August 29, 2008

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