March 27, 2009
Dear Families,
This week we learned the digraph sh. The kindergartners reviewed time to the hour, dimes, and nickels. The boys and girls read and began coloring a spring booklet. The last two pages in the booklet are homework pages. Children that complete them and return them may earn a sticker. We began looking at bigger numbers and practiced reading numbers between 30 and 100. We also compared numbers, looking for the biggest number or the smallest number. Centers included legos, consonant bingo, a guessing jar activity, working with pattern blocks and bears and linking cubes up front, writing words on white erase boards, Lincoln logs, and playdough.
Report cards went home today. Conferences are not scheduled for this quarter. If you have a question or concern about your child’s report card, you are welcome to set up a conference.
Grandparent’s Day has been scheduled for Thursday, May 14th and Friday, May 15th. Grandparents or special adult friends are invited for a short program and delicious snacks. Grandparents may come either of those days. Families can schedule one set to come one day, and one set to come another day. Both sets of grandparents may come on the same day. Official invitations will go home later.
Please help your child get his/her library book here on Mondays. It is harder to get new books on Tuesdays because the teachers are busy working with the students.
Remember, it is always a good idea to have an extra shirt, pair of pants, and underwear in the backpack or in a sack that is kept in the cubby. Boys and girls dump milk on their clothes, fall in the mud, and have bathroom accidents. If your child does have a problem here at school and needs different clothes, we do have extras. These borrowed pieces of clothing need to be washed and returned as soon as possible!
Since the weather can be so inconsistent during the spring, it is hard to know how to dress children for school. It is fine to put cooler or warmer clothing in their bags and have them change if necessary. Please send coats, jackets, and/or sweatshirts to school. When we go out for a morning recess the temperature tends be cooler. If it is warm enough to go outside without coats, then coats are left in cubbies.
This weekend Ms. Howard gets married. Her new last name will be Daugherty. It is pronounced Doe•er•tee. It may take a while for the kids to call her the new name and that is okay.
Have an exciting weekend!
Ms. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Herink, Mr. Degner, and Mrs. Pokorny
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
March 20, 2009
March 20, 2009
Dear Families,
This week we practiced the final digraph “ck”. On your kindergartner’s papers you may have noticed the following: k,cllck. The kids say “k comma c final digraph ck” whenever he/she writes this on the paper. We learned about St. Patrick’s Day and had Mary McLean, a secretary in our building, read the book Mary McLean and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The boys and girls played the “Green Bean” game. In this game, the students dropped 5 beans on a quiet mat. The beans were painted green on one side and remained white on the other side. The kindergartners counted how many beans were green and recorded it with a black crayon on the chart. The column number on the chart that was filled in first was colored purple. The second place number was colored red. The third place number was colored yellow. The fourth place number was colored orange, and the fifth place number was colored blue. The children really enjoyed this game and noticed that it was really hard to get a 5 or a 0. (Probability!) Centers included coloring a “Spring Is Here!” sign, water in the sensory table, geoboards, counting on pretend seeds on pretend watermelons, giant floor puzzles, and number bingo with the numbers 11 - 40.
Check with your child on the condition of his/her glue stick and crayons. Many need replacing, and we have very few borrowing glue sticks left!
The quarter ended today. Report cards will be going home next Friday.
We have officially scheduled Grandparents/Guest Days on the calendar. The dates are Thursday, May 14th and Friday, May 15th. Kindergartners may invite their grandparents to school during the afternoon on one of those days for a short program and refreshments. If your kindergartner does not have a grandparent that can attend, then any grown up guest will be fine. More information and official invitations will be sent home later.
Kindergartners do NOT need to bring snowpants and boots unless there is measurable snow on the ground.
Have an beautiful weekend!
