Happy New Year and welcome back to school! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and fun two weeks off with family and friends!
This is a short week, but we will still have new sight words, letter teams, and Friday tests!
PLEASE MAKE SURE TO READ THE ENTIRE POST AS THERE IS A LOT OF NEW INFORMATION FOR THE NEW YEAR!!
There is no school this Monday, January 7th due to a Teacher Inservice day. There is also no school on Monday, January 21st due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day.Success Academy and electives will resume the week of January 14th.
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. 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, so we will be discussing responsibility and proper 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!! Please also remember to empty the folder of papers every day, only returning book bags or any other important papers that need to be returned.
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 throughout our day. Students will have the opportunity to receive pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters in the classroom as rewards for behavior and hard work throughout the day. Instead of Treasure Box on Fridays, now they will visit the CLASS STORE! Each student will sort and 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 will be great math 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.
This week, we will begin taking Math Fluency Tests on our Number Bonds (ways to make 3, ways to make 4, etc.) and adding and subtracting math facts through five. Our Common Core Standard is that by the end of kindergarten, students will fluently (meaning without fingers or manipulatives) be able to add and subtract within five. Students will have the opportunity to practice these facts and take weekly tests. Please remember that we would like all students to master this standard by the end of the year. My hope is that each week, we will accomplish a little bit more on these tests. Please reinforce and practice these skills at home. Thank you for your support!
We are in need of LOTS of empty Capri Sun juice 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!
Upcoming Events:
Monday, January 7: NO SCHOOL
Monday, January 21: NO SCHOOL
Friday, January 25: 100th DAY OF SCHOOL CELEBRATION (more info coming soon)
Wednesday, January 30: Field Trip to the Children's Museum (more info coming soon)
Monday, February 11: NO SCHOOL
Thursday, February 14: Valentine's Day Centers (more info coming soon)
Monday, February 18: NO SCHOOL
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).
Reading: This week, we will read many books about winter and snowmen. We are also reading "The Mitten" and many other books by Jan Brett. We will discuss and record story elements such as author, illustrator, setting, and characters.
Writing: We are learning how to write a five sentence paragraph. 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 about measurement in math. Next, we colored snowmen at centers. Last, we read a lot of books about winter. School is so much fun!"
Math: We will discuss Number Bonds we will begin taking Number Bonds and Fluency Math tests. We will continue to learn our Doubles Song. We will also begin our math unit on measurement. We are learning different ways things can be measured, including length, height, width, weight, and capacity. You can help by discussing measurement at home. Please see the homework section below for more information.
Leadership: As always, we will continue to ROAR. Students displaying excellent leadership traits will be rewarded with money to spent at our class store.
