Friday, May 27, 2016

May 27, 2016

Wow!  I can't believe we're to the final days of kindergarten.  Thank you for all the support you've given your child this year and all the support you've given me!  My favorite thing about teaching kindergarten is how much they grow throughout the year!
My suggestion is to keep working throughout the summer.  I believe every kid deserves a break, but kids lose SO much when they are not in school!!  My recommendation is to read every day and then work at least 30-40 minutes a week on additional work...10-20 minutes on writing, 10 minutes on phonics, and 10 minutes on math. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Monday- No School

Tuesday- Movie Morning- Students may bring pillows, blankets, and a small stuffed animal.
Egg Drop- We'll be doing our Egg Drop in the afternoon (weather permitted).

Wednesday- Field Day!  This is the best day of the year to many of these kids.  They will be receiving their t-shirt on Tuesday, May 31.  Please have them wear that shirt, uniform shorts, and tennis shoes.  Lunch is provided, but if your child does not want pizza, please pack a lunch.

Thursday- Last Day of School
Awards Ceremony at 8:15 (Mostly for the older students, but parents are welcome to attend.)
Mass at 9:45
2:00 Dismissal


Have a wonderful summer!

Friday, May 20, 2016

May 20, 2016

DIBELS Testing-  The results from our DIBELS reading assessment went home on Thursday.  A few helpful notes...
- TRC (Text and Reading Comprehension) is a combination of reading and comprehension levels.  Please note this level might differ than the reading level of class leveled books due to the comprehension questions.  I also try and challenge the students by moving them up when they are ready to conquer the next level.
- FSF (First Sound Fluency) is not measured at the end of the year.
- LNF (Letter Naming Fluency) is where student name capital and lowercase letters in a random order. They have one minutes to name as many as they can name.
- PSF (Phoneme Segmentation Fluency) is where children must give all the sounds in a word.
- NWF (Nonsense Word Fluency) is where students have one minute to sound out nonsensical CVC words like "mup".  They are given points for CLS (correct letter sounds) and points for WWR (whole words read).
-  WR (Word Recognition) is a list of sight words.  It is recommended that students know all 24 of the sight words on List A by the end of kindergarten.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the assessment results.

We need a few Magic Erasers to help clean up our classroom.  If you could send one in, that would be great.  I also need 1 dozen eggs for our Egg Drop on Tuesday, May 31.  If you can send it in, please email me.

Friday, May 27- Last Meeting with 8th grade buddies
Monday, May 30- No School
Tuesday, May 31- Movie Morning (Students may bring pillows and blankets.)
The Great Egg Drop STEM project in the afternoon
Wednesday, June 1- Field Day
Thursday, June 2- Last Day of School

Theme: Pirates

Sight Words: could, again

Word Families : -ud (bud, mud, spud, thud)
-up (cup, pup)
- us (bus, plus)

Wonderful Word: faithful

Poem: Pirate's ABC Chant

Authors of the Month: Oliver Jeffers and Doreen Cronin

Religion: We Celebrate that Jesus is Our Friend

Writing Prompt: Tell me about your year in kindergarten.

Language Arts: word ladders (replacing a letter to make a new word)

Math: fact families
addition and subtraction fluency

Have a great week!

Friday, May 13, 2016

May 13, 2016

Upcoming Dates:
All Library Books Due- May 18
No School- May 30
Field Day- June 1
Last Day of School/2:00 Dismissal- June 2

Theme: Plants

Sight Words: they, where

Poem: Parts of a Plant

Authors of the Month: Oliver Jeffers and Doreen Cronin

Wonderful Word: deserve

Word Family: -y (by, cry, dry, fly, fry, my, sky, sly, spy, try, why)

Religion: We Care About Others as Jesus Did

Math: addition and subtraction story problems
          addition and subtraction fluency

Reading: Magic e Words
               Vowel Teams

Science: observing and journaling about plants

Have a great week!

Friday, May 6, 2016

May 6, 2016

Remember that Tuesday, May 10th is at 2:00 Dismissal.

I have started our end of the year Dibels reading assessment.  I will let you know when I'll be sending home the results.


Theme: Plants

Sight Words: who, did

Poem: The Parts of a Plant

Authors of the Month: Oliver Jeffers and Doreen Cronin

Word Family: -old (bold, cold, fold, gold, hold, mold, scold, sold, told)

Wonderful Word: remarkable

Math: greater than, less than, and equal to
           how many more make 10

Religion: We Care about Others as Jesus Did

Phonics: short and long vowels

Science: describe and compare living plants

Have a great week!

Friday, April 29, 2016

April 29, 2016

Mother's Day Mass is Wednesday, May 4 at 8:15 am.  Please come to the classroom to drop off your backpack and then head over to the church to get seats.

Friday, May 6th is May Crowning at 2:00 pm.  It will be a Dress-Up Day.  Please see below for the dress code criteria from the Student Handbook.  Students can bring other shoes for recess.


"Announced Dress Up Days
Boys may wear dress pants, dress shirts, dress shoes and sweaters or vests of any color. For certain events, a tie may be required. Girls may wear dresses and skirts, no shorter than three inches above the
knee. Dress pants may also be worn. Sleeveless and spaghetti strap garments must be covered at all times. Clothes should be loose fitting
and appropriate for a Catholic School. Blouses that are low cut or too short to be tucked in are not considered appropriate. Shoes must not have to heel more than 1-1/2 inches high for safety reasons. Jeans, cargo pants, either boys or girls to any of the events that are announced as dress up days may not wear wind pants, and athletic shoes."

Tuesday, May 10th is a 2:00 Dismissal.  


