August 29, 2008
Dear Families,
This has been a monumental week for kindergartners at North Tama! We’ve now experienced one full week of school! We are still working on classroom routines, classroom rules, and school rules. Things get better each day!
This newsletter is coming home one day early in order to inform parents that school gets out early tomorrow, August 29th. The town bell will ring at 2:20, and the bus bell will ring at 2:25. Please be on time if you pick up your student!!!!!
The breakfast bell rings at 8:00, and kids eating breakfast are allowed in the building then. Other students should not come in until 8:10. If your child does not ride the bus, and he/she arrives early, he/she should go to the playground.
Along with learning the many important school rules, we have worked on shapes, colors, and following directions. On Thursday we reviewed shapes by taking a “Shape Walk.” (If the weather was inclement, we had to skip the outside walk.) We looked at buildings, cars, and natural items and discussed the shapes found in them. We then returned to class and made our own shape creatures and items using colorful shapes, glue sticks, and crayons.
Most days we do some kind of math work. The boys and girls will bring home worksheets that have “homework” on one side. We want families to look at these math worksheets and work with your kindergartner on the homework side. Children that do their homework and return the paper to school get to pick out a sticker from the sticker box. Families may also send a note stating that their kindergartner has done their homework.
This year the kindergartners are using the Saxon Reading Program. We learn how to write each capital and lowercase letter of the alphabet. The children learn a keyword for each letter and the sound the letter makes. Worksheets go home most days to show families what we are working on. This week we started learning about the letter Ll. During the week we discussed living and nonliving things, and read the big book Lions and Gorillas. The boys and girls made their own Lions and Gorillas booklets. It is a repetitive story that has an animal in the jungle, then at the zoo, and then somewhere in their house.
Each week we learn about a new letter. Attached to the newsletter is a poem that goes with the letter Ll. As homework, parents should read the poem to the kindergartner. Then the student can circle all of the words that start with Ll. Kids that return this homework may pick out a sticker. Each week you will be getting a new poem.
The children had a chance to meet and work with Mr. Estes the gym teacher, Mrs. Betts the art teacher, Mrs. Kent the music teacher, Mrs. O’Meara the guidance counselor, and Mrs. Andvik the media teacher. Mrs. Andvik let the children check out books. Books need to be returned by the following Monday in order to get a new one.
Next Thursday, September 4th, the elementary school will have an Open House/Book Fair. The classrooms will be open for families to tour from 6:00 - 7:30. The Book Fair will be held in the multipurpose room from 6:00 - 7:30. There is a supper in the lunchroom beginning at 5:30. We hope to see many families at the Open House on Thursday, September 4th!
Lunch has gone well with the majority of students being willing to try new or unfamiliar foods. We will not make the children eat all of the food on their plate, but we will encourage them to try each food and then eat enough to get them through the afternoon. If your child needs to buy a milk to drink because they brought their own lunch, then 30 cents will be subtracted from your family’s hot lunch account.
During our full days of school we have rest time. We try to rest about 20 - 30 minutes each day. We feel rest time is important and necessary. We are playing soft, relaxing music and the lights are off.
Our classroom schedule was sent home last week. Look at this schedule carefully so that you can help your child dress appropriately for gym class day. Sharing is on this schedule. We will not start sharing next week. We will let you know when sharing will start. Don’t forget, we will not have school on Monday, September 1st.
This year Mrs. Howard is trying to keep copies of the newsletter on the internet! The address is http://ntknews08.blogspot.com. Families may add this address to the home computer’s bookmarks or favorites areas. You can also find a link to this blogspot by going to the North Tama web page. The North Tama web page can be found at www.n-tama.k12.ia.us.
We look forward to another week of school with this enjoyable group of children! We know that things will improve and run more smoothly each day!
Ms. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny, Mr. Degner, Mr. Zabel, and Mrs. Herink
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
August 22, 2008
August 22, 2008
Dear Families,
Every week we send home a newsletter telling you what we have done during the week. We also let you know of upcoming events so that you can plan accordingly. We normally send the newsletter home in the kindergartners’ folders on Fridays. Please check your child’s bag for these important papers every week.
We get to have four other teachers work with us in the kindergarten room part of each day. One of the teachers is Mrs. Tammy Herink. Mrs. Herink is a graduate of North Tama and has two children in the North Tama district. Anther teacher is Mrs. Ronda Pokorny. She is a graduate of North Tama and has two children in the North Tama district. Mr. Jamie Zabel is a graduate of Don Bosco in Gilbertville and attended Iowa. Mr. Zabel is now attending Upper Iowa and is working on his teaching certificate. Mr. Mike Degner is a graduate of North Tama and attended UNI.
