Kindergarten Music Program- TONIGHT!

Reminder that our our Music Program is TONIGHT!

Students MUST be in our classroom by 6:15 PM.  Parents and guests will go to the gym and wait for the performance to begin.

Please be sure that your child is dressed appropriately for tonight's performance.

(Nice clothing, no jeans)

See you this evening!

Newsletter-Our Week In Review

May 29, 2014

 Dear Families,

            This week during guided reading the theme was Let’s Count Down.  Students had a chance to hear the book Turtle Splash!   In this story, students had a chance to practice the skill of rereading for comprehension.   One way that students did this was to identify the setting of the story.   Following up with the story, students were asked to think of some animals that one might find living in a pond.  The students thought of turtles, frogs, ducks, deer, squirrels, and much more!

Also during our guided reading time, the students were reviewing the sounds Jj, Qq, Yy, and Zz.  Students were asked to identify the beginning sounds of words using these letters.  Kindergartners also were reviewing the words with, my me, and where.  Please be sure to practice these sight words with your child as well as the other sight words.  We continue to practice these words as well!

In math students are working on missing number problems.  In missing number problems, students had to figure out how many objects were added or subtracted from a pocket.  For example students started out with 4 objects and when their eyes were closed two objects were added.  When the pocket was dumped out, the class counted all of the objects.  They needed to tell if we added objects or took objects away.  We also asked how they figured the problem out.  It is so important for kindergartners to practice explaining how they figured out a problem.

REMINDERS:

• Tonight is the Kindergarten Music Program!  Please be sure your child is in their classroom by 6:15pm.  The show will start at 6:30pm.  Your child should wear nice clothes (no jeans) that evening.
• Tomorrow is Lunch on the Lawn.  ALL students need to have a bag lunch (cold) tomorrow.  Families are invited to spend lunch with us.  Please feel free to bring a blanket to sit on. 
• For Arts and Interest Day students will also need a cold bag lunch.  If you would like to order one, please visit the main office.

Thank You for all of your support!

The Kindergarten Teachers

Pictures from our fiesta

Thank you to all the families that supplied items for our fiesta. It was all possible because of you!!

Time Match Memory

Today we practiced matching times. We had to match the digital times to the analog times. It was a fun to practice telling time. 

Oops! Spoke too soon!

No special project today!  I made a mistake on the dates.  I will be sure to let you know when it will be happening!

Special Project Tomorrow

Our high school helper, Miss Brittney and her mom will be coming to school tomorrow to be making a special project with us.  These special projects will be in glass jars.  Please be careful transporting them tomorrow!

Kindergarten Music Program

Our kindergarten program is on Thursday, May 29th.  

Please be sure that your child is in our classroom by 6:15pm.  The show starts at 6:30pm

Please be sure that your child is dressed nicely that evening!

See you there!

Lunch on the Lawn & Arts and Interest Day Lunches

There will be special lunches on Friday, May 30th and on Thursday, June 5th.

Lunch on the Lawn: May 30th: Families are welcome to come and eat lunch with their child.  All students need to bring a COLD bag lunch that day.  If you would like, you are able to order a bag lunch.  Please stop in the office TODAY if you would like to do this.

Arts & Interests Day: Thursday, June 5th: Students will be eating in the classroom.  All students need to bring a COLD bag lunch that day.  You are able to order a bag lunch if you need to.  Please stop in the office ASAP if you would like to do this.

Any questions?  Please contact the school office.

Fiesta help still needed!

We will be celebrating the end of our Mexico unit next week Wednesday.  In order of have a fun party, we need your help.  If you are able to contribute to our fiesta, please click on the VolunteerSpot link

**We are still in need of some families to donate a jar of mild salsa, cut fruit, and vegetables**

Muchas gracias!

We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming activity.

Please sign up for Fiesta! - here's how it works in 3 easy steps:

   1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/9Z8iob
   2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot) 
   3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

Newsletter- Our Week In Review

May 22, 2014

 Dear Families,

          This week during guided reading the theme was Art All Around.  Students had a chance to hear the book Warthogs Paint: A Messy Color Book!.  In this story, students had a chance to practice the skill of rereading for comprehension.   One way that students did this was to identify the cause and effect of the story.

Also during our guided reading time, the students were working on the sounds y and z.  Students were asked to identify the beginning sounds of words using these letters.  Kindergartners also were introduced to the sight words me and where.  Please be sure to practice these sight words with your child as well as the other sight words.  We continue to practice these words as well.