Mrs. Herink, Ms. Howard, Mrs. Pokorny, Mr. Degner, and Mrs. Owens
Dear Families,
This week we practiced the final digraph “ck”. On your kindergartner’s papers you may have noticed the following: k,cllck. The kids say “k comma c final digraph ck” whenever he/she writes this on the paper. We learned about St. Patrick’s Day and had Mary McLean, a secretary in our building, read the book Mary McLean and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The boys and girls played the “Green Bean” game. In this game, the students dropped 5 beans on a quiet mat. The beans were painted green on one side and remained white on the other side. The kindergartners counted how many beans were green and recorded it with a black crayon on the chart. The column number on the chart that was filled in first was colored purple. The second place number was colored red. The third place number was colored yellow. The fourth place number was colored orange, and the fifth place number was colored blue. The children really enjoyed this game and noticed that it was really hard to get a 5 or a 0. (Probability!) Centers included coloring a “Spring Is Here!” sign, water in the sensory table, geoboards, counting on pretend seeds on pretend watermelons, giant floor puzzles, and number bingo with the numbers 11 - 40.
Check with your child on the condition of his/her glue stick and crayons. Many need replacing, and we have very few borrowing glue sticks left!
The quarter ended today. Report cards will be going home next Friday.
We have officially scheduled Grandparents/Guest Days on the calendar. The dates are Thursday, May 14th and Friday, May 15th. Kindergartners may invite their grandparents to school during the afternoon on one of those days for a short program and refreshments. If your kindergartner does not have a grandparent that can attend, then any grown up guest will be fine. More information and official invitations will be sent home later.
Kindergartners do NOT need to bring snowpants and boots unless there is measurable snow on the ground.
Have an beautiful weekend!
Mrs. Herink, Ms. Howard, Mrs. Pokorny, Mr. Degner, and Mrs. Owens
Monday, March 16, 2009
March 13, 2009
March 13, 2009
Dear Families,
This week the kindergartners learned how to read some long vowel words. The rule this week was “A vowel not followed by a consonant is long; code it with a macron.” The boys and girls put macrons (horizontal lines) above vowels in words like he, be, we, no, go, and so and sounded them out. This week we are sending 7 flashcards home with the students. When reading this week we worked on fluency. Some boys and girls now sound out every word they encounter when reading, even the words they know how to read. Centers included painting, working with tinker toys, a nickel and penny worksheet, puzzles, a Saint Patrick’s Day coloring sheet, word bingo, and the Pizza Palace dramatic play center.
The third quarter will end on Friday, March 20th. We have been working on evaluations for the report cards. Report cards are scheduled to go home the following week.
Don’t forget about the Fine Arts Festival next Thursday! Each student has a project displayed somewhere in the building. There is food and entertainment. There are many inexpensive activities for the children. The Fine Arts Festival takes place in the multipurpose room, lunchroom, and gym. Refer to the elementary newsletter for more information!
Many families are wondering if snowpants and boots are still needed. We do need snowpants and boots when there is snow on the ground. We need boots if there is mud on the ground. If unsure, send the boots and snowpants. We will have the students wear them if needed. If they do not need to wear them, then they just stay on the red rug or in the cubbies. That is not a problem.
We hope you have a good weekend!!!
Mrs. Herink, Ms. Howard , Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny and Mr. Degner
Dear Families,
This week the kindergartners learned how to read some long vowel words. The rule this week was “A vowel not followed by a consonant is long; code it with a macron.” The boys and girls put macrons (horizontal lines) above vowels in words like he, be, we, no, go, and so and sounded them out. This week we are sending 7 flashcards home with the students. When reading this week we worked on fluency. Some boys and girls now sound out every word they encounter when reading, even the words they know how to read. Centers included painting, working with tinker toys, a nickel and penny worksheet, puzzles, a Saint Patrick’s Day coloring sheet, word bingo, and the Pizza Palace dramatic play center.
The third quarter will end on Friday, March 20th. We have been working on evaluations for the report cards. Report cards are scheduled to go home the following week.
Don’t forget about the Fine Arts Festival next Thursday! Each student has a project displayed somewhere in the building. There is food and entertainment. There are many inexpensive activities for the children. The Fine Arts Festival takes place in the multipurpose room, lunchroom, and gym. Refer to the elementary newsletter for more information!
Many families are wondering if snowpants and boots are still needed. We do need snowpants and boots when there is snow on the ground. We need boots if there is mud on the ground. If unsure, send the boots and snowpants. We will have the students wear them if needed. If they do not need to wear them, then they just stay on the red rug or in the cubbies. That is not a problem.
We hope you have a good weekend!!!
