Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my family to all of yours. I wish you all a blessed holiday and look forward to seeing everyone in 2012!

Mattie Jane + Evan with Santa 2011

Week 16

Field trip money and permission slips are due TOMORROW (Tuesday).   If you have an issue with that deadline, please let me know so I we can accommodate you.

I am sending home a writing rubric today so you are aware of our expectations regarding journals.  I will begin grading each writing after the Christmas break which will be reflected on their report cards.  We have been practicing our writing skills for quite some time now so by January all students should be demonstrating these skills on their own.

Our academic schedule has changed a bit due to our reading groups that we have assembled in the afternoon.  We will be alternating science and social studies every grading period.  We are currently focusing on social studies and will begin a new nine weeks after the holidays.  We will then switch our focus to science.   All standards will still be met and all concepts covered by the end of the year.

Our Student of the Week is Blaise Burns.  Blaise worked really hard over the past couple of weeks just to receive this honor - and he succeeded with flying colors :)  Blaise brings great personality to the classroom and compliments his peers well.  Congratulations!

Week 15

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. I certainly did, but am also happy to be back.

This week we will be sending out information and permission slips for our first field trip! We will be taking a trip to Wonderworks on December 9th to engage in all of their science driven hands-on exhibits. You will receive information on the cost which will include a ticket, lunch (provided by Wonderworks) and transportation. All money will need to be returned by December 6th.

As the Christmas holiday quickly approaches, I'd like to go ahead and request ideas for a small Christmas party for the kids. My plan is to celebrate the Friday (16th) before our short week. We can do something in the form of goodies and treats or try to put together stockings with little gifts?? Any suggestions are welcome!

Kindergarten will be learning about China over the next couple of weeks - culture, customs, food, clothing, etc. They will also learn about Christmas in China - Ms. Thomas has something very special planned :)

Have a great week!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thank you for all that you do and enjoy the blessings in your life this week.

Emma Logue is our Student of the Week who will be honored in Monday's morning assembly. She is a great friend to all of her classmates and is engaged and active in the classroom. I am proud to recognize her this week.

Giving Thanks

Mrs. Stinnett's Pilgrims and Ms. Neuman's Indians sat down together as friends this afternoon and shared a little Thanksgiving snack of popcorn mixed with other tasty treats.  We discussed the things that we are thankful for which I thought I would share with all of you.

Week 14

Every one should have received your child's reading assessment results on Friday.  The results indicated on what level your child is currently reading.  Also attached to the results was a reading level chart so that you are aware of the different leveling systems.  What is labeled a level A in  one category, may be labeled a level 1 in another category.  This chart should help you pick out books no matter what system was used to label the levels.

We are focusing on Thanksgiving this week through various writing prompts, crafts and dramatic play.  We really want to play the holiday up and have fun with the history and the significance of giving thanks.  Your child may come home as a pilgrim one day...or possibly an Indian?  Either way, be sure to ask your child about what they have learned about this special day in history.

This week we congratulate Anthony Baten for his well deserved honor of Student of the Week.  Anthony made great choices all week and made a genuine effort to achieve blue and purple.  Yay for Anthony!

Week 13

Happy Monday to everyone! 

We are remembering our soldiers this week in social studies as Veteran's Day approaches us.  We are doing some fun activities that will hopefully teach the children about the significance of our troops and what they sacrifice every day to keep us safe.

In math this week our main focus is measurement.  Encourage your children to pick up a ruler and measure various things around the house.  Homework will consist of worksheets practicing this skill.

Germs, germs stay away - colds of all varieties are going around.  We've had many students out as well as myself last Friday.  Let's make a point to sanitize this season so we can all stay healthy :)

Congrats to India Wilkes, our Student of the Week.  India is a great leader in the classroom and does a great job helping others.  She has consistently demonstrated good behavior and is much deserving of this honor.

Week 12

I apologize for my late appearance this week.  It has been a busy week with Halloween, a visit from the district and teacher observations - but no excuses, right?

In your child's homework folder you should've found our newest fundraiser packet.  We really want to encourage everyone to participate, not only for the awesome prizes your child can win, but for the much needed materials the funds will afford our school.  Being a new school, we are need of many supplies/materials and fundraising is the primary way we will be able to purchase these things.  Any level participation will help!

Also, early next week we will begin our reading assessment.  Each student will be assessed in their reading skills so we are able to find out their true "level" of reading.  This knowledge will allow us to group the students according to their levels so that each child is being appropriately challenged.  You will receive results from this assessment so that you are aware of what level books you should provide for your child at home as well.

Congratulations to Jamauri Davis, this week's Student of the Week.  He came to us a little later in the year so I am ashamed to say that I don't have his picture in my files - but I will make that up to him :)

Week 11

I can not thank you enough, parents, for the incredible turn-out for conferences last night!  The feedback I received was extremely positive and motivating and I am looking forward to keeping that momentum going.

