Weekly News: October 27-31

News:

We had such a great time investigating pumpkins! Thank you for all the help and donations. Be sure to check out our pictures on our class Facebook page. 

We are looking forward to our fun Halloween games and activities on Friday! Remember to wear your PJs!

It is Spirit Week! Show your school spirit by dressing up every day! 

Monday, Oct. 27: Disney Day 
Tuesday, Oct. 28: Sports Day
Wednesday, Oct. 29: Blast to the Past Day (wear your favorite decade!)
Thursday, Oct. 30: Twin Day (I will be wearing my ILCS shirt and jeans if you want to be twins with ME!)
Friday, Oct. 31: PJ DAY!

Please don't forget to bring your book bags to school every day. Friends that do not bring book bags back to school cannot take a new book home that day :( The book or books in your child's book bag will be books we are working on together in reading groups and/or books self-selected by your child. 

Parent conferences are coming up in a few weeks! I will be posting a parent conference schedule on a clipboard down at the playground Monday morning - this schedule will also be in our classroom the next several weeks. Please take the time to pop by and sign up for a good time that suits your schedule. If you are not able to come to school to sign up, please email me {JCBess@inlandleaders.com} and we can choose a time for you! I look forward to meeting with you and discussing your child's progress!

This Week's Winners:

RAZ-Kids: Congratulations to Gen and Brendan!!  They were our top readers last week! Way to go!!

Smarty Ants: Our top Ant of the week award goes to John! Great job! Keep working hard.  

IXL Math: Congratulations to Grace!!  She spent the most time practicing math skills on IXL math! Awesome work!

We Give Books: We have read 22 books so far! Let's keep reading!

Upcoming Events: 

October 27-31: Spirit Week :) 
Friday, October 31: Halloween Centers! 
Tuesday, November 11: No School - Veteran's Day 
Monday, November 10-Thursday, November 20: Parent Conferences
Friday, November 21: Thanksgiving Feast {more info later!}
Monday, November 24-Friday, November 28: Thanksgiving Break!

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, our classroom would love: 

Headphones  

Treasure Box Prizes 

What Are We Learning This Week?: 

Sight Words: BOY, GIRL, HAS, NICE, WANT. 

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: We will read many books about pumpkins and Halloween. 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. This week, I will be assessing students on letters, sounds, sight words, and letter teams learned so far. 

Writing: We will continue to write three sentences on the same topic, using an uppercase at the beginning of a sentence, finger spaces after each word, and a period at the end.

Math: We will continue our unit on "Counting with Friends", along with our fun Halloween math story problems. This week, I will be assessing each student on their knowledge of numbers, counting and cardinality, and geometry and shapes. 

Leadership: Our leadership theme for the month of October is TEAMWORK. We will have our Leadership Awards Assembly on Friday morning. 

Homework: October 27-31

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (BOY, GIRL, HAS, NICE, WANT), letter teams (OY and OI), and word family (OP - hop, cop, top, 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: 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! You may also read books from your book boxes, books on RAZ Kids, Smarty Ants, and books on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Count everything! Ask your child all the different ways that numbers can be represented. Start asking your child simple word problems like, "If there are four cats playing in the yard and two more cats come, how many cats are there altogether?" and have your child explain HOW he got the answer. Visit IXL Math for additional homework practice! 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal, using sight words and your sound chart to help you! If your children can write one sentence, start having them add sentences with details.

Sharing: Last week, we learned all about pumpkins. Write one 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 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Sharing homework turned in on Fridays is considered late. Remember that you can write your sharing homework on ANY paper, but if you would like to use our sharing paper, you may. 

VISIT GOORULEARNING.ORG FOR VIDEOS, BOOKS, GAMES, AND MORE HOMEWORK RESOURCES!! {Class code: QCAWKCF, Class Name:  ILCS Kindergarten}

Weekly News: October 20-24

News:

We are investigating pumpkins this week! On Friday, we will be measuring and carving 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! We are excited for this fun activity! 

We will be celebrating Halloween with fun Halloween games and activities next Friday from 10:30-12:30! 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! 

Last week, we started sending home Book Bags. The book or books in your child's book bag will be books we are working on together in reading groups and/or books self-selected by your child. Book Bags are to be brought back and forth, home to school, every day. Book bags are also an ESSENTIAL part of your child's home reading - they should be reading these books EVERY DAY for homework. 

This Week's Winners:

RAZ-Kids: Congratulations to June and Gideon!!  They were our top readers last week! Way to go!!

Smarty Ants: Our top Ant of the week award goes to Sloan! Great job! Keep working hard.  

IXL Math: Congratulations to Whitney!!  She spent the most time practicing math skills on IXL math! Awesome work!

We Give Books: We have read 19 books so far! Way to go class!! 

Upcoming Events: 

Friday, October 24: Pumpkin Investigation Day 
October 27-31: Spirit Week :) 
Monday, Oct. 27: Disney Day 
Tuesday, Oct. 28: Sports Day
Wednesday, Oct. 29: Blast to the Past Day (wear your favorite decade!)
Thursday, Oct. 30: Twin Day (I will be wearing my ILCS shirt and jeans if you want to be twins with ME!)
Friday, Oct. 31: PJ DAY!
Friday, October 31: Halloween Centers! 

