Weekly News: September 3-6

News: 

I hope you had a relaxing three-day weekend with your families! There is a LOT of new information this week. Thank you so much for taking the time to read through. 

School picture day will be Thursday, September 5th! Be on the look-out for a flyer being sent home soon!

Your child's beginning of the year assessment results were sent home on Friday. Please take some time to review these results with your child. My goal for all students is to have 100% letter, sound, and number recognition by the end of our first trimester in November.

Our kindergarten "Parent Night" will take place in our classroom on Wednesday, September 4th at 6:00. Our goal is to go over reading and writing strategies we are learning in class, homework tips, and answer any questions that you may have to reinforce learning at home. Childcare will NOT be provided. In order to cover all of the material and make the best use of our time, please make accommodations for your little ones.

Our very first Scholastic Book Orders were sent home on Friday. This is such a great and inexpensive way to order books for your child and with every order, you are providing a free book towards our classroom library! Just follow the directions on the Order Form Page I send home or visit the "Book Orders" tab on our website. Book orders are due next Friday, September 13th. They will arrive in our classroom a few weeks after that date. 

Electives on our campus will begin the week of September 9th. You should have received an elective email (coming from the school) to sign up your child for an ILCS elective. If your child is participating in an elective, you may send a lunch to school with him/her on that elective day and lunch supervision will be provided for your children. Kindergarten electives are from 1:00-1:30 and the elective teachers will dismiss your children at 1:30 on the ramp.

Our first field trip is planned!!! We will be going to Los Rios Ranch in Oak Glenn on Tuesday, September 24th. We will be leaving school by bus sometime in the morning and returning around pick-up time. The students will get to meet Johnny Appleseed, tour the apple orchards, and even make apple cider! In order for our kindergarten classes to go on this field trip (and all future field trips), we are asking for donations to be made to our Dollar A Day program through the school. A suggested donation of $15 per student will help cover the cost of our bus, kindergarten t-shirts, and field trip admission. Unfortunately, if our kindergarten team does not receive donations, we will not be able to go on this wonderful field trip :(  We are also looking for volunteers to join us and chaperone our field trip. The cost for chaperones is also $5.  If you are interested in chaperoning for our field trip on this day, please EMAIL ME! On Friday, September 13th, we will need to give our final head count to Los Rios Ranch, so if you would like to chaperone please let me know and pay $5 before that Friday. We apologize for any inconvenience, but siblings and little ones are not allowed on this field trip due to the safety of our kindergarten students you will be chaperoning.  Also, be on the look-out for the field trip permission slip that will be coming home in your child's Take Home Folder soon. These are due back to school ASAP in order for your child to go on the field trip.We are so excited for this field trip! Yay!

Here is the link to Dollar A Day: Dollar a Day. Thank you in advance for your support. 


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: I, LIKE, MY.

Letter Team: SH (like in "she" and "push") and ER (like in "her" and "mother") - ask your child to tell you about Mr. ER - he is one crazy driver!!!

Word Family: IP - like in dip, chip, rip, sip, tip, etc. 

Reading: We will continue to learn that vowels make 2 sounds - a short sound and a long sound. We will continue to read big books to help us with our reading strategies. This week, we will also read books about colors and our five senses. We will start reading our "Scholastic News" magazines as we explore what non-fiction means. 

Writing: We are writing a new book together about our five senses using our sight words of the week. We are continuing to use an uppercase at the beginning of a sentence, finger spaces between our words, and 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. You can help your child at home by using the same sound chart on the back of  your Homework Folder to help with sounding out words and writing at home.

Math: We are learning to count by ordinal numbers (first, second, third...) We will continue to read and extend patterns, discuss how to sort objects, and "popcorn count" -  identifying what number should come next without going back to 1 to count. We will continue to identify, order, write, and count numbers to 30.  

Leadership: This month, our theme is "diligence". This is a big word for kindergartners. We are teaching that diligence is putting all of our effort, energy, and concentration into getting a job done. We will discuss ways to be diligent at home and at school. 

Homework: September 3-6

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (I, LIKE, MY), letter teams (SH and ER), and word family (ip - rip, sip, flip, dip). Study these flashcards (and those from previous weeks) every day. It may be a good idea to keep a bunch of index cards on a binder ring or in a box and you can add the new flashcards to that every week. Also, if your assessment results from last week showed that your child is still struggling with letters, sounds, or numbers, it may be a good idea to make flashcards for those as well! :) 

Reading: Read to your child everyday! Have your child look for sight words and letter teams within the books you are reading. 

Math: Practice counting 1-30 or higher, identify numbers out of order, number writing practice, sort items by color and size, and practice drawing shapes. If your child is struggling with numbers, make number flashcards!