In math students continued to look at the clock.  Students were asked to identify the parts of the clock; face, minute hand, and hour hand.  The children also had the chance to practice telling time to the hour by playing a time matching game.  Students needed to match the analog time with the digital time.  Please practice telling time to the hour with your child. 

This week we continued our travels to Mexico.  Students had the opportunity to create some Mexican sombreros.  They used their math patterning skills to put beautiful patterns on their sombrero.  Students also wrote postcards home about their travels. 

REMINDER!!     

IMPORTANT DATESCOMING UP:

Thursday, May 29th- Kindergarten Music Program: Mrs. Plaster is looking for some volunteers to help set up.  Please contact Mrs. Plaster if you are interested.

Various Dates: Our Mexican Fiesta!  Please check with your homeroom

teacher for more information.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Kindergarten Teachers

Fiesta!

We will be celebrating the end of our Mexico unit next week Wednesday.  In order of have a fun party, we need your help.  If you are able to contribute to our fiesta, please click on the VolunteerSpot link

Muchas gracias!

We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming activity.

Please sign up for Fiesta! - here's how it works in 3 easy steps:

   1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/9Z8iob
   2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot) 
   3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

Blogs updated- How To Stories

Our blogs have been updated!  Please be sure to check them out!  We wrote our "How To Stories"  Be sure to notice the transition words like first, next, then, and last.  We are very proud of these stories!
Please be sure to leave a comment!  We love to hear from you.

http://kidblog.org/MrsRockysClass2013-2014/

Book Orders due TOMORROW

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: HFYK6

Dear Families,

Good news! This month's Scholastic Reading Club flyers are ready for you to explore with your child. Children read more when they choose their own books, so I encourage you to look at the flyers together. Each flyer is filled with grade-specific, affordable titles and Storia® eBooks.

Place your order online at scholastic.com/readingclub or return the order form and payment to me. Ordering online is the easiest way to ensure I get your order on time. Also, there are more books to choose from as well as teacher recommendations.

Remember, for every book you order, our class earns FREE Books and supplies...and we have our eye on some new additions.

This will be the LAST Scholastic Book order for our kindergarten school year.  Now would be a good time to stock up on some good books for the summer!

Thank you for your support!
Take care,
Mrs. Rocky


PS: Books make wonderful gifts! Please let me know if your order includes a gift, and I will contact you when it arrives.


Ordering online is fast and easy:

 VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
 ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (top of this letter)
 SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books, value packs, and Storia eBooks
 SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
 All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

Make a dollar game

In math today we played make a dollar game. We had to roll a special dice that had pennies and dimes on it. When we rolled a penny, we had to take a penny. When we rolled a dime we had to take a dime. If we got ten pennies we could change it into a dime. When we had ten dimes we could make a dollar. It was a lot of fun exchanging money and playing with our friends. 

Book Orders and Payment due Thursday!

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: HFYK6

Dear Families,

Good news! This month's Scholastic Reading Club flyers are ready for you to explore with your child. Children read more when they choose their own books, so I encourage you to look at the flyers together. Each flyer is filled with grade-specific, affordable titles and Storia® eBooks.

Place your order online at scholastic.com/readingclub or return the order form and payment to me. Ordering online is the easiest way to ensure I get your order on time. Also, there are more books to choose from as well as teacher recommendations.

Remember, for every book you order, our class earns FREE Books and supplies...and we have our eye on some new additions.

This will be the LAST Scholastic Book order for our kindergarten school year.  Now would be a good time to stock up on some good books for the summer!

Thank you for your support!
Take care,
Mrs. Rocky


PS: Books make wonderful gifts! Please let me know if your order includes a gift, and I will contact you when it arrives.


Ordering online is fast and easy:

 VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
 ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (top of this letter)
 SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books, value packs, and Storia eBooks
 SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
 All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

Field Trip!

We're going on our field trip tomorrow! 

Please be sure that your child is ON TIME to school tomorrow.  

We will be outside- rain or shine- all morning.  

Please be sure that your child is dressed for the weather. It might be a little muddy outside because of rain.  Please have your child wear old shoes (and bring their regular ones) or wear rain boots.  

Extra socks might be a good idea too!

Please remind your child about proper field trip behavior.

Sitting on the bus.

Listening to the grown ups that are with us (Thank you to Meri's mom and Maria's mom for coming with us!)

Listening to the teachers at Riveredge

Sticking with the group.

