Weekly News: December 16-20

News: 

There is NO SCHOOL for two weeks due to Christmas vacation!!!! This is our last week together in 2013. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I will see you back at school on Monday, January 6, 2014!!!

Our play is this week!!!! Please come see your fantastic children in "The Tale of the Gingerbread Man". We are performing on Thursday morning around 8:30-8:45 and Thursday evening around 6:00-6:15. We hope you are able to come to this wonderful event!! 

We are in need of a few parent helpers on Wednesday and Thursday morning to help us with our "dress rehearsal" and performance. If anyone is able to stick around for an hour both of those mornings, please let us know! Thank you!

Costumes: We are providing all of the costumes and props for your children. We ask that your child come to school on Thursday wearing a plain shirt and leggings (girls) or a plain shirt and jeans (boys) so that it is easier to put their costumes over their clothes :) The only costume that we do NOT provide is the narrator - we ask that the narrators please dress in "Sunday best". 

On Tuesday, December 17th, ILCS will be having a Holiday Craft Fair! Our amazing room moms are hard at work planning this wonderful event. Our class shift at the Holiday Craft Fair is from 4:30-6:30 and we are in need of 4 volunteers. If you are able to volunteer, please see our room mom, Teresa. 


We will be celebrating Christmas together by doing fun games and crafts at our Christmas Centers on Friday. 

Upcoming Events:   
Tuesday, December 17: Holiday Craft Fair 
Thursday, December 19: Gingerbread Man Play at 8:30 and 6:00 
Friday, December 20: Christmas Centers 

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we could use.... 
Canon Printer Ink #210 and #211
Gluesticks 
Gallon Ziploc Bags 
Headphones 

What Are We Learning This Week?:

This week we will have fun and review everything we have learned so far in kindergarten. We will be learning about the different holidays of the season, working on fun Christmas projects, practicing our play, and reading many books about our holiday season. It's going to be a fun week! 

Homework: December 16-20

Flashcards: Review all sight word and letter teams flashcards. 

Phonemic Awareness:  Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills: Rhyming, Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds, Syllables, Blending, Segmenting.

Reading: There will be no new fluency passage sent home this week. Please continue to read your good fit books in your book bag, as well as read on RAZ Kids and We Give Books. 

Math: Continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, ways to make 5, addition and subtraction facts through 5, story problems, one more and one less,etc. 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal. Practice writing your sight words and write stories with three sentences on the same topic.

Sharing: THERE IS NO SHARING THIS WEEK.

Type To Learn: Please complete ONE LESSON a week. Of course you may do more, but the school suggests that each student complete one (or two!) lessons per week in order to complete 50 lessons by the end of the school year.

Weekly News: December 9-13

News: 

Tuesday, December 10th is Grandparents Day at ILCS! We invite all grandparents who are able, to join us in the Lion's Den at 8:15. Our classes will perform a few songs and our principal will give a short presentation. 

On Tuesday, December 17th, ILCS will be having a Holiday Craft Fair! Our amazing room moms are hard at work planning this wonderful event. Our class shift at the Holiday Craft Fair is from 4:30-6:30 and we are in need of 4 volunteers. If you are able to volunteer, please see our room mom, Teresa. 

While ILCS is having a Christmas program on the evening of Tuesday, December 10th, please note that kindergarten is NOT a part of this program. INSTEAD.. we are having our very own special program on Thursday, December 19th, when our kindergarten students will perform "The Tale of the Gingerbread Man". Our rehearsals have been going well and the students are having so much fun! We will be doing two performances of our play on Thursday, December 19th - Mrs. Bess's and Mrs. Stanley's classes will perform Thursday morning at 8:30 and Thursday evening at 6:00. Mark your calendars now - this is an event you will not want to miss!  


Upcoming Events:  
Tuesday, December 10: Grandparent's Day 
Tuesday, December 17: Holiday Craft Fair 
Thursday, December 19: Gingerbread Man Play at 8:30 and 6:00 
Friday, December 20: Christmas Centers 

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we could use.... 
Canon Printer Ink #210 and #211
Gluesticks 


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: OUR, WHO, THINK, THING, THAT.

Letter Team:  INK (like in PINK, SINK) and 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, sometimes he makes the "D" sound - like in PLAYED, and sometimes he says "ED" like in WANTED).

Reading: We are reading many books about the holidays. 

Writing:  This week we will continue 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: This week we will continue to learn addition "DOUBLES" in our fun DOUBLES SONG. You can help at home by asking your child doubles addition questions (2+2, 7+7, 10+10, etc.) We will continue to focus on decomposing this week as we discuss different ways to break apart numbers using addition and subtraction. For example, the number 3 can be decomposed into 2+1, 1+2, 3+0, 0+3, 5-2, 4-1, etc.