We read the book called Timothy Goes to School. In this story Timothy was teased by Maude everyday about the outfits he wore to school. The boys and girls worked on a paper that put Timothy’s outfits in the order that he wore them to school. This week we began working with colors and shapes. We will continue to work on colors and shapes next week.
Next Thursday morning we hope to take a walk in Traer. We walk around a block close to the school, and we look for different shapes on our walk. If the weather does not cooperate, the walk will be cancelled.
Believe it or not, there are days that school is dismissed early because of heat or bad weather. We want to know each family’s plan of action for if/when this happens. If you haven’t already filled out the yellowish form given to you at registration, please do so immediately or fill out the bottom portion of this sheet and return it to school. The sooner that we get this information, the better. The phone numbers will help us in case we need to contact you when you are not home.
We hope to have a healthy school year. It is EXTREMELY important that you keep your child home when he/she is sick. It is also VERY important to call the school when your child is sick in order to let the nurse know about the illness that your child has. Please keep us informed!
We have given you our kindergarten schedule. Families like to know when the kindergartners have p.e. so that the students can be dressed appropriately. The volunteer sheet was also sent home. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this sheet and return it to school. Don’t feel that you HAVE to sign up for something if nothing fits into your schedule!
Normally we take a picture of each child on the first day of school. If we weren’t able to get that done on day one, we did it on day two. These pictures will be posted in the hallway for Open House.
By the way, NEXT FRIDAY THE KIDS GET OUT OF SCHOOL AT 2:20 FOR LABOR DAY! Have a great weekend!
Ms. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny, Mrs. Herink, Mr. Zabel, and Mr. Degner
Name ___________________
This is our plan for an early dismissal due to bad or hot weather:
(Examples: “John will ride the bus home as usual.” “Call Jill’s mother at work before sending Jill home on the bus.” “Suzy will go home with her big brother.” “Send Billy to his daycare provider”.)
Home phone number _______________________
Dad’s work number ________________________
Mom’s work number _______________________
Cell numbers _____________________________
Dear Families,
Every week we send home a newsletter telling you what we have done during the week. We also let you know of upcoming events so that you can plan accordingly. We normally send the newsletter home in the kindergartners’ folders on Fridays. Please check your child’s bag for these important papers every week.
We get to have four other teachers work with us in the kindergarten room part of each day. One of the teachers is Mrs. Tammy Herink. Mrs. Herink is a graduate of North Tama and has two children in the North Tama district. Anther teacher is Mrs. Ronda Pokorny. She is a graduate of North Tama and has two children in the North Tama district. Mr. Jamie Zabel is a graduate of Don Bosco in Gilbertville and attended Iowa. Mr. Zabel is now attending Upper Iowa and is working on his teaching certificate. Mr. Mike Degner is a graduate of North Tama and attended UNI.
We read the book called Timothy Goes to School. In this story Timothy was teased by Maude everyday about the outfits he wore to school. The boys and girls worked on a paper that put Timothy’s outfits in the order that he wore them to school. This week we began working with colors and shapes. We will continue to work on colors and shapes next week.
Next Thursday morning we hope to take a walk in Traer. We walk around a block close to the school, and we look for different shapes on our walk. If the weather does not cooperate, the walk will be cancelled.
Believe it or not, there are days that school is dismissed early because of heat or bad weather. We want to know each family’s plan of action for if/when this happens. If you haven’t already filled out the yellowish form given to you at registration, please do so immediately or fill out the bottom portion of this sheet and return it to school. The sooner that we get this information, the better. The phone numbers will help us in case we need to contact you when you are not home.
We hope to have a healthy school year. It is EXTREMELY important that you keep your child home when he/she is sick. It is also VERY important to call the school when your child is sick in order to let the nurse know about the illness that your child has. Please keep us informed!
We have given you our kindergarten schedule. Families like to know when the kindergartners have p.e. so that the students can be dressed appropriately. The volunteer sheet was also sent home. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this sheet and return it to school. Don’t feel that you HAVE to sign up for something if nothing fits into your schedule!
Normally we take a picture of each child on the first day of school. If we weren’t able to get that done on day one, we did it on day two. These pictures will be posted in the hallway for Open House.
By the way, NEXT FRIDAY THE KIDS GET OUT OF SCHOOL AT 2:20 FOR LABOR DAY! Have a great weekend!
Ms. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny, Mrs. Herink, Mr. Zabel, and Mr. Degner
Name ___________________
This is our plan for an early dismissal due to bad or hot weather:
(Examples: “John will ride the bus home as usual.” “Call Jill’s mother at work before sending Jill home on the bus.” “Suzy will go home with her big brother.” “Send Billy to his daycare provider”.)
Home phone number _______________________
Dad’s work number ________________________
Mom’s work number _______________________
Cell numbers _____________________________
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)