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, our classroom would love: 

Headphones  

Treasure Box Prizes 

What Are We Learning This Week?: 

Sight Words: ARE, BIG, LITTLE, FOR, WAS.

Letter Team:  IGH (like in HIGH, 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 (for example: BIG, PIG, WIG, DIG). I am sending home a fun worksheet/activity that you can do at home this week!

Reading: We will read many fiction and non-fiction books about pumpkins and their life cycle. I will continue pulling small reading groups this week, as well as conferencing one on one with individual students. Students are working hard at their independent activities and reading their self-selected "Good Fit Books". 

Writing: We will continue to write three sentences on the same topic, using an uppercase at the beginning of a sentence, finger spaces after each word, and a period at the end.

Math: We will continue our unit on "Counting with Friends". Our goal is to give each student a deep number sense as we explore questions like, "How can numbers be represented?" and "How can we show numbers in different ways?" This week we will dive into fun Halloween math story problems, including addition, subtraction, and comparing (more or less) problems. 

Leadership: Our leadership theme for the month of October is TEAMWORK. Our kindergarten definition of teamwork is: working together to get a job done.

Homework: October 20-24

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (ARE, BIG, LITTLE, FOR, WAS), letter teams (AR and IGH), and word family (IG - big, pig, twig, 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: 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! You may also read books from your book boxes, books on RAZ Kids, Smarty Ants, and books on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Count everything! Ask your child all the different ways that numbers can be represented. Start asking your child simple word problems like, "If there are four cats playing in the yard and two more cats come, how many cats are there altogether?" and have your child explain HOW he got the answer. Visit IXL Math for additional homework practice! 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal, using sight words and your sound chart to help you! If your children can write one sentence, start having them add sentences with details.

Sharing: This month, we are reading about Halloween and learning all about creepy creatures, like bats and spiders. Write one sentence about your favorite creepy creature. 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 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Sharing homework turned in on Fridays is considered late. Remember that you can write your sharing homework on ANY paper, but if you would like to use our sharing paper, you may. 

VISIT GOORULEARNING.ORG FOR VIDEOS, BOOKS, GAMES, AND MORE HOMEWORK RESOURCES!! {Class code: QCAWKCF, Class Name:  ILCS Kindergarten}

Weekly News: October 13-17

I hope you enjoyed the three day weekend with your families.

We had so much fun on our field trip! Thank you to all of our parent chaperones! Make sure you check out our class Facebook page for more pictures!

We are starting our Home Reading Book Bags this week. Your child will be bringing home a special book bag on Tuesday. The book or books in your child's book bag will be books we are working on together in reading groups and/or books self-selected by your child. Book Bags are to be brought back and forth, home to school, every day. Book bags are also an ESSENTIAL part of your child's home reading - they should be reading these books EVERY DAY for homework. If you have any questions about our book bags or home reading program, please do not hesitate to ask!

A huge THANK YOU to my Fridays moms that have been cutting, copying, and prepping materials for our classes - and to the many parents that take prep work home! We have the best helpers and we could not do it without you! 

JOIN THE 100% GROUP!! I will continue assessing students on all LETTERS and SOUNDS as well as all of the SIGHT WORDS AND LETTER TEAMS introduced so far.  Our goal is that ALL students know ALL letters and sounds by the end of the first trimester.  We also have the goal that all students are keeping up with the sight words and letter teams introduced each week. 

RAZ-Kids: Congratulations to Whitney and Gideon!!  They were our top readers last week, reading over 2 hours online!!! Way to go!!

Smarty Ants: Our top Ants of the week awards go to John, Jose, and Gideon!  John was the Top Ant in Most Time Played, Jose had the Most Words Built, and Gideon had the Most Stories Built.  Way to go, boys!!  Keep working hard.  

IXL Math: Congratulations to Whitney and Sloan!!  They were our top IXL math students.  They spent the most time practicing math skills on IXL math!  Way to go!!

We Give Books: Last week we read 16 We Give Books!!  Way to go class!! We Give Books is a digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.  For every book we read, a book is donated to a child in need!  My Goal is for the students in our class to read 25 books each month. You can access the We Give Website at the following link: We Give Books. Our class username is: thebesskinders and the password is: ilcs. Happy Reading!!

Upcoming Events: 

Friday, October 24: Pumpkin Investigation Day {more info coming later!}
October 27-31: Spirit Week :) {more info coming later!}
Friday, October 31: Halloween Centers! {more info coming later!}

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, our classroom would love: 

Headphones 

Halloween or Fall stickers and trinkets 

Treasure Box Prizes 

What Are We Learning This Week?: 

Sight Words: WHEN, HAVE, BE, AM, WHAT

Letter Team:  AW/AU (like in SAW/SAUCE) 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: This week, we will read many non-fiction books about bats. I will begin pulling small reading groups this week, as well as conferencing one on one with individual students. Students are working hard at their independent activities and reading their self-selected "Good Fit Books". 

