Room 114 Kindergarten Newsletter
November 26– November 30, 2012
Hello Parents,
Thank you all for attending our parent conferences, it was great to meet with each of you to comment on progress your child has made so far this year in kindergarten! We have one more day to go. Report cards for each student were sent home earlier this week,, 11/28, the copy is for you to keep for your records, If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to follow up.
A couple of reminders:
· Supply Request . . . if you please, for Chlorox wipes and Ziploc sandwich or quart size freezer bags
· Each child has a “TIGER folder, it should go back and forth to school daily.
· Kindergarten Homework is due back to school the Friday of the week it comes home. (there was no homework this week)
· Library Books are due in - Day 2, Monday, 12/3
· November PTA newsletter is available on line for your reading pleasure; reference your TIGER folder for computer website access.
· Room 114 Kindergarten Website for Mrs. Gilyard is on line, check for the current edition of our newsletter and scrapbook updates; reference your TIGER folder for computer website access.
Class Meeting
This week the kindergarten classes met a as whole group for a special grade class meeting with Trooper Mancini and Trooper Bloom from the state troopers barracks in Endwell. We learned how the state troopers and police officers help us in bullying situations as well as emergencies; we even learned about how you can become a police officer.
Language Arts
During our Language Block, our reading buddies from Mrs. Ciotoli’s class visited; they helped us with a bag of mini books , reading and reviewing our snap words. Reread these mini books at home to practice fluency and 1:1 correspondence. We read several books, fiction and non- fiction related to apples. We learned how to write a recipe for applesauce as well as sequenced events to practice our positional concepts and order of a story. We read Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo La Sieg and wrote pairs of words to rhyme with top, stop and drop along with a list of others. Ask your child about the nonsense rhymes and where they saw their animals.
In Writers Workshop we are reviewing storytelling. Storytelling is a base skill for writing, encourage your child to speak and tell stories about their day at school as well as their family experiences.
We continue to practice our independent work skills and review a variety of literacy concepts during our Reading Workshop time block. Thank you volunteers for your assistance this week. Our volunteer’s for the upcoming weeks will be:
· Monday, December 3 , 9:30 – 10:30 – Amanda Nelson
· Tuesday, December4 , 9:30– 10:30 – Tiffany Ferrell
· Wednesday, December 5, 9:30– 10:30 – Kathy Marecek
· Thursday December 6, 1:30 – 3:15 - Christine Rutter
· Friday, December 7, 9:30 – 10:30 – Amy Hitchcock.
· Monday, December 10, 9:30 – 10:30 – Amanda Nelson
· Tuesday, December11 , 9:30– 10:30 – Tiffany Ferrell
· Wednesday, December 12, 9:30– 10:30 – Kathy Marecek
· Thursday December 13, 9:30 – 10:30 - Christine Rutter
· Friday, December 14, 1:30 – 3:15– Amy Hitchcock.
***note time change; in addition, any parent wanting to assist with work stations on 12/6 and 12/14 is welcomed for a special work station theme for the afternoon.
Math
This week we reviewed patterns, 1:1 correspondence, counting and number recognition with a variety of Math games, within our work stations as well as through literacy; we read Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo La Sieg, following up by ordering our own set of ten apples up on top of our heads. We had an apple taste test for a fresh snack option this week and graphed the class “favorites”; ask your child about their favorite and what happened on our class graph of apple favorites.
In addition, we met with Mrs. Lowe’s first grade class to learn about story boards and telling of story problems in math, We even learned about math sentences! The first graders visited our class later in the week to see if they were successful in their teaching.
Science
Our classroom is participating in the BU Science program, on a weekly basis; students from the Bio Engineering program visit our class with a special lesson to enhance our current Science series. We made tree ornaments from wood as a special lesson for the holiday. We also experimented with different types of wood and discussed where wood and paper come from.
Upcoming Events:
· Parent Conferences –December 3; you have received reminder notices as to your reserved date and time. Please return the confirmation portion to school ASAP.
· Tuesday, December 4th – Picture Retakes
· Thursday, December 6th. 1:30 – 3:15 parents are welcomed to join us for Reindeer Day; don’t forget your antlers!
· Friday. December 14th, 1:30 – 3:15 parents are welcomed for Polar Express Day, wear your favorite pajamas.
Words of Wisdom: Your family is your treasure.
Lynn Gilyard Donna Williams
Classroom Teacher Paraprofessional
Donna Spak Sue Megelick
DCTS Teacher Paraprofessional