Raising hands when we have something to say.

I know it is going to be a GREAT morning! 

Last Book Orders for Kindergarten!

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: HFYK6

Dear Families,

Good news! This month's Scholastic Reading Club flyers are ready for you to explore with your child. Children read more when they choose their own books, so I encourage you to look at the flyers together. Each flyer is filled with grade-specific, affordable titles and Storia® eBooks.

Place your order online at scholastic.com/readingclub or return the order form and payment to me. Ordering online is the easiest way to ensure I get your order on time. Also, there are more books to choose from as well as teacher recommendations.

Remember, for every book you order, our class earns FREE Books and supplies...and we have our eye on some new additions.

This will be the LAST Scholastic Book order for our kindergarten school year.  Now would be a good time to stock up on some good books for the summer!

Thank you for your support!
Take care,
Mrs. Rocky


PS: Books make wonderful gifts! Please let me know if your order includes a gift, and I will contact you when it arrives.


Ordering online is fast and easy:

 VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
 ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (top of this letter)
 SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books, value packs, and Storia eBooks
 SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
 All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

MAPS Testing Monday

Families,
We will be taking our last part of our MAPS test on Monday.  Please be sure that your child is well rested, had a yummy breakfast, and is here at school on time.
Thanks so much for your support!

Take care,
Mrs. Rocky

Club Laces

Club Laces is still looking for new members!  We would LOVE to have 100% membership to our shoe tying club.  We only need 7 more friends!  Continue to practice tying shoes with your child.

Writing our first and last names

Does your child know how to write their first AND last names?  This is a requirement for the fourth quarter of kindergarten.  We have been practicing at school.  Please be sure that your child knows how to do this on their own.  Make sure that your child has correct uppercase and lowercase letters.  Thanks so much for your support!

MAPS testing tomorrow

Tomorrow is our MAPS testing for math.  We will be going right away at 9:00 AM.  Please be sure that your child is well rested, has had a yummy breakfast, and is here at school on time.

Thank you for your help!

Thank You!

Thank you all once again for contributing to the class gift during Teacher Appreciation Week.  I love the scrapbook with all the children's pictures and drawings.  What a great memory!

Thank you too for the very generous gift card to Amazon!  I'm excited to do some shopping.

I am very lucky to be working with such supportive and caring families!

Newsletter- Our Week In Review

May 15, 2014

 Dear Families,

This week during guided reading the theme was Show What you Know.  The students listened to the story What Do You Know!   In this story students were asked to use the illustrations to help them understand what is happening in the story.  In this story there were lots of silly riddles and questions to answer.  Ask your kindergartner what they liked about this book!

Also during our guided reading time, the students worked with the sounds of j and q.  Students were asked to identify the beginning sounds of words using these letters.  As a class, we also reviewed the star words, she, he, has, and look.  Please continue to practice your child’s kindergarten sight words at home!   Our goal is for every kindergartner to know all 54 star words.  We know they can do it!

In math, students have been looking at function machines.  There is an in, and out, and rule features on each machine.  When a number goes in the machine something happens to it and a new number comes out of the machine.  The rule tells what will happen to each in number.  For example if the rule is Add 1, and the number 2 goes in, what number will come out?  The students have loved figuring these out!

During science the students continue to work on plants.  Students are learning what plants need to survive and the parts of the plant.  Students continue to work in their science journals to show what they have learned.

REMINDERS:

* Our Kindergarten Music program in on May 29^th in the evening.  More details to come!

* We will be having fiestas in Kindergarten to celebrate our Mexico Unit.  More details to come!

* The kindergartners will be going to Riveredge.  Mrs. Rocky’s class will be going on May 20th.  Mrs. Delzell’s and Mrs. Hartling’s class will be going ton May 22nd.  Please be sure your child is wearing appropriate clothing for the day. 

* Please be sure that you are packing a snack for your child.  Many children are coming to school without a snack.

 

Thank you all for your continued support!

The Kindergarten Teachers

Charlotte's Web Video

We just finished reading the chapter book Charlotte's Web before rest time.  I was hoping to show the movie (little by little each day) to the students before rest time.  I do not have a copy of the video.  Does any family have a copy of it that we could use?  If you do, will you please contact me?

Thanks so much for all of your help!

Thank You!

Thank you for my beautiful scrapbook!  I love it!  What a great memory of my 2013-2014 Kindergarten Class.  I love all the children's personal messages, pictures, and drawings.

