Weekly News: January 27-31

FRIDAY, WE ARE CELEBRATING OUR 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL! Please check HOMEWORK for our special 100 Day Sharing Homework. Also - on Friday, please send your child to school with some kind of small snack to share with the class (a large box or bag of goldfish, gummy bears, skittles, cheerios, etc. are good examples). This does not need to be counted out to 100 - just bring a box or bag of something and we will be mixing all of the snacks and counting 100 items for our "100th Day Hash". If you would like, you may join us in class at 12:00 on Friday as we watch our special video from our first 100 days of school. I can't believe that we have already been in school for almost 100 days! I am so proud of your kids and how far they have come! 

We are STILL in need of LOTS AND LOTS of empty Capri Sun boxes!!!! If you have any please send them to school with your child! Thank you very much!!! Note: if you could please open the boxes at the side (not in the middle around the edges) that would really help us out! Thank you! 

It is with deep regret that I inform you that kindergarten will no longer be performing at the Gala this year. 

Upcoming Events:   
Monday, February 10th: NO SCHOOL!
Friday, February 14th: Valentine's Day 
Monday, February 17th: NO SCHOOL!


If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
Canon Printer Ink #210 and #211
Gallon Ziploc Bags
Any sort of small {or big} prizes for our class store


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE.

Letter Team:  ONG (like in SONG) and ONK (like in HONK).  

Reading: This week we are reading books all about our 100th Day of School! 

Writing: We have some fun writing assignments this week. We will be writing all about our first 100 days of school, what we would do if we had $100, and what we would look like if we were 100 years old. 

Math: We will continue to focus on more than/less than, ways to make ten, and decomposing numbers. You can help at home by asking your child questions like, "If I have 4 apples and I need 10 apples, how many more apples do I need?" or "Grandma has ten dogs. 6 dogs are black. How many dogs are white?"

Leadership: This month, our leadership trait is BOLDNESS. Our kindergarten definition for BOLDNESS is: being brave enough to do what is right even when we are scared. Our leadership assembly for the month will be this Friday morning at 8:10. 

Homework: January 27-31

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE), and letter teams (ONG and ONK). 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: Since we will be celebrating the 100th Day of School, practice counting to 100 by ones, tens, fives, and twos! Practice the “Doubles Song” on the back of the homework folder.  We will be have a “Doubles Contest” in class in the upcoming weeks. Reinforce addition and subtraction math facts through 5. Count the money in your "bank" each day. Tell addition and subtraction word problems to your children and have them explain to you how they got the answer.

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

SPECIAL SHARING HOMEWORK!!!!!!: We would like our students to practice counting to 100 by collecting 100 things to bring to school. Help them choose something small like beans, buttons, Cherrios, M&Ms, etc. Help them put their collection into a paper “mystery bag” (like a brown paper lunch bag that we cannot see through!). When they bring it to school, the class will try to guess what they brought! We will be doing fun activities with these collections all week long! Students may bring their collection in any day this week, just like they would sharing. Please try to bring it in before Friday!


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: January 21-24

I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing three-day weekend with your families! 

Congratulations to Kai! She came in first place for the 
entire kindergarten grade level at our school Spelling Bee on Thursday night! We are so proud of you, Kai! 

We are in need of LOTS AND LOTS of empty Capri Sun boxes!!!! If you have any please send them to school with your child! Thank you very much!!! Note: if you could please open the boxes at the side (not in the middle around the edges) that would really help us out! Thank you! 

We are still in the midst of getting information together about our performance at the Gala this year. The kindergartners will be performing one song (more information soon!) at the ILCS Gala on Friday, February 28 at 5:30 at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino. If you would like to attend the Gala, tickets can be purchased at our Bryant Street Campus school office or online at www.ilfoundation.org/gala. You do not need to attend the Gala in order for your child to participate in the kindergarten performance.