It is Red Ribbon Week and we are pledging to be drug-free, alcohol-free and tobacco-free.  We have activities planned for each day to show our commitment such as wearing hats on Tuesday to "put a cap on drugs," wearing mismatched socks on Wednesday to "sock it to drugs" and wear your favorite team jersey to "team up against drugs."

We will be assessing on reading next week to put our reading groups together based on proper DRA levels.  Please keep an eye out for your child's results so you are informed on where they stand. 

We have implemented the Book It Reading Program where students can earn pizza vouchers from Pizza Hut for reading 20 books per month.  Additional information can be found in your child's homework folder.

Congratulations to Tyonna Butler who received four purples and a blue for her behavior last week!  Awesome, Awesome, Awesome - well deserved Student of the Week.

Have a great week!

Week 10

I hope everyone had a relaxing three weeks off with your child and you were able to spend some quality time together.  As hard as it is to get back into "school mode" I feel like we transitioned rather easily yesterday, so that is a victory in itself! :)

This week we are experimenting with different materials to help with stroke formation skills.  While many of the children can recognize numbers/letters, writing them is a bit more challenging due to developing motor skills.  We will work with salt trays, gel bags and shaving cream which will provide models of stroke designs.

We are introducing iPads into our centers this week to begin implementing the student technology component of our daily schedule. Students will first learn how to handle the devices and to care for them properly.  We will begin various handwriting applications towards the end of the week.

Report cards go out on Friday.  Parent/Teacher conferences will take place Monday, the 24th where you can bring any questions or concerns you may have regarding your child or school procedures/policies.  I will be sending home a schedule today where you will make 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choices for a time slot.

Also, we are sending home information on our first fundraiser.  PTO has prioritized several items of importance that this fundraiser will help fund.  This is a great fundraiser to do with the holidays approaching so hopefully it won't be too challenging.  The more money we can raise, the quicker we can grow our school!

Have a wonderful week!

Enjoy the Break

We had a fantastic awards assembly today where students were honored in Spanish, Chinese and PE.  Our class had a few honorees including Casey Soisson for Spanish, Toddae Waters and Blaise Burns for Chinese and Jonathan Galloway for PE.  Congratulations to those students for doing such a great job in these classes!!

I also want to congratulate Casey Soisson as this week's Student of the Week.  Casey has been so diligent in his quest to get on blue and purple every day.  He may have one of the best "bubbles" I've ever seen! :)  He will be honored school wide when we get back from break.

Enjoy your time these next three weeks with your children and keep reading with them every night!!

See you in October.

Week 9

This is the final week of the first quarter!  Important reminders:  students will be released at 1 pm on Friday and will not return to school until Monday, October 17th.  If you need child care during this break, Cherry Hill Baptist Church is providing this service.  You can contact the church or school for more information.

As we prepare for a three week break, I would like to stress the importance of reinforcing the concepts that we have been learning the last nine weeks at home.  This goes for procedures and policies as well.  ***Speaking of policies and procedures, I am thrilled to hear that many of you have implemented our behavior plan at home.  It's fun to hear the kids come in during the week telling me they were on "blue." This makes our classroom management plan that much easier to enforce when parents have the same expectations at home.

For our final four days we will complete our first class story which we will publish into a classroom book.  The book will be added to our classroom library so the kids can read it during centers.  We will also learn two new high frequency words (go, we) that will assist in our class pursuit of high level reading.  Math will be devoted to shapes - 2D and 3D and where they exist in our everyday life.

Congrats to Zakiah Gregg - this week's Student of the Week.  Zakiah has made an unbelievable turn around in regards to behavior and her improvement was applauded by the entire class on Friday.  There was not one student that didn't smile when her name was called out.  Her entire week was blue and purple other than one green day.  AMAZING job!

Week 8

This week's focus is the writing process.  Every student will begin journaling every day, to not only practice the skills involved, but to learn the process - prewrite, draft, respond, revise, proofread and publish.  Most kindergarteners are not confident in their ability to write, so it is important to get them comfortable right from the start.  Their journals will be great documentation of how their writing ability evolves over the year - not to mention a wonderful keepsake!

If your child has a favorite book that they would like to bring to class and share, I encourage books to be sent with them to school.  We have circle time every day where I do a read aloud and discussion - new material is always a great thing.

This week's Student of the Week goes to Presley Burns.  He has been so diligent in his effort to reach blue and purple the past couple of weeks and always displays kind behavior in the classroom.  He will be honored Monday morning during morning assembly with a school certificate and a chance to win a great prize.  All Students of the Week will now be honored school wide.

I want to thank you for your support in bringing in snacks for the class.  I hope this process is working for everyone.  Again, please let me know if you have any issues.

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.

Progress Report Correction

Progress reports will go out on Friday and will be in the exact format as our report cards.  This will allow you to see what your child will be graded on, not only now, but in the future.  This can create an opportunity for you to be working with your child on concepts that will be introduced down the road.