Leadership: We will continue discussing benevolence and talking about ways that we can show kindness and generosity during the holiday season. 

Homework: December 9-13

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (OUR, WHO, THINK, THING, THAT), and letter teams (INK and ED). Study flashcards every day.

Phonemic Awareness:  Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills: Rhyming, Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds, Syllables, Blending, Segmenting.

Reading: Read books from your book bag, read your fluency, read from your Book Box at home, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, ways to make 5, addition and subtraction facts through 5, story problems, one more and one less,etc. 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal. Practice writing your sight words and write stories with three sentences on the same topic.

Sharing: We have NO SHARING until after Christmas! INSTEAD... we ask that you please practice your "Gingerbread Man" songs every night! CDs and scripts were sent home before break. 

Type To Learn: Please complete ONE LESSON a week. Of course you may do more, but the school suggests that each student complete one (or two!) lessons per week in order to complete 50 lessons by the end of the school year.

Weekly News: December 2-6

News: 

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving week off with your families! I am so excited to be back at school.  This is such a fun, yet busy time of the year in kindergarten with so much going on! Please take a moment to read through our news and upcoming events so that you don't miss out on anything! I will also send home our "December Calendar" on Monday. Thank you! 

Our Scholastic Book Fair is taking place this week on the California Street campus!! It will be open Monday-Friday. Please visit this wonderful event! Perfect time for holiday shopping! 

After school electives for the second trimester will begin this week, but my after school Success Academy will not begin until next Monday. 

Tuesday, December 10th is Grandparents Day at ILCS! We invite all grandparents who are able to join us at school on this morning. Stay posted for times!

On Tuesday, December 17th, ILCS will be having a Holiday Craft Fair! Our amazing room moms are hard at work planning this wonderful event. Please stay posted for ways that you can help out!

While ILCS is having a Christmas program on the evening of Tuesday, December 10th, please note that kindergarten is NOT a part of this program. INSTEAD.. we are having our very own special program on Thursday, December 19th, when our kindergarten students will perform "The Tale of the Gingerbread Man". We started rehearsals before Thanksgiving break and our kiddos are having so much fun learning all of the songs and hand motions. Every student should have received his or her special role in the play, along with a script and CD before break. We will be doing two performances of our play on Thursday, December 19th - one performance in the morning during our school day, and one performance in the evening (around 6:00) so that all moms and dads can attend. Mark your calendars now - this is an event you will not want to miss!  


Upcoming Events:  
Tuesday, December 10: Grandparent's Day (more info coming later!)
Tuesday, December 17: Holiday Craft Fair (more info coming later!)
Thursday, December 19: Gingerbread Man Play at 6:00!!!!!!!!
Friday, December 20: Christmas Centers (more info coming later!)
If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we could use.... 
Canon Printer Ink #210 and #211
Elmer's Glue bottles and Gluesticks
Christmas Treasure Box prizes and stickers 



What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: AS, NO, KNOW, ABOUT, BY.

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

Reading: We are reading a variety of books about the Gingerbread Man this week. We are also learning about landforms (like mountains, valleys, deserts, and plains) and bodies of water (like rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds).

Writing:  This week we will make 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: This week we will learn addition "DOUBLES" in our fun DOUBLES SONG. You can help at home by asking your child doubles addition questions (2+2, 7+7, 10+10, etc.) We will focus on decomposing this week as we discuss different ways to break apart numbers using addition and subtraction. For example, the number 3 can be decomposed into 2+1, 1+2, 3+0, 0+3, 5-2, 4-1, etc.

Leadership: We will continue discussing benevolence and talking about ways that we can show kindness and generosity during the holiday season. 

Homework: December 2-6

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (AS, NO, KNOW, ABOUT, BY), and letter teams (KN and EW). Study flashcards every day.

Phonemic Awareness:  Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills: Rhyming, Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds, Syllables, Blending, Segmenting.

Reading: Read books from your book bag, read your fluency, read from your Book Box at home, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, ways to make 5, addition and subtraction facts through 5, story problems, one more and one less,etc. 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal. Practice writing your sight words and write stories with three sentences on the same topic.

Sharing: We have NO SHARING until after Christmas! INSTEAD... we ask that you please practice your "Gingerbread Man" songs every night! CDs and scripts were sent home before break. 

Type To Learn: Please complete ONE LESSON a week. Of course you may do more, but the school suggests that each student complete one (or two!) lessons per week in order to complete 50 lessons by the end of the school year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving break! Check out more of our Thanksgiving pictures on our Photo Site! See you back at school on Monday, December 2nd.