Writing: Practice writing your name with an uppercase only at the beginning. Practice writing ABC's uppercase and lowercase (Aa, Bb, Cc). Also practice writing your sight words of the week and sight word dictation sentences for our spelling test on Friday.

Sharing: This week, we are learning about our senses. Please write one sentence about your favorite sense and how you use it. (Example: I like my nose because I can smell cookies with my nose.) 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 Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of this week. Note: If you visit the following link (Sharing Paper), you'll find a great printable sharing page with a spot for writing and for a picture! Feel free to print off a bunch of these pages to use for sharing each week :) 

Weekly News: August 26-30

What a great first week of school! Thank you for sharing your children with me! We are having so much fun getting to know one another and adjusting to this crazy thing called kindergarten :) 

Thank you to the parents who signed up to be my "Daily Morning Folders" helper. This will begin Monday! 

 Daily Morning Folder Helpers are: 

Monday: Kelly Wilson 

Tuesday: Jennifer Williams 

Wednesday: Christian Lazzar

Thursday: Lena Reynolds

Friday: Teresa Juarez

Other classroom volunteers will begin sometime in late-September - I will let you know when the time comes! 

There is no school next Monday, September 2nd due to the Labor Day Holiday. Enjoy the time off with your families!

Throughout the year, I will be sending out many parent emails. This is the most convenient form of communication for me. I sent out a first email in order to be sure I have all of your correct email addresses.  If you did not receive the email, either I typed it incorrectly or I did not have one for you.  If you would like to be added to the list when I email information, please let me know.  If this is an inconvenient way for you to communicate, please let me know that as well. I also have a "Follow by email" link on the website - if you check the bottom of the right-hand column, you will find the "Follow by Email" gadget. Feel free to submit your information to receive an email EVERY time I update our website! 

Unfortunately, the Homework Tab on our website is not working. Make sure you scroll down to the next post to see our Homework for the week. 

School picture day will be Thursday, September 5th! Be on the look-out for a flyer being sent home soon! 

Save the Date for a special Parent Night on Wednesday, September 4th at 6:00. More information to come. 

On Friday, I sent home a CD with all of our sight words songs. This is a great way to learn the sight words and reinforce letter identification too.  Have your child point to each letter as they sing the letter name. You can also visit the SONGS tab on our website to hear our sight words songs and other songs we learn in class. Have fun singing!


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: IS, THE, ME, OR.

Letter Team: TH (we are learning that TH has two different sounds - a hard sound [like in mother and the] and a soft sound [like in thumb])

Reading: We are learning the vowels!!!! Ask your child about our special vowel song and what sounds the vowels can make! We learned that each vowel can make 2 sounds - short and long. We are learning the different parts of a book: title, author, illustrator, title page. You can help at home by asking your child to point to each part of the book before you read. Students will continue to practice one-to-one matching this week. We will also practice the reading strategies Get your mouth ready for the first sound and Look at the Picture (see Reading Stategies tab for more information). 

Writing: We are writing a new book together about our shapes and colors using our sight words of the week. This week we are learning that a sentence starts with an uppercase letter and ends with a period. We are working on putting finger spaces in between our words. 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. You can help your child at home by using the same sound chart on the back of your Homework Folder to help with sounding out words and writing at home.

Math: We are learning to sort objects by color and size. We are also learning to read and extend patterns. We will also focus on identifying what number should come next without going back to 1 to count. For example, if I ask a student to "count on" (we call it "popcorn counting") from the number 7, I would like them to tell me "8, 9, 10.." without having to go back to the number 1 to figure it out. We will continue to identify, order, write, and count numbers to 30.  

Leadership: Diligence.

Homework: August 26-30

Flashcards: Please make flashcards for our new sight words (IS THE ME OR) and letter team (TH). Study these flashcards every day. Have your child read the word, spell the word, read the word. Please see the Sight Word tab for more flashcard ideas. We will have a spelling and dictation test on our sight words every Friday! A dictation test means we will be asking your child to dictate a sentence using the sight words of the week. We will not only be looking for the words to be spelled correctly, but also for an uppercase at the beginning, spaces between words, and a period at the end. An example of a dictation sentence may be "We can see a dog." It may be a good idea to have a practice test with your child on Thursday night! 

Reading: Read to your child every day.

Math: Practice counting 1-30 or higher, identify numbers out of order (make number flashcards!), number writing practice, and practice drawing shapes. Refer to your number writing assessment for numbers that your child has difficulty writing.

Writing: Write everyday! Practice writing your name with an uppercase only at the beginning. Practice writing ABC's uppercase and lowercase (Aa, Bb, Cc). Also practice writing your sight words of the week and sight word dictation sentences for our spelling test on Friday.

