Newsletter 8 2016-17
Important Dates
Friday, April 21 – Miner’s Mile (wear running shoes and outdoor weather gear)
Thursday, April 27 – Kinder Fine Arts Night (Vogl/Bruening 6:00, Rowe/Blankenship/Coppola 7:00)
Thursday, May 4 – Kinder field trip to Brenton Arboretum
Monday, May 22 – End of the Year Celebration 2:30-3:30 in the classroom Parents and Grandparents invited for our special presentation
Friday, May 26 – Last Day of School for students (kinders have field day in the morning, Mr. Monroe may need volunteers – you can contact him directly if you’d like to help I would like to have students until the end of the day so I can have one last special moment with them.
Many of you are beginning to make summer plans for academics.
Here are a few ideas to keep the learning alive so you don’t fall
into the “summer slide”
- Scholastic is a great resource. Here is the parent link:
And here is our classroom Reading Club: Our class code: L8L44
You can always order from our classroom reading club even when you’re in older grades – as long as your child is at Shuler, even over the summer, I’ll connect your books to your family when they arrive!
Click here to see a Scholastic offer for summer activities between Kindergarten and 1st grade.
And click here to see a Scholastic offer for summer activities between 1st and 2nd grade.
This is a teacher offer (couldn’t find a copy through the scholastic parent website) so if you’d like a copy, please send $8.74 (8.24 + .50 tax) in an envelope with cash or check made out to scholastic and I will order it for you. Offer is only available through April 20th.
- Easy Reader section of any public library! If you devote 30 min to an hour at your public library and allow your student to choose books from the Easy Reader section for books they can read on their own, and books from any other fiction or nonfiction section in the children’s area for you to read to them, you have done a wonderful thing to increase your child’s future in education! The key I’ve found is to allow freedom to choose their own books based on their own interest. You won’t be disappointed!!!
- Let me know after May 26th if you’d like your student’s FontasPinnell guided reading level and you can use these websites to find books that fit their reading brain. Remember, guided reading levels are just a guideline, not a one-size-fits-all. Many of the books for a level can vary, so don’t lock your student into a reading level, but expand their confidence by allowing them the freedom to try lower or higher reading leveled books.
- A to Z Reading and A to Z Writing is an awesome website. It does have a $99 membership fee but some parents have utilized its resources enough to compensate all the fabulous books and activities it provides. Other families have worked together to purchase one membership and share the resources. Kindergarteners ALWAYS need extra writing activities, especially in the summer months! Any time you can get them writing for fun is going to make 1st grade that much easier on their little brains and small motor skills when September rolls around!
- Plan a time after school to come see me directly before the year ends and I can help with any other resources specific to your student’s needs!
I’m caught up adding all the pictures from our classroom adventures! Here’s the link again:
Password is: Kindergarten (capitalize the K)
Here’s my favorite one…especially if you were here for last Friday’s Zoo Day this would make lots of sense because after lunch this is what happened!
A message from Mrs. Dyer, Shuler Guidance Counselor:
At the end of April, I will be teaching a safety unit in guidance classes. It will focus onsummer safety, personal safety, and the importance of keeping our bodies safe. The unit will teach students about good touch/bad touch and what to do if a bad touch happens. Thishas been proven to be the best way to prevent unhealthy touches from happening or from reoccurring.
In grades K-2, I will read the book Your Body Belongs to You by Cornelia Spelman. The
book was written using a simple message that a child’s body is his or her own. Some of
the topics covered in the book are as follows.
● definition of good touch and bad touch
● appropriate ways to decline touch - whether the touch is friendly or not
● the importance of talking to a trusted adult if feeling unsure or unsafe
Please feel free to contact me with any questions at 515‐987-8597 (ext. 2170) or
.
Thank you,
Mrs. Dyer
Professional Administrator’s Day (School Secretary’s Day) is coming up on April 26th ! Shuler has a “new” school secretary, Julie Petsche. It would be fantastic to show her some love and appreciation in the same way she has taken care of Shuler this year!!! Julie doesn’t ever need much – a hug and smile go a long way with her.
Let me know how I can make the Daily News Report more helpful! I had a suggestion to put a note in the subject line if something was due or needed to be returned so I’ve added that! If I can help in any way, let me know!