Weekly News: November 18-22

News:

Thank you for coming to Parent Conferences. I enjoyed meeting with each of you to discuss your child's progress in class. 

We are having a Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast on Friday! The kids will be eating turkey, vegetable soup, corn bread, friendship fruit salad, and of course, homemade pumpkin pie! Thank you for signing up to bring items - please check our Qlubb page to see what you signed up for and what day we will be needing particular items for cooking! Also - we will be making a friendship fruit salad on Friday and each student will get to add their own fruit! Please send a piece of fruit to school with your child on Friday. An apple, pear, banana, or small bag of strawberries or grapes are good examples.

If you would like to come help set up and make this a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast for our kids, you are welcome to join us on Friday at 10:30. Thank you in advance for ALL of your help! :) 

Our kindergarten classes are doing a Christmas play this year! I'm sure you have heard all about it! We will be putting on "The Tale of the Gingerbread Man". Each student will have a special role in our play. This week, we will be sending home lyrics and CDs so you can start practicing over break! More information to come. Have fun singing!

Don't forget to get your Book Orders in! They are due on Friday. 

NO SCHOOL ALL OF NEXT WEEK! Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday with your families!

What Are We Learning This Week?:

This week we will have fun and review everything we have learned so far in kindergarten. We will also be studying the Pilgrims and Indians, reading about Thanksgiving, and working on fun Thanksgiving projects!!

Homework: November 18-22

Flashcards: Review all sight word and letter teams flashcards. 

Phonemic Awareness:  Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills: Rhyming, Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds, Syllables, Blending, Segmenting.

Reading: Read books from your book bag, read your fluency, read from your Book Box at home, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, ways to make 5, addition and subtraction facts through 5, story problems, one more and one less,etc. 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal. Practice writing your sight words and write stories with three sentences on the same topic.

Sharing: THERE IS NO SHARING THIS WEEK.

Type To Learn: Please complete ONE LESSON a week. Of course you may do more, but the school suggests that each student complete one (or two!) lessons per week in order to complete 50 lessons by the end of the school year.

Weekly News: November 12-15

News:
I hope everyone had a nice three-day weekend and enjoyed the time off with your family.

Parent conferences are THIS week! I look forward to meeting with you! Our schedule is:

Monday
8:00 Matthew J.
8:30 Parisa 
9:00 Connor
9:30 Summer 
10:00 Laurienne 
11:00 Jacob 
1:00 Logan W. 

Tuesday
1:00 Ricky 
1:30 Kai 
2:00 Halley 

Wednesday
7:15 Brooks 
1:00 Nicky 
1:30 Emma 
2:00 Logan J. 
2:30 Lucy 

Thursday
7:15 Irl 
1:00 Justin 
2:00 Matt R.

Our kindergarten classes will be having a combined Thanksgiving Feast on Friday, November 22nd. We will be making many items for our feast in the classroom together. Our Qlubb page is now up and running for the feast if you are able to donate your time or goodies for this wonderful feast!! If you would like to come help set up and make this a wonderful Thanksgiving Feast for our kids, you are welcome to join us next Friday at 12:00. Thank you in advance for ALL of your help! We are looking forward to a great, big Thanksgiving celebration together!

Last week I sent home our November/December Book Orders. Book Orders will be due next Friday, November 22nd. They will be here just in time for Christmas! 

Upcoming Events: 

Monday, November 11: NO SCHOOL/Parent Conference Day 

Tuesday, November 12-Thursday, November 14: Parent Conferences

Friday, November 22: Thanksgiving Feast {more info later!}

Monday, November 25-Friday, November 29: Thanksgiving Break!

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
Canon Ink #210/211 - This is for 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: THROUGH, TOUGH, ENOUGH, AROUND.

Letter Team:  GE/GI (the soft sound of G which sounds like J, like in GENIE and GIRAFFE) and OUGH (makes the sound OO like in THROUGH and UFF like in TOUGH). 

Reading: We will continue to read many books turkeys and pilgrims and Indians, as we prepare for Thanksgiving. We will practice all of our reading strategies learned so far. Students will continue to read their self-selected good fit books and paper books from their book boxes. 

Writing: We have been discussing ways to make our writing more interesting by adding detail sentences that are on the same topic. Instead of writing, "I like my friend." everyday, we now want to ADD to that writing. For example, "I like my friend. We sit at the green table together. We love to play tag at recess."   

Math: We will review everything we have learned in math this week. 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: BENEVOLENCE. 