There has been some concerns and confusion this week about lice in our school. ILCS takes these infestations very seriously. I wanted to share with you some information from our school nurse to educate you more on lice. If you are interested, you may visit the following websites: http://www.licemd.com/head-lice-information-video.php, http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/prevent.html, http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/head/health_professionals/index.html. The most important thing to take away is that lice is most commonly spread through direct head to head contact. It has nothing to do with the cleanliness of our classroom. Remind your child at home to not share hats, brushes, or little bows and hair clips. Research shows that lice cannot be spread through headsets that we use in our classroom. However, it HAS been on our Class Supply List since the beginning of the year that each child bring in his or her own pair of headsets. I ask that if you have any concerns or questions in the future, you call the school office directly. Thank you. 

Upcoming Events:  
Friday, January 31: 100th DAY OF SCHOOL! 
Monday, February 10th: NO SCHOOL!
Friday, February 14th: Valentine's Day 
Monday, February 17th: NO SCHOOL!


If you are at the store and happen to think of us, we'd love.... 
Canon Printer Ink #210 and #211
Gluesticks 
Gallon Ziploc Bags
Any sort of small {or big} prizes for our class store
Lysol Wipes 


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: WOULD, COULD, SHOULD, WALK, TALK.

Letter Team:  ANG (like in HANG, SANG) and ANK (like in TANK, BANK). 

Reading: This week we are studying and reading about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., the Civil Rights Movement, and equality for all people. 

Writing: We are learning how to write three sentences, starting with a topic sentence. I have been modeling a structure for paragraph writing called, "Step Up to Writing" for the students. Kindergarten Step Up to Writing is writing a paragraph with a topic sentence, three sentences about that topic, and a conclusion sentence. For example, "We had a great day at school today. First, we learned place value in math. Next, we colored snowmen at centers. Last, we read books about Martin Luther King Jr. As you can see, we had a fun time at school." 

Math: This week, we will focus on more than/less than, ways to make ten, and decomposing numbers. You can help at home by asking your child questions like, "If I have 4 apples and I need 10 apples, how many more apples do I need?" or "Grandma has ten dogs. 6 dogs are black. How many dogs are white?"

Leadership: This month, our leadership trait is BOLDNESS. Our kindergarten definition for BOLDNESS is: being brave enough to do what is right even when we are scared. 

Homework: January 21-24

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (WOULD, COULD, SHOULD, WALK, TALK), and letter teams (ANG and ANK). 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: Practice the “Doubles Song” on the back of the homework folder.  We will be have a “Doubles Contest” in class in the upcoming weeks. Reinforce addition and subtraction math facts through 5. Count the money in your "bank" each day. Tell addition and subtraction word problems to your children and have them explain to you how they got the answer. 

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

Sharing: For sharing this week, please write TWO or more sentences about ways you can show boldness. Sharing is due BY THURSDAY.  Please make sure your child is responsible for his/her own writing as we are no longer accepting dictated sentences for sharing homework.  Please remember that sharing is a part of our curriculum and students that do not turn in sharing will owe Mrs. Bess one cent AND will have to complete that sharing homework during recess on Fridays. 


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: January 13-17

News: 

No School next Monday, January 20th!!! Enjoy the three day weekend!!

Is Baby Bess a boy or a girl? We are having a very fun "Gender Reveal" on Monday at the end of our day! Have your kiddos dress in pink or blue to guess what baby will be! :) 

We are still in the midst of getting information together about our performance at the Gala this year. The kindergartners will be performing one song (more information soon!) at the ILCS Gala on Friday, February 28 at 5:30 at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino. If you would like to attend the Gala, tickets can be purchased at our Bryant Street Campus school office or online at www.ilfoundation.org/gala. You do not need to attend the Gala in order for your child to participate in the kindergarten performance.  

We have a very special Sharing Homework this week, along with some new sharing rules. Please scroll down or visit the homework tab to learn more about this! 

Students have been doing such a wonderful job on writing last names! If your child is still struggling with this, please practice at home!

