Kindergarten News
September 20-24, 2010

Weekly Theme:

Friendship/Feelings/Autumn

Early Literacy Idea
Help your child understand how books work. (Concepts of print) As you read, point to words to show left to right, spaces between words, and the word patterns.

SEPTEMBER

We are excited for our Field Trip on Monday! We will travel to Wood’s Ranch to look for signs of Autumn, which goes along with our theme for this week. Please send a sack lunch and have your child wear good walking shoes.

Last week we talked about the letters E and F. Your child should be able to recognize them, tell you the sounds they make and write them correctly. We also learned the sight word can. This week we will work on the letters G and H and learn the sight words like and look. We have also been working very hard on forming the numbers correctly. Thanks again for your help and encouragement at home.

There is an exciting free opportunity for all children in our community on Friday and Saturday. Keve Wilson, a touring artist and Broadway musician living in New York City will be presenting music demonstrations and discussions for families (kids get to try out the instruments). These events are very relaxed, enjoyable and kid friendly. Friday at 3:30 is a master class and a question and answer session. Saturday at 10:30--“Music Unwrapped”; 2:30--Open Rehearsal and 7:30--concert. All events are in the Thorley Recital Hall.

As always, please feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions or concerns!

linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850

Kindergarten News
September 13-17, 2010

Weekly Theme:

Friendship/Feelings/Autumn

Names
I would love it if you could help me reinforce the fact that our names (with one or two exceptions) start with a capital and all the rest of the letters are lowercase. If your child is used to using all capitals, this is a hard habit to break, but I know if we work together we can do it!

SEPTEMBER

We are making great progress in kindergarten! Thank you for your support at home. We are focusing on alphabet letters at this time. Your child should recognize all 26 letters—both capital and lower case by the middle of November. In addition, he/she should be able to write them correctly. I appreciate you taking the time to reinforce how to form the letters correctly on the homework assignments. Parent involvement is such an important part of their success, so thanks again for making sure their homework is complete and reading to them on a daily basis. Just 15 minutes a day can make a huge difference! We have learned the sight words me, see, I. We have started working on numerals 0-10.

The “three books in a bag” come home today. These are the books that your child will read to you (with help if needed, of course)! Please keep them at home for the entire week and send them back the following Monday. I have not had a chance to listen to those students who are already reading, so don’t be alarmed if your child brings home books that are not on his/her level. I will get that done as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding!

As always, please feel free to call or e-mail me with any questions or concerns!

linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850

Kindergarten News
September 6-10, 2010

Weekly Theme:
“All About Me”/Self-Esteem

Save your Box Tops!
Please remember to send in box tops with your child. Each box top is worth 10 cents for our school, so tell your relatives and friends to help with the collecting too! Help our class earn a reward by bringing the box tops in.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

We had a great first week of school! We have worked hard on establishing a routine and effective classroom management skills so optimal learning will occur with each child. Let me explain how our classroom management works. If a student is disrupting the rest of the class and needs a reminder of the rules, he/she gets a clothespin on the green stop light at the front of our room. This is just a reminder. If he/she needs two reminders, the clothespin goes to yellow and five minutes of recess is missed. If three reminders are needed, he/she sits on the “thinking chair” in my office, away from the other children. After a few minutes, I visit with him/her and ask if they are ready to join the class. If the problem persists, he/she will visit Mr. Oldroyd and it will be determined if the Skills Building program is needed. Your child will bring a paper home for you to sign if he/she was on the yellow or red stoplight. You will also receive a phone call from me if your child was on red so we can discuss how we can work together to improve your child’s behavior.