Weekly Homework: November 12-15

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (THROUGH, AROUND, TOUGH, ENOUGH), and letter teams (GE/GI and OUGH). Study flashcards every day.

Phonemic Awareness:  Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills: Rhyming, Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds, Syllables, Blending, Segmenting.

Reading: Read books from your book bag, read your fluency, read from your Book Box at home, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, ways to make 5, addition and subtraction facts through 5, story problems, one more and one less,etc. 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal. Practice writing your sight words and write stories with three sentences on the same topic.

Sharing: Write one sentence about what you are thankful for. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Sharing is due Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

Type To Learn: Please complete ONE LESSON a week. Of course you may do more, but the school suggests that each student complete one (or two!) lessons per week in order to complete 50 lessons by the end of the school year.

Weekly News: November 4-8

News:
We had an exciting week learning about pumpkins and celebrating Halloween. Thank you to the many parents who helped make our week so special!

There is no school next Monday, November 11th due to Veteran's Day. However, I will be at school doing parent conferences on this day. Enjoy the three-day-weekend with your families!

You should have received a parent survey that came home last week. We would love for you to fill out this survey to help us better meet the needs of you and your child. If you would like to discuss these surveys at conferences, feel free to leave your name. You may also turn it in anonymously if you so desire. 

Parent Conferences are NEXT week. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you to discuss your child's growth in the classroom. Because we only have so much time per conference, I'd like to politely ask that you arrive on time so we can make the most of our time together. There are many families that have not signed up for a parent conference time. If you do not yet have a time, please stop by my classroom or email me so that we can set up a time for you. Families that have not signed up by Friday will be given an assigned time. Thank you!

Our canned food drive is still going on. Kindergarten's suggested canned goods are: Canned Veggies and Evaporated milk. There is a large box in our classroom to drop off your canned goods. Thank you for contributing to make a wonderful holiday for families in need.

This will be the last week of electives AND the last week of Success Academy until after Thanksgiving break. 

Our kindergarten classes will be having a combined Thanksgiving Feast on Friday, November 22nd. We will be making many items for our feast in the classroom together. We will be letting you know soon about sign-ups for donating your time or goodies for this wonderful feast!! Thank you! We are looking forward to a great, big Thanksgiving celebration together!

Upcoming Events: 

Monday, November 11: NO SCHOOL/Parent Conference Day 

Tuesday, November 12-Thursday, November 14: Parent Conferences

Friday, November 22: Thanksgiving Feast {more info later!}

Monday, November 25-Friday, November 29: Thanksgiving Break!

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
Canon Ink #210/211 - This is for 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: IN, ON, SO, GO, DO.

Letter Team:  This week we are learning about Mr. ER's two crazy cousins....UR and IR (like in FUR, CURL and STIR, GIRL).

Word Family: This week we will be making words with the word families -EN (HEN, MEN, TEN).  Please help your child with word families of the week by asking them to create different words with the word families.

Reading: We will read many books turkeys and pilgrims and Indians, as we prepare for Thanksgiving. We will practice all of our reading strategies learned so far. Students will continue to read their self-selected good fit books and paper books from their book boxes. 

Writing: We have been discussing ways to make our writing more interesting by adding detail sentences that are on the same topic. Instead of writing, "I like my friend." everyday, we now want to ADD to that writing. For example, "I like my friend. We sit at the green table together. We love to play tag at recess."   

Math: We will review everything we have learned in math this week. 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: Our new leadership trait for the months of November and December is BENEVOLENCE. Our kindergarten definition of Benevolence is: the act of being kind and generous. 

Homework: November 4-8

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (IN, ON, SO, GO, DO), letter teams (UR and IR), and word family (EN - hen, men, ten, etc). Study flashcards every day.

Phonemic Awareness:  Please see the Phonemic Awareness tab for ideas and tips on working with your child on these skills: Rhyming, Beginning/Middle/Ending Sounds, Syllables, Blending, Segmenting.

Reading: Read books from your book bag, read your fluency, read from your Book Box at home, read on RAZ-Kids, read on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Continue working on number identification, numbers out of order, coins, patterns, sorting, ways to make 5, addition and subtraction facts through 5, story problems, one more and one less, etc. 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal. Practice writing your sight words and write stories with three sentences on the same topic.

Sharing: We are learning a new leadership trait for the months of November and December: BENEVOLENCE. Our kindergarten definition of Benevolence is: the act of being kind and generous. Write one sentence about how you can show benevolence. Draw a picture to go with your sentence. Sharing is due Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.

Type To Learn: Please complete ONE LESSON a week. Of course you may do more, but the school suggests that each student complete one (or two!) lessons per week in order to complete 50 lessons by the end of the school year.