Our Scholastic Book Order is due Friday, January 17th. Get those orders in if you would like to order winter books or books for Valentine's Day.

We are collecting empty Capri Sun boxes for a special project next month. If you have any Capri Sun boxes at home, please send them in! Note: if you could please open the boxes at the side (not in the middle around the edges) that would really help us out! Thank you! 

Our "banks" have been a big hit in the classroom! Students are excited to "earn money" for staying on yellow and green, for making good use of classroom time, and for good behavior throughout the day. On Friday, we will have our first visit to the classroom store. Students can trade out their money for larger coins (5 pennies for a nickel, etc) and choose to spend money on a treasure or save it for a larger prize later. Please continue to count money received everyday and reinforce the responsibility of taking care of banks. Also, if you are able, we'd love more prizes for our "class store"!!! Thank you for your continued support!  

Community Service Project: We want to remind you that every student at Inland Leaders is required to participate in a Community Service Project of his or her choosing. The requirement for kindergarten students consists of 6-8 hours of service. These individual Community Service Projects will be due at the end of May, but you might want to start thinking about what you'll be doing now. Please visit our "Community Service Project" tab for more information. 

Upcoming Events:  
Monday, January 20: NO SCHOOL
Friday, January 31: 100th DAY OF SCHOOL! {more info coming later!}

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


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: OF, BACK, SAY, SAYS, PLEASE.

Letter Team:  CK (We are learning that CK makes the K sound and helps the vowel to say it's short sound, like in BACK, NECK, PICK, LOCK, DUCK - notice how all the vowels are the short sound!)

Reading: This week we are studying and doing projects with "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. We will discuss and record story elements such as author, illustrator, setting, and characters. We will read books about winter and other stories by the author, Jan Brett. 

Writing:  We will continue working on writing three sentences on the same topic and begin thinking of good topic sentences to begin our writing.

Math: This week, we will practice counting by 2s and practice decomposing two digit numbers by place value. You can help at home by asking your child, "What is inside of the number 16?" The answer should be, "1 ten and 6 ones" then practice putting that answer into a number sentence, "10+6=16". We will also continue to solve story problems using a variety of manipulatives. 

Leadership: This month, our leadership trait is BOLDNESS. Our kindergarten definition for BOLDNESS is: being brave enough to do what is right even when we are scared.  

Homework: January 13-17

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (OF, BACK, PLEASE, SAY, SAYS), and letter team (CK). 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: Practice the “Doubles Song” on the back of the homework folder.  We will be have a “Doubles Contest” in class in the upcoming weeks.  Please help your child memorize the doubles math facts. You can also reinforce addition and subtraction math facts through 5 and practice counting the money in your "bank" each day.

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

Sharing: We have a very special sharing homework this week. Please write two or three sentences about your dreams for the future and possibly how ILCS has influenced those dreams. Some examples include: "I want to be a nurse because ILCS has helped me to care for people" or "I want to be President of the United States because ILCS has taught me to be a leader". There will be two friends (one boy and one girl) from each grade level chosen to read this "Dreams Sharing" at our Gala!!  Remember that sharing for our second trimester will consist of TWO or more sentences and a picture. Starting this week, students that do not turn in sharing will owe Mrs. Bess one cent AND will have to complete that sharing homework during recess on Fridays. 


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.

Welcome Back! Weekly News: January 6-9

News: 

Happy New Year and welcome back to school! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and fun two weeks off with family and friends!

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO READ THIS ENTIRE SECTION AS THERE IS A LOT OF NEW INFORMATION FOR THE NEW YEAR!!

There is no school this Friday, January 10th due to a Teacher Inservice day. There is also no school on Monday, January 20th due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

Great news!!!  The kindergarten students will be performing at the Inland Leaders Foundation Gala this year!!  The Gala is Friday, February 28 at 5:30 at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino.  Tickets for this event may be purchased at the Bryant Street Campus school office or online at www.ilfoundation.org/gala

I have been informed that babysitting is available for this event to first 50 ticket holders so please purchase your tickets soon if you plan on attending.  Tickets are $100

Our fantastic room parents will be working hard on finding donations for the Gala auction baskets. If you, or someone you know, have auction items (large or small) and are able to donate please let us know right away.  Thank you in advance for your  help with this.  Your support is greatly appreciated.