Writing: This  week we will write non-fiction stories about what we are learning about bats. We will continue to use an uppercase at the beginning of a sentence, finger spaces after each word, and a period at the end.

Math: We will continue our unit on "Counting with Friends". Our goal is to give each student a deep number sense as we explore questions like, "How can numbers be represented?" and "How can we show numbers in different ways?" This week we will learn all about the rekenrek - a special math tool. We will use the rekenrek to show that the same number can be represented in different ways (for example, the number 7 can be 5 and 2, 6 and 1, 4 and 3, and so on. We will also use the rekenrek to help us solve addition and subtraction math stories. 

Leadership: Our leadership theme for the month of October is TEAMWORK. Our kindergarten definition of teamwork is: working together to get a job done.

Homework: October 13-17

Please remember the following are HOMEWORK TIPS. We would like you to meet your child where he or she is at. 

Flashcards: Make flashcards for our new sight words (WHEN, HAVE, BE, AM, WHAT), letter teams (AW/AU), and word family (OT - cot, got, hot, 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: 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! You may also read books from your book boxes, books on RAZ Kids, Smarty Ants, and books on We Give Books. We want to give you plenty of resources and opportunities to READ, READ, READ.

Math: Count everything! Ask your child all the different ways that numbers can be represented. Start asking your child simple word problems like, "If there are four cats playing in the yard and two more cats come, how many cats are there altogether?" and have your child explain HOW he got the answer. Visit IXL Math for additional homework practice! 

Writing: Write EVERY SINGLE DAY in your At-Home Journal, using sight words and your sound chart to help you! If your children can write one sentence, start having them add sentences with details.

Sharing: Write one sentence about your favorite part of 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 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Sharing homework turned in on Fridays is considered late. Remember that you can write your sharing homework on ANY paper, but if you would like to use our sharing paper, you may. 

VISIT GOORULEARNING.ORG FOR VIDEOS, BOOKS, GAMES, AND MORE HOMEWORK RESOURCES!! {Class code: QCAWKCF, Class Name:  ILCS Kindergarten}

Weekly News: October 6-10

I had a great first week back to school and have enjoyed getting to know your children so far. This is a great group of students and I can tell that it's going to be a great year!

The Lion's Fest was a huge success! A huge shout-out to our room mom, Kindra, for all of her hard work and a big thank you to all of the parents that volunteered! THANK YOU! 

We are so excited about our field trip on Tuesday! We will be leaving school in the morning and returning just before dismissal. Remember to send your child to school in a normal t-shirt and without a snack. Also, you will NOT need to bring your folders on this day.

There is NO SCHOOL next Monday, October 13. Enjoy the three day weekend with your families. 

JOIN THE 100% GROUP!!  This week I will be assessing students on all LETTERS and SOUNDS as well as all of the SIGHT WORDS AND LETTER TEAMS introduced so far.  Our goal is that ALL students know ALL letters and sounds by the end of the first trimester.  We also have the goal that all students are keeping up with the sight words and letter teams introduced each week. 

RAZ-Kids: Congratulations to Colben and Katie!!  They were our top readers last week!  Way to go!! They spent the most time on Raz-kids last week!  

Smarty Ants: Our top Ant of the week award goes to Tyler!  Tyler was the Top Ant in Most Time Played, Most Words Built, and Most Stories Built.  Way to go Tyler!!  Keep working hard.  

IXL Math: Congratulations to Gen and Jose!!  They were our top IXL math students.  They spent the most time practicing math skills on IXL math!  Way to go!!

We Give Books: We Give Books is a digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.  For every book we read, a book is donated to a child in need!  My Goal is for the students in our class to read 25 books each month. You can access the We Give Website at the following link: We Give Books. Our class username is: thebesskinders and the password is: ilcs. Happy Reading!!

If you are at the store and happen to think of us, our classroom would love: 

Headphones 

Halloween or Fall stickers and trinkets 

Treasure Box Prizes 

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 continue reading books about Autumn and leaves. I will assess students on letters, sounds, words, and letter teams, as well as conferencing one on one with individual students. Students are working hard at their independent activities and reading their self-selected "Good Fit Books". 

Writing: We are practicing using the sound chart to sound out words that we do not know how to spell. In our journals, we are working on adding details to our writing and writing more than one sentence on the same topic. 

Math: We are beginning our unit on "Counting with Friends". Our goal is to give each student a deep number sense as we explore questions like, "How can numbers be represented?" and "How can we show numbers in different ways?" We will learn a deeper understanding of numbers and counting and relationships among numbers by exploring counting collections, tens frames, dot cards, and rekenreks (a fancy math manipulative you'll learn about soon!). Please join us on this number journey at home - count everything! Remind your child that a number can be represented by a group of objects, then by a word, and finally a numeral. 

Leadership: Our leadership theme for the month of October is TEAMWORK. Our kindergarten definition of teamwork is: working together to get a job done.