Mrs. Herink, Ms. Howard , Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny and Mr. Degner
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
March 6, 2009
March 6, 2009
Dear Families,
We learned about the letter Qq. We talked about quiet animals. Sara Stoakes, the North Tama Homecoming queen and Kelsey Upah, the Tama County Fair queen were guest speakers in the classroom. The boys and girls listened to directions and filled out a listening quilt doing something different in each section of the quilt. These will be sent home so that families can see how well their kindergartner listened. In math we started counting by fives and working with nickels. Counting by fives is a very difficult skill for some kindergartners so extra practice at home would be really helpful. Centers included playing hangman, the card game War, reading books, working with pattern blocks, working in journals, counting beans on quiet mats, and the Pizza Palace in the dramatic playhouse.
Can you believe that we have finished learning about all 26 letters? Next week we will start working with long vowels found at the end of words like we, he, see, so, go, etc.
The Fine Arts Festival is a wonderful event that features special projects produced by students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The Fine Arts Festival will be held on Thursday, March 19th from 6:30 - 9:00. The Fine Arts Festival is held in the multi-purpose room, the lunchroom, and the gym. There’s more information about the Fine Art’s Festival in the Elementary Newsletter that was sent home earlier.
Soon this 3rd nine weeks will be over. We have been working hard on evaluating the students for their report cards. Some of the skills that you can practice at home are counting to 75, identifying numbers through 25, counting items to a specific number up to 25 correctly, identifying left and right, the days of the week, the months of the year, addresses and phone numbers, recognizing the letters learned so far, recognizing rhyming words, identifying pennies, nickels, and dimes and their values, counting to 100 by tens and fives, and associating the sounds to the consonants learned so far.
The Iowa winter weather is so unpredictable! Boots are still a good idea because our kindergartners are known to find the mud. Their shoes and our room’s floor stay cleaner when the kindergartners wear their boots. If we find that boots are not needed, they will stay on the red rug in the classroom.
Grandparents’ Day has now been officially set. Grandparents or other guests may come either Thursday, May 14th or Friday, May 15th. A short program will start at 2:00 followed by some kindergarten made refreshments. More information will be coming home closer to the event in May.
Have a great weekend!
Ms. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny, Mr. Degner, and Mrs. Herink
Dear Families,
We learned about the letter Qq. We talked about quiet animals. Sara Stoakes, the North Tama Homecoming queen and Kelsey Upah, the Tama County Fair queen were guest speakers in the classroom. The boys and girls listened to directions and filled out a listening quilt doing something different in each section of the quilt. These will be sent home so that families can see how well their kindergartner listened. In math we started counting by fives and working with nickels. Counting by fives is a very difficult skill for some kindergartners so extra practice at home would be really helpful. Centers included playing hangman, the card game War, reading books, working with pattern blocks, working in journals, counting beans on quiet mats, and the Pizza Palace in the dramatic playhouse.
Can you believe that we have finished learning about all 26 letters? Next week we will start working with long vowels found at the end of words like we, he, see, so, go, etc.
The Fine Arts Festival is a wonderful event that features special projects produced by students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The Fine Arts Festival will be held on Thursday, March 19th from 6:30 - 9:00. The Fine Arts Festival is held in the multi-purpose room, the lunchroom, and the gym. There’s more information about the Fine Art’s Festival in the Elementary Newsletter that was sent home earlier.
Soon this 3rd nine weeks will be over. We have been working hard on evaluating the students for their report cards. Some of the skills that you can practice at home are counting to 75, identifying numbers through 25, counting items to a specific number up to 25 correctly, identifying left and right, the days of the week, the months of the year, addresses and phone numbers, recognizing the letters learned so far, recognizing rhyming words, identifying pennies, nickels, and dimes and their values, counting to 100 by tens and fives, and associating the sounds to the consonants learned so far.
The Iowa winter weather is so unpredictable! Boots are still a good idea because our kindergartners are known to find the mud. Their shoes and our room’s floor stay cleaner when the kindergartners wear their boots. If we find that boots are not needed, they will stay on the red rug in the classroom.
Grandparents’ Day has now been officially set. Grandparents or other guests may come either Thursday, May 14th or Friday, May 15th. A short program will start at 2:00 followed by some kindergarten made refreshments. More information will be coming home closer to the event in May.
Have a great weekend!
Ms. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Pokorny, Mr. Degner, and Mrs. Herink
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