAUGHT) and the other OO (like in TOO, BOO).

Word Family: -OT. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -OT (for example: COT, JOT, ROT, SPOT). 

Reading: We will read many books about bats and spiders. We will continue to look for letter teams inside of words we do not know. We will also continue our author study on Laura Numeroff and have a "Cookies and Milk" author celebration on Friday. 

Writing:   This  week we will learn to write the date on each of our stories so we can remember what day we wrote that story. We will also meet two new writing friends, Neat Nancy and Sloppy Joe. Hmmm... I wonder who we will try to write like??

Math:   We are starting simple addition this week. We are also learning ALL of our geometic shapes (cube, sphere, cone, cylinder).

Leadership: TEAMWORK

Homework: October 15-19

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (WHEN, HAVE, BE, AM) and letter teams (AW/AU). Study all flashcards every day. 

Reading:  Please have your child read the books from their book bag every night! If they are struggling with a word, guide them to our reading strategies: Look at the picture, Get your mouth ready for the first sound, Make your finger match the word, Look through the word at all the sounds, Go back and get a running start, skip the word and read on to think about what makes sense, look for a letter team inside the word, stretch out the sounds, look for a smaller word inside the word, look for the magic E! Please make sure your child is reading their book bag book each night and returning it to school each day. IT IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU BRING YOUR BOOK BAG BACK TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY! 

Math: We want students to be practicing math at THEIR LEVEL. For some students, this means still counting practice, number flashcards, and number writing practice. For other students, counting money and simple addition is appropriate. YOU know your child best. Please make sure to practice a little bit of what your child needs for math practice every day.

Writing: This is the same as math practice. YOU know what your child needs. For some students, alphabet writing practice is still needed. If your child is doing well with alphabet and name writing, practice writing sentences or short stories. 

Sharing: Write a sentence about what you learned on our field trip. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

Rain rain, go away. What do I do on a rainy day?!

I thought that since the cold weather is now here, I would answer that question for you. If it is raining (and I only mean POURING) when you bring your child to school in the morning, you may bring them DIRECTLY TO THE CLASSROOM. We will also have snack and recess inside on rainy days. However, dismissal will be the same as every other day. We will still walk out to the ramp/dismissal area on rainy days. On these lovely rainy days, please send your child to school with a warm coat and umbrella. Thank you!

Weekly News: October 8-12

News:

Our field trip is this Tuesday! We will be leaving school right away and returning by dismissal. Remember to send your child to school in a normal t-shirt so we can throw their field trip t-shirt over their clothing. Snack will be provided. 

Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday! Remember that if you ordered last month, you have your $5.00 coupon!! :) 

Does anyone have a cool, black leather jacket that we can borrow early this week for a fun project?? This could be any size. Please see me if you do! I appreciate it!

What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: HE, SHE, WENT, TO, PLAY.

Letter Team:  AY (like in PLAY, DAY) and ING (like in SING, RING).

Word Family:  -AY and -AM. Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with  the word family -ay (for example: BAY, DAY, SAY, MAY, HAY) and -am (SAM, HAM, RAM, SLAM).

Reading:   This week, we will focus on a new strategy, "Look for a letter team inside the word" (Please see Reading Strategies Tab). We are starting an author study unit on Laura Numeroff, author of the "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" series. 

Writing:   This week we will write a big book together about playing. This big book will be written using the sight words we have learned so far. 

Math:   This week we will learn "more than and less than", simple addition with dice, and focus on counting by tens.  We will continue counting by tens, counting money and telling time to the hour, learning how to identify, order, and count numbers to 30 and write numbers to 10, learning the days of the week, months of the year, shapes, how to read and extend patterns, and identify what number comes next.  

Leadership: Our new leadership theme for the month of October is TEAMWORK. We learned that teamwork is working together to get a job done. 

Homework: October 8-12

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (HE, SHE, WENT, TO, PLAY) and letter teams (AY, ING). Study all flashcards every day. 

Reading:  We are continuing our book bag reading program with one group each week.  Look for a ziploc bag to come home in your child’s Take Home Folder.  Within four weeks every student will have a book bag for the rest of the school year. Please make sure your child is reading their book bag book each night and returning it to school each day. IT IS SO IMPORTANT THAT YOU BRING YOUR BOOK BAG BACK TO SCHOOL EVERYDAY! 

Math: Practice counting 1-30 or higher, identify numbers out of order, study number flashcards, number writing practice, sort items by color and size, practice drawing shapes, sort and count coins at home, start discussing time to the hour.

Writing: Practice writing sentences with your child. Give your child a sentence to write with sight words in it and help him or her to start with an uppercase, use fingerspaces, sound out words we do not know how to spell, and end with a period. {Examples: Look at this dog. We can see a rat. I like the book.} This will really help with our journal writing and our dictation test on Fridays. 

Sharing: Write a sentence about your favorite fall activity. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Make sure you practice reading your sentence at home so you are prepared to read in front of the class. Sharing is due any day this week.

Dollar A Day

Hello Kindergarten Families! I'm excited to let you know that ILCS has officially begun our DOLLAR A DAY program. Click on the link below to take you to our school website so you can learn more information about helping our school, students, and classes! The money earned with DOLLAR A DAY will directly go to funding field trips, technology for classrooms, and other items for classrooms to directly impact student success.

Dollar A Day