Week 6

We are in our sixth week of school and improving every day - both academically and behaviorally.  You will find any content changes in the sidebar along with this week's spelling words.

I sent home a calendar in your child's homework folder that assigns someone to snack duty every day.  Due to budget restraints, AOH is not able to provide two snacks anymore.  We will now only receive a snack in the afternoon.  Our lunch time is scheduled for 11:30 which puts four hours between breakfast and lunch - that is just too long for active, growing kindergarteners, in my opinion.  I wish I was able to afford to provide the snacks on my own, but unfortunately Publisher's Clearing House has not yet knocked on my door :)  If you are unable to bring in snack on your assigned day, please let me know so I can make other arrangements.  Your support is greatly appreciated!

Snack needs to feed 20 children - my recommendations would be pretzels, goldfish, granola bars, fruit, popcorn, graham crackers, etc.  You can bring individually packaged items or items in bulk that can be divided up - we have no problem doing that.  If you have any questions, please send me an email or call me.

Progress reports will go home on Wednesday.  These reports are more simplified versions of our report cards.  Kindergarteners are assessed primarily on their personal/social developments and their work habits.  The report cards will be more detailed as far as academics go.

If you are interested in volunteering in the classroom, please email me and let me know what you would be interested in doing.  We would be happy to have you read a book or just help during center time.  We also have opportunities available to assist during foreign language and PE.  It would be helpful to have at least a week's notice so that I can incorporate you into my lesson plans.

Congratulations to Jonathan Galloway, this week's Student of the Week.  Jonathan consistently displays a great attitude and works hard to achieve excellence in the classroom.  Jonathan will be bringing in things he likes to share with our class so we can learn more about him as well as give him an opportunity to "show-and-tell."

Looking forward to a great week!

Don't forget - NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY - Sept. 5th

Follow Us By Email

To make your blog reading more convenient, I have added a gadget in the sidebar where you can submit your email address - you will be instantly notified of any new postings.  This will guarantee you won't miss anything important and it keeps you from having to constantly check back for any new content. 

Homework Basics

Every Monday your child will receive two packets that they will complete for homework.  One packet is composed of practice worksheets that reinforce our weekly lessons.  The other packet consists of assignments to encourage parent/child connections at home.  These you will complete with your child.

In addition to the packets, we will also send a printable book home that should be read with your child.  These books will have a greater impact on their reading readiness if read more than once.  The more words a child sees repeatedly, the quicker they will be able to recognize those words in later readings.  Please take the time to document all of the books you are reading with your child in the reading log.

You will also find spelling word flashcards that we will continue adding to every week.  By the end of the year they will have the complete set of kindergarten dolch/sight words that are so critical when learning how to read.

Your child will be graded on timeliness, accuracy and neatness.  Please encourage proper letter/number writing, neat handwriting and completion of homework.

Any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact me.

Welcome to our Classroom Blog

In an effort to keep you all informed on classroom affairs, I will be updating our blog on a weekly basis.  This blog will not only be a source of information, but it will also be an avenue in which I can reflect on the day or on certain lessons so you can get a sense of what goes on from day-to-day.

Let me take this opportunity to introduce you to our entire class.  We currently have 19 students, but will expect to reach twenty sometime this week.  Check out all of these lovely faces...

From L to R, top to bottom - Mikalea Jordan, Anthony Baten, Mahala Storm, Zakeah Gregg, India Wilkes, Jordan Moultrie, DerryIana Holmes, Tyonna Butler, Jonathan Galloway, Presley Burns, Jada Richardson, AaLiyah Huggins, Blaise Burns, Emma Logue, Amaris Holt-Wilson, Zakiah Gregg, Madison Chestnut, Toddae Waters, Casey Soisson

Please note the left sidebar of the blog.  You will find weekly content and spelling words so that you can be better prepared for the upcoming week.  I will update this information weekly so that it is available by Monday afternoons of that particular week.

You will also see a spot dedicated to our Student of the Week.  This student is chosen every Friday based on a combination of behavior, work ethic, improvement and leadership.  Toddae Waters was chosen for this week.  She ended her day on purple three times and consistently displays a kind, warm attitude to her peers.  She also strives to be as neat as possible when completing her classwork.  We ask that our Student of the Week brings in various family pictures or pictures of things they like to be displayed on our bulletin board to accompany their picture.  This will be displayed for one week until the next Student of the Week is chosen the following Friday.

Our Blog Buddies provide you instant access to other teacher's blogs.  Mrs. Neuman teaches science to all kindergarten students while I teach social studies.  You may want to check her blog for anything she may post pertaining to science.  Also, you can stay updated on your child's progress in Mrs. Laura's Spanish class by checking out her blog too.

Please feel free to comment on any postings if you have any questions or concerns.  I will be happy to reply and provide any additional information that you may need.