Kindergarten News-February 2010

Letter People
We need to catch you up on the letter people that have come to kindergarten in 2010!
We began the New Year with Miss Y, who has a Yodeling Yawn. The children learned about the months of the year. We wrote goals each of us would like to accomplish this year.

Miss E came last week. She has Exercise Energy. Our favorite activity of the week was reading Green Eggs and Ham. We decided to make green eggs and ham for the taste test. Everyone got to crack an egg. They did a great job of keeping the shells out of the bowl. They couldn’t believe that they were going to eat green eggs and ham! They loved them!!!!

This is review week. Please review with your child the letters, sounds and think of a couple of words that begin with the sound.  MTFAHIPNSDBYE

100 Day Party Update
The children are getting very excited aboutthe 100 Day Party. We have been counting to 100 by ones, fives, and tens. The goal is for all kindergartners to be counting to 100 by the 100th day. Ask your child to count for you. They are awesome! We hope you are working on the 100 Day shirts or getting your plan ready for the weekend. It is so much fun to see all of the different shirts! Remember to send your 100 piece snack and a tube of lipstick on the 100th Day. The children will be getting milk from their lunch accounts on that day – for your record. Thanks! The 100th day now will be on Tuesday, Feb. 9th.

Book Orders Due on 0r before Friday, January 29th. Please make all checks payable to the book companies.

Report Card envelopes need to be signed and sent back next week.

Kindergarten News
Letter People
We have been having fun with the letter people in school. We have two new friends – Mr. D with a Dazzling Dance and Miss S with Super Socks. Please continue to talk about letters and sounds over the holidays. During down time or when traveling from place to place have your child practice printing the letters, draw pictures that start with the letters, or write a book about the letter person that is their favorite.
Math
The boys and girls are working on number recognition and counting to 100. We have just finished the chapter on number concepts 0 – 5. During the holiday break please continue to practice these math skills – counting, graphing, patterning and number concepts.

Winter Wear
Please remember to always send your child prepared to go outside. That means a warm coat, snow pants, boots, hat, and mittens. Yes, mittens! Mittens are much warmer than gloves and much much easier for a Kindergartner to get on. It is also nice if they are waterproof. It is a good idea to have extra socks and mittens in your child’s book bag in case they get wet. Shoes need to be sent everyday. We go out to play unless it is below zero!

Please keep practicing tying shoes with the new shoe experts and those who are not quite there yet. It would be a great way to start the new year with all Kindergartners tying shoes!

Christmas Program
I hope you enjoyed the program. The children looked and sang like angels. They have been working so hard to learn the songs they performed for you. On that note, have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Kindergarten News
Letter People
Miss T came to kindergarten with trains and toys.  She has tall teeth.  We did many T things but our favorite was having Teddy Bear Day.  It was fun to share the school day with our Teddy Bears.  Last week, Mr. I showed up in the closet!  We had a special visitor, Mr. Eaker who shared his love of Indian things.  He had some really cool stuff. This week Mr. B arrived in the library looking at books, one of his favorite things.  We are working on the B sound through one of our favorite books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

Math
We just finished up the Chapter on patterns and are starting the chapter on number concepts 0-5.  This should be a very easy chapter for us.  We have been making many different graphs about turkeys, Teddy Grahams and about hot dogs/hamburgers.  Please be counting daily with your child.  We count daily the number of school days and we are in the 50’s this week.  So, your child should be at least counting in the 50s!

Poetry Binders
Poetry Binders will be coming home over the Thanksgiving Break.  Please have your child share the new songs and poems with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and special friends over the holiday. Please return the Poetry Binders the first week in December.

Bingo Box Toys
Every week we play Bingo and the prizes for the winners are recycled Happy Meal toys or other little trinkets.  We are are running low and thought you might be cleaning house before the new supply of toys come here at Christmas time.  If you would like to donate any little toys please drop off them in the office and don’t mention it to your child.

***Book It is due at the end of the month!***
*Please check out the Northside Kindergarten blog at: gcsdblog.org! **

Happy Thanksgiving!

Letter People
The boys and girls have been working hard on learning about the letter person Mr. H.  He has happy hair!  Please ask your child to tell you why Mr. H will never ever go to the hair cutting shop.  This week Mr. N arrived in the Nurse’s Office.  He has a very Noisy Nose and has had to learn when to be noisy and quiet.  We had to teach him about inside voices.
Math
We are working on patterns.  There are many parts of a pattern we want the children to be able to see, recognize and continue.  The pattern chunk is sometimes the hardest for kindergartners to find.  You can help by showing them patterns in the environment, on clothing and in print.

Poetry Binders
We hope you enjoyed hearing all of the songs and poems we have learned in the first 35 days of Kindergarten.  WE love singing or saying the poems everyday.  We hope you saw that your child has improved on coloring and controlling the crayon.  The children also highlighted the letters we were working on when they learned that song or poem.  If you have not returned the Poetry Binder back to school please do so by next week.

Parent/ Teacher Conferences
We loved having time to speak to you about your child.  We wished there would have been more time to talk and share.  If you did not meet with the teacher please call to set up a time to discuss your child’s progress in Kindergarten.  The boys and girls are really growing into super kindergartners.
Book Orders
Stapled on the back of the newsletter is a couple of book orders.  If you choose to order, please write one check to Scholastic Book Clubs, send it in to school in an envelope with the order form by Nov. 4.  If you would like the books for Christmas gifts please note on the order form and we will give you a call to pick up your books.

REPORT CARDS
Your child will be bringing home their first Report Card on Friday.  This is their progress for the first quarter of school.  Please sign the envelope and send it back to school on Monday.  You may keep the Report Card!

Things to be taking notice of are:
-Printing name correctly – just first name
-Letters and Sounds – Did your child know the letters/sounds of the letters introduced?  Mm Aa Ff  Pp Hh, Nn and Tt.
-Has your child turned in the Home Activities and Book-It forms?
-Life Skills -  Everyone was marked at grade level even if they could not tie shoes.  Next quarter  it will be marked as below grade level.  So, get busy!
-Social Development/Work Habits – the bar is always going up in that area!  We expect children to be growing in that area especially in the area of controlling talking and disruptive behaviors.
- Many of you have asked about what you should be looking for in beginning reading books.  Save all of the little books coming home from school such as the My ? Book, the books from the Let’s Find Out magazines and books made from a unit of study such as the Bug Color Book. Keep these books in a special place such as a shoe box or a desk drawer.  These books can be used for many different reasons: letter recognition, pointing to words left to right, punctuation, sight words and beginning reading.  Yes, these books are very easy and repetitive.  That is what a good beginning reading book looks like!  These books will help build your child’s confidence as a beginning reader and they are free!
****Start working on phone numbers!

Happy Halloween!