A BIG thank you to Ava's mom and Phoebe's mom for putting that together for me.

I am also very thankful for the wonderful gift card.  What a very generous amount.  I am very lucky to work with amazing and thoughtful families.

Have a wonderful weekend!  Have a great Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

Newsletter- Our Week In Review

May 8, 2013

 Dear Families,

            As usual, our kindergartners have been very busy this week!  It is never a dull moment in kindergarten!

            This week during guided reading the theme was Animals Now and Then.  Students had a chance to hear the book If Dinosaurs Came Back.  In this story, students had a chance to distinguish between fantasy and reality.  The children really seemed to like seeing what it would be like if dinosaurs came back to life and how they could help us out.

Also during our guided reading time, the students reviewed the sounds x, g, v, and w.  Students were asked to identify the beginning or ending sounds of words using these letters.  Kindergartners also reviewed the vowel sounds e, i, and o.  They were able to write many three letter words using these vowels!  J As a class, we also reviewed the star words, she, he, has, and look.  Please continue to practice your child’s kindergarten sight words at home!

In math, students have started to look at the clock.  We are working at telling time to the hour in kindergarten.  A great book to read with your child is

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle.  It tells a story using the hours of a clock.

The students have also been working on money identification.  Please review the coins and their amounts with your child.

Thank you so much to all the families for making Teacher Appreciation Week so wonderful.  We all feel very loved.

REMINDERS:

There is MAPS testing this week.  Please be sure your child has a good night’s sleep and a great breakfast!

 

Thank you all for your continued support!

The Kindergarten Teachers

Read to Succeed Tickets

For those families that participated in Six Flags Read to Succeed, the tickets have arrived!  

The certificates and tickets will be in your child's green folder.  

Congratulations to all the children that took on this challenge!

Enjoy your free ticket to Six Flags!

Permission Slips

Did you turn in your child's permission slip for Riveredge yet?  These were due TODAY, Monday, May 5th. There is no cost for this field trip.  Please be sure to turn it in as soon as you can.  Thank you!

Wow!

What a beautiful surprise I found this morning! A beautifully decorated door from some of my most favorite people.

Little birdies told me that I should thank Jacob's mom, Phoebe's mom, and Ava's mom for putting it all together. If there is anyone I missed, I am so sorry! Please let me know so I can thank you!

Please feel free to come and take a look at my awesome door. I love it!

Thanks again for making me feel loved. 

Kindergarten Yahtzee!

We played Yahtzee today during math. We used two kinds of dice. One dice had numbers and the other had dots. We had to say the number and then count on with the dots. This was a way to practice our adding. It was a lot of fun!

Change in plans?

If you are sending a note to school with change in your child's going home plans please include the following things:

1. Your child's first and last name
2. Your child's teacher's name.  

This helps the office keep everything organized!  
Thanks so much!

Hat Day Tomorrow!

It is hat day tomorrow!

Bring a $1 to donate to the Wounded Warrior Project and wear a hat to school tomorrow!

Let's show that Thorson Cares!

Newsletter- Our Week In Review

Dear Families,
Happy May Day everyone!  Hopefully we will start to see some beautiful flowers start to bloom!

This week, all three kindergarten classes were involved in PALS testing.  This state mandated test provides us valuable information on your child’s phonological skills.

During Guided Reading this week, students have been working on the letters Xx and Vv.  They have been identifying words that begin with them and being able to make words wit them.  Students were also working on the Star Words has and look.  Be sure to continue working on Star Words with your student as we continue to assess them.

Also during Guided Reading, students had the opportunity to listen to the big book Fish Faces.  With this book the students were practicing the skill of Asking Questions while focusing on the skill of comparing and contrasting.  Ask your kindergartner what their favorite fish looked like!

The kindergartners are continuing to work on number identification, adding, and subtracting during math time.  Students have also had the chance to play a number of games with the dice in order to compare numbers.  Please continue to work on proper number formation with your child.

At Science, students are learning about plants.  We have discussed how plants are alike and how plants are different.  Students have also have learned what plants need to grow.  Ask your kindergartner what these are!  Take a walk with your child or even plant some seeds to extend the learning at home!


REMINDERS:
• Please remember that tomorrow; Friday, May 2nd is a half day.  Please be sure your child has plans at the end of the day!
• MAPS testing will be starting next week.  Please be sure that your child is here at school on these days.  Check with your child’s teacher on which days your child will be testing.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us!

Take care,
The Kindergarten Teachers