Week 32

It has been quite a transition getting back into the groove after spring break!  But to get the kids focused and back on track, we are dangling our spring field trip like a carrot in front of their faces :)  We have planned a trip to Thompson Farms for Thursday, May 10th.  The cost per child is $10, which covers the ticket price plus a portion of our transportation.  The school has been kind enough to afford the remaining transportation cost in order to keep our per child ticket price down.  We will be sending out a permission slip for you to sign that will need to be returned with the money.

With much excitement, I want everyone to know that we will be in our new school starting the 2012-2013 school year!  We have purchased the old Pee Dee Elementary out on Hwy 378 and are currently in the midst of renovating the property.  We will have SOOOOO much space!!!  Yeah!!!!  Stay tuned for more details on that.

End of year DIBELS assessments will take place towards the end of May.  We are shooting for the week of May 21st, but will let you know when we have a concrete date.  Please, please, please be working with your child on weekly concepts so that they are being reinforced at home.  This will also help keep the material fresh in their minds as the DIBELS date approaches.

Our spring festival is this Saturday!  You do not want to miss it.  Fabulous items have been donated for our silent auction as well as our gift baskets which will be auctioned off.  There will be inflatables, games, face painting (come see me there), hair painting - you name it.  The festival will take place behind the school from 11 am to 2 pm.  Buy advanced tickets at the school!

Jordan Moultrie is the Student of the Week this week.  Congratulations to him for a great week and for working hard to set a great example for the class.

Week 7

I hope everyone had a relaxing Labor Day.  Having an extra day to spend with my family always make me happy, as I'm sure it does all of you. 

We are getting right to work this week by administering the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) which are a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of early literacy skills from kindergarten through sixth grade. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures used to regularly monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills.

DIBELS are individually administered measures of student skills in each of the key basic early literacy skills.  Comprised of seven measures to function as indicators of phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, accuracy and fluency with connected text, reading comprehension, and vocabulary, DIBELS were designed for use in identifying children experiencing difficulty in acquisition of basic early literacy skills in order to provide support early and prevent the occurrence of later reading difficulties. We will be testing all kindergarten students Tuesday and Wednesday.  We will be pulling them one by one until we have completed the entire grade.  This assessment will be done again mid year and at the end of the year to assess each child's gains and whether or not they meet kindergarten expectations. Our Student of the Week is Mahala Storm.  Mahala is a ray of sunshine in our class as she always brings a good attitude to school.  She is well liked by her classmates and makes a strong effort every day to do her very best.  Congratulations to Mahala! Stay tuned for fun and exciting activities going on in the classroom.