We will have our spelling and math tests on Thursday this week due to no school on Friday. 

Be on the look out for our January Calendar coming home this week, as well as our January Book Orders - order now and receive great books before Valentine's Day! 

Beginning after the holiday break, we will now have each student write his/her first and LAST NAME on all papers, homework, etc.  If your child does not know how to write his/her last name, please practice this at home (it can become part of homework writing!). We will be practicing at school as well. Each student will now have last names written on their NEW Take Home Folders and name tags for support in the classroom. 

Yes, we have NEW Take Home Folders! These will be the LAST Take Home Folder for the year and we will be discussing responsibility and handle and care of these folders in the classroom. There might even be prizes awarded throughout the rest of the year on "Who has the nicest and cleanest Take Home Folder"! Please remember to bring these folders EVERY DAY!! 

Also beginning after the holiday break each child will have a “bank” attached to his/her new folder. The “bank” is a ziploc baggie taped to the folder. Each day your child will have the opportunity to earn money at the end of the day - the money will replace the stickers! Students will receive a penny for staying on yellow and green for the day. Students will also have the opportunity to receive nickels and dimes in the classroom as rewards for behavior throughout the day. Instead of Treasure Box on Fridays, now they will visit the CLASS STORE! Each student will count money, trade money (example: five pennies for one nickel) and have the opportunity to spend their money on the items that are now “on sale” at the class store. Of course, bigger treasures will cost more money, which I hope will reinforce self-control and teach students about saving. Each child will be responsible for keeping track of their own bank and for counting the money in it. (This too will be great homework practice). Please encourage your child to take care of and keep track of his/her bank, as lost money WILL NOT BE REPLACED!  Also, if students forget folders at home, they will not receive money for that day. The bank is designed to teach responsibility and accountability as well as reinforce math skills.This is a great life skill your child will benefit from in the future!! Thank you for your continued support.

Electives and after-school tutoring will continue this week! 

Upcoming Events:  
Friday, January 10: NO SCHOOL
Monday, January 20: NO SCHOOL
Friday, January 31: 100th DAY OF SCHOOL! {more info coming later!}


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


What Are We Learning This Week?:

Sight Words: WORK, ALL, AWAY, JUST, US.

Letter Team:  WOR (the OR sounds like Mr. ER, like in work and word) and TION (sounds like SHUN like in vacation, invention, connection). 

Reading: This week, we will read many books about winter and snowmen. We will continue to pick out "Good Fit Books" for our Read to Self time. 

Writing:  We will continue working on writing three sentences on the same topic and begin thinking of good topic sentences to begin our writing.

Math: This week, we will make a list of all the addition strategies we can use to solve addition problems. We will practice solving addition problems and story problems using these various strategies. We will also continue to compose and decompose through ten. 

Leadership: This month, our leadership trait is BOLDNESS. Our kindergarten definition for BOLDNESS is: being brave enough to do what is right even when we are scared. 

Homework: January 6-9

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (WORK, ALL, AWAY, JUST, US), and letter teams (WOR and TION). 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: Work on all math concepts that we have taught so far. Visit our Common Core tab to see our standards and get ideas of what your individual child may need to work on. Practice the “Doubles Song” on the back of the homework folder.  We will be have a “Doubles Contest” in class in the upcoming weeks.  Please help your child memorize the doubles math facts.  Also reinforce addition and subtraction math facts through 5.

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: Sharing for our second trimester will consist of TWO or more sentences and a picture. For sharing this week, please write TWO or more sentences about your favorite winter activity. Sharing is due BY THURSDAY.  Please make sure your child is responsible for his/her own writing as we are no longer accepting dictated sentences for sharing homework. 

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.