Sharing: You should have received a flyer about making a Kindergarten Book Box in your child's folder. This book box will be used to store his/her little books that we will be making throughout the year. You may use a cardboard shoe-box or plastic container. Your child may choose to paint his/her box, cover it with colored paper, wallpaper, fabric, etc. Some ideas might be to use sequins, beads, stones, gems, stickers, foam letters, and so on. Please feel free to assist your child and use your imagination to decorate! These boxes will be shared in class throughout the week. Please send these boxes to school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of this week - then they will be returned that day to live at home with you. Thank you for your support and have fun making those boxes!!

Our Very First Weekly News

News: 

We had a great first two days of school! I have a wonderful group of students and I am really looking forward to a fantastic school year. 

Thank you parents for ALL of your generous donations and don't forget to attend Back to School Night on Thursday at 5:30 in the Cub's Den (the church sanctuary).  

What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: WE, CAN, SEE, A.

Letter Team: EE (like in SEE and BEE).

Reading: We are reading many books about beginning school and books about being friends in school. We are also beginning our first part of Daily Five: Read to Self - please see the tab on the side if you are interested in more information. 

Writing: We are writing a book together about shapes using our sight words of the week. This week we are learning that a sentence starts with an uppercase letter and ends with a period. We are working on putting finger spaces in between our words. We are also learning that our ABC Sound Chart helps us to identify sounds/letters in words. 

Math: We are learning to identify, order, write, and count numbers to 30. We are also learning the days of the week and months of the year.

Leadership: Here at ILCS, we focus on a certain leadership theme each month. This month and through September, our theme is "diligence". This is a big word for kindergartners. We are teaching that diligence is putting all of our effort, energy, and concentration into getting the job done. We will discuss ways to be diligent at home and at school. 

Our First Week of Homework

Flashcards: Please make flashcards for our new sight words (WE, CAN, SEE, A) and letter teams (EE). Study these flashcards every day. Have your child read the word, spell the word, then read the word again. You do not need to bring these flashcards to school. They are to stay at home so you can practice them every night. Please see the Sight Word tab for more flashcard ideas. We will have a spelling and dictation test on our sight words every Friday! A dictation test means we will be asking your child to dictate a sentence using the sight words of the week. We will not only be looking for the words to be spelled correctly, but also for an uppercase at the beginning, spaces between words, and a period at the end. An example of a dictation sentence may be "We can see a dog." It may be a good idea to have a practice test with your child on Thursday night! 

Reading: Read to your child every day. Have your child find sight words in the books that you are reading. 

Math: Practice counting 1-30 or higher, identify numbers out of order (make number flashcards!), number writing practice, and practice drawing shapes. Please see your child’s Number Writing Assessment  that was sent home. 

Writing: PRACTICE WRITING YOUR NAME with an uppercase only at the beginning. Practice writing ABC's uppercase and lowercase (Aa, Bb, Cc) - please see your child's ABC writing assessment that will be home this week. Also, practice writing your sight words of the week for the spelling test on Friday! 

Sharing: Sharing is the ONLY part of your homework that you will need to turn in. There is NO sharing this week. Next week, there will be a special Book Box Sharing. More information on this will be sent home and discussed at Back to School Night. 

First Day of School

The first day of school is almost here! I am so excited to meet my new class! I am certain many of you have questions, comments, concerns, and emotions. Hopefully the following information will help. Here are a few things to know about the first day:

• We will meet down on the playground between 7:50 - 8:10 (school starts at 8:10am).  The basketball court is where we will line up each morning.

• Please remember, no backpacks.  Although it's fun to choose a new backpack, we just don't have the space for them.  Backpacks will be something to look forward to in first grade.  

• Please send a small snack for our nutrition break.  It can be in a lunch box or bag with your child's name.  This is not lunch, just a short break, so a small healthy snack is plenty.

• If you are able, we invite you to join us for the first 15 minutes in our classroom as we read our first story together as a class.

• Dismissal will be at 12:30!! Please note that this has changed from other kindergarten years.  Please pick up you child on the ramp in the front of the school. I ask that you come introduce yourself to me - tell me your name and your child's name - this way, I can start getting to know faces and make pick-up as safe as possible. 

• On the first day of school, your child will come home with a first day packet full of papers from the office. Please be on the look out for this important packet, fill out the appropriate paperwork, and return to school as soon as possible. 
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• Smile! The first day of Kindergarten is exciting!

Also, Back to School Night will be Thursday, August 22 at 5:30pm in the Cub's Den (Sanctuary) on our campus.  Please plan to attend.  We will be covering a lot of important information.  For this reason we encourage you to find child care for your children.
Enjoy your weekend and I will see you Monday!