This week we have practiced the correct way to write the letters A and B and what sounds they make and have worked on many educational activities. Please continue to reinforce having your child write their name using a capital for the first letter and all the rest lower case. Thank you!

linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850

Kindergarten News
August 30-September 3, 2010

Weekly Theme:
“All About Me”/Self-Esteem

Save your Box Tops!
Please remember to send in box tops with your child. Each box top is worth 10 cents for our school, so tell your relatives and friends to help with the collecting too! Help our class earn a reward by bringing the box tops in.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER

We are very excited for our first week of school! We will be doing lots of fun, educational activities throughout the week. We will spend two days on each letter of the alphabet. The first day we will talk about the letter, its sound and how to write it correctly. We will also do one page in our alphabet book. The second day we will learn a poem and draw an object beginning with that letter in our “I Can Draw It” books.

We will also be working on our “All About Me” books. Be sure to ask your child to see their great work when these books are completed next week. Of course, math concepts and other areas of the curriculum will be interspersed with our learning.

We will send a Scholastic book order in your child’s homework folder tomorrow. If you are interested in purchasing books, please make one check to Scholastic Books and return the money and order form by Tues., Sept. 7th.

Thank you for your support. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us!
linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850

Kindergarten News
August 17, 2010

Weekly Theme:
“All About Me”/Self-Esteem

Literacy Idea
Sing the alphabet song. Be creative—sing it as a rap, skip every other letter, sing quietly, loudly, or backwards.

AUGUST

We are so excited that you will be a part of our kindergarten family this year! We will have a great experience as we work together to ensure academic and social growth, development and success for your child.
Our core curriculum contains a multitude of skills necessary for a five-year olds academic and social development. We will be engaged in literacy skills, math concepts, computer skills, life skills, science, social studies and physical education experiences.
Please feel free to call or email with any questions or concerns you may have. We appreciate your support and look forward to meeting with each of you!

linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850

Kindergarten News
May 17-21

Weekly Theme:
Review

Literacy Idea
Provide “real” reasons to write: letters, lists, cards, journals, etc.

MAY

Thank you for attending our Kindergarten Program. Your support is greatly appreciated and your children are wonderful!

Thank you also to those who volunteered to help with Field Day next Monday. We will begin at 9:30 for the morning class and 1:30 for the afternoon class.

Our Field Trip to Park Discovery will be on Tuesday, May 25th. Please watch for the permission slip to come home with additional information in your child’s homework folder.

The last day of school is Friday, May 28th. On that day, both morning and afternoon classes will meet from 8:50-10:30/10:40. From past experience it works much more smoothly if we dismiss the AM students at 10:30 and the PM students at 10:40. All PM classes need to be picked up in the kindergarten classroom. The buses will not be running for the PM students. There is no Extended-Day on that day. We need to do it this way in order to allow all students the chance to meet their 1st Grade teachers. We appreciate you changing your schedules accordingly. Have a great week and please feel free to call or email with any questions or concerns.

linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850

Kindergarten News
May 10-14

Weekly Theme:
Insects

End of Year Program

Remember our program on Thursday, May 13th at 6:00 for the AM class and 7:00 for the PM class!

MAY

Once again, the time continues to go by so quickly! All take home and school library books need to be returned by Thursday, May 13th.

The students are excited to present the Kindergarten program on May 13th. If your child is in the morning class, please have him/her meet in the school library at 5:45. The afternoon class will meet in the library at 6:45. The morning class will perform at 6:00 PM and the afternoon class will perform at 7:00 PM in the school gym. Please dress your child in Sunday clothes if possible.

The last day of school is Friday, May 28th. On that day, both morning and afternoon classes will meet from 8:50-10:30/10:40. From past experience it works much more smoothly if we dismiss the AM students at 10:30 and the PM students at 10:40. All PM classes need to be picked up in the kindergarten classroom. The buses will not be running for the PM students. There is no Extended-Day on that day. We need to do it this way in order to allow all students the chance to meet their 1st Grade teachers. We appreciate you changing your schedules accordingly. Have a great week and please feel free to call or email with any questions or concerns.

linda.wood@ironmail.org
ginger.ekker@ironmail.org
586-2850