Theme: Plants

Poem: My Garden

Authors of the Month: Oliver Jeffers and Doreen Cronin

Sight Words: his, as

Word Family: -ake (bake, brake, cake, fake, flake, lake, make, rake, shake, take, wake)

Tricky Vowels: oo

Wonderful Word: shriek

Religion: We Celebrate Jesus' Gift of Himself

Math: Think Math ( Starting with the answer and creating the problem)
Addition and Subtraction Fluency to 5
Greater Than, Less Than, Equal To

Writing: Fiction Stories (characters, setting, events, problem, solution)

Phonics: Magic E Words



To Practice at Home:
- Sight Words
- Counting Money
- Even/Odd Numbers
- Consonants and Vowels
- Long/Short Vowels


Have a great week!

Friday, April 22, 2016

April 22, 2016

The Mother's Day Mass is on Wednesday, May 4th at 8:15 am.  Students can invite their mother or a mother-like figure to sit with them at Mass.  Please come to the classroom to drop off their backpack and then head immediately to the Church to find a seat.


Theme: Rainforest

Poem: Three Mighty Morpho Butterflies

Author of the Month: Laura Numeroff

Sight Words: show, every

Word Family: ay

VIP: Mia

Tricky Vowel: ea

Wonderful Word: polite

Writing: fiction writing

Religion: We Pray as Jesus Did

Reading: proper nouns, when to capitalize letters

Math: addition/subtraction fluency
think math (starting with the answer and coming up with the problem)
greater than/less than


Have a great week!

Thursday, April 14, 2016

April 14, 2016

Theme: Rainforest

Author of the Month: Laura Numeroff

Poem: Three Frolicking Red Eyed Tree Frogs

Listening Center: Five Senses

Sight Words: day, too

Wonderful Word: amusing

Word Family: -ing (bring, cling, ding, fling, king, ring, sing, sling, spring, sting, string, swing, thing, wing)

VIP: Gretta

Math: 2D and 3D shape review
          counting money
         addition and subtraction facts

Religion: We Belong to the Church

Word Work: beginning and ending sounds

Reading: antonyms

Writing: How to Write a Letter

Science: Earth Day

Social Studies: maps and globes



Have a great week!

Friday, April 1, 2016

April 1, 2016

There are a few more spots to sign up to bring in our cooking supplies.  Thank you to the many families who have donated throughout the year.
Click Here to Sign-Up

Students as Teachers presentations start the Wednesday after Spring Break.  The schedule is below.  Please let me know if you have any questions!


Wednesday 4/13/16
Dawson
Luke
Thursday 4/14/16
Sophia
Lucas
Friday 4/15/16
Daniel
Gabe
Monday 4/18/16
Blayke
Lila
Tuesday 4/19/16
Gretta
Emerson
Wednesday 4/20/16
Adeline
Katie-Rose
Thursday 4/21/16
Izzy
Ivey
Friday 4/22/14
Julia
Noah
Monday 4/25/16
Amelia
Lily
Tuesday 4/26/16
Cooper
Mia
Wednesday 4/27/16
Carlo
Charlie
Thursday 4/28/16
Caden



























Theme: Rainforest

Sight Words: take, our

VIP: Izzy

Letter: qu

Poem: Colors of the Rainforest

Author of the Month: Laura Numeroff

Listening Center: Quentin's Duck

Tricky Vowel: or

Word Family: -ack (back, black, crack, jack, lack, pack, quack, rack, sack, shack, smack, snack, stack, tack, track)

Wonderful Word: tremble

Writing Prompt: Tell me what you did over Spring Break.

Religion: We Belong to the Church

Math: fact families
2D/3D shape review
model shapes in the world by composing shapes
decomposing numbers
money

Reading: syllables
multiple meaning words
pronouns


To Work on over Spring Break:
- reading
- writing
- sight words
- practice Students as Teachers presentation
- letter/number formation (working top to bottom, left to right)
- even/odd numbers
-counting money
- fact families
3+4= 7
4+3= 7
7-3= 4
7-4=3


Have a wonderful Spring Break!


Tuesday, March 29, 2016

March 28, 2016

Remember that Friday is our Community Helpers Dress-Up Day!  It is also a 2:00 Dismissal.

We started a new positive reinforcement system last week using ClassDojo.  Students and tables try to earn points by doing the right thing.  The student and the table with the most points at the end of the week earns something from the treasure box.  We are still using our sticker charts, behavior calendar in folders, yellow cards, and earning baseballs for compliments.


Our Students as Teachers project begins on Wednesday, April 13.  Below is the schedule for the presentations.  Please let me know if you have any questions.


Wednesday 4/13/16
Dawson
Luke
Thursday 4/14/16
Sophia
Lucas
Friday 4/15/16
Daniel
Gabe
Monday 4/18/16
Blayke
Lila
Tuesday 4/19/16
Gretta
Emerson
Wednesday 4/20/16
Adeline
Katie-Rose
Thursday 4/21/16
Izzy
Ivey
Friday 4/22/14
Julia
Noah
Monday 4/25/16
Amelia
Lily
Tuesday 4/26/16
Cooper
Mia
Wednesday 4/27/16
Carlo
Charlie
Thursday 4/28/16
Caden



























Theme: Community Helpers

Sight Word: put, off

Letter: z

Poem: In My Community

Author of the Month: Dr. Seuss

Listening Center: Zip-a-dee-do-da

Tricky Vowel: ar

VIP: Charlie

Word Family: -ar (bar, car, char, far, jar, par, scar, star, tar)

Reading: middle sounds

Math: fact families
          writing equations
          word problems


Have a good week!