The Cheal Channel

November 12, 2009  Kindergarten    Britt David Magnet Academy

This year is going by so fast!!  We had a fantastic Halloween party.  Thanks to all the parents who made this day a big success.  Thanks also to Berkley Blanchard for the neat candy corn craft activity.  The kids loved it!!  Thanks also for supporting our class and Britt David at Chick-Fil-A and Stevi B's.  We have won at both places.  We will be going to the Patterson Planetarium on Tuesday, November 17th.  Please make sure your child is not late on this day.  We will also be taking a walking field trip in December.  Please see the attached letter for details.

The children are doing so well on the spelling tests.  Please be sure to study the new spelling words throughout the week.  It will also be helpful if you would have your child practice reading these and the previous words from time to time.  I suggest making flash cards for all the weekly words and review them every few nights.  They will be tested on reading these words every nine weeks.  (They should not be sounding these words out)  I hope you’ve had a chance to read your child’s journal that was sent home last week.  They are really doing an incredible job with this.  After Thanksgiving , the students will need to write two sentences in their journals.  You might want to start practicing this at home and it would be helpful if you spend a minute or two on the way to school with your child discussing what he/she will write in his/her journal.   The kids are really progressing well in our reading groups.  Please be sure to go over the “Hop and Pop” words when I send them home.  This is really important in building reading skills.  The children love to show off how well they can read.

This month in math we will be working on money.  They should be able to recognize each coin (penny, nickel, dime, quarter) and tell you how much each is worth.  This is a very hard concept and I would strongly suggest you reinforce this at home.  We will also be working on measurement (ordering by height and weight) and telling time to the hour.  Our focus for Science and Social Studies will be on nutrition, our Continent and the first Thanksgiving.    December is right around the corner and I have a suggestion for a great gift idea for your child.  Sponge Bob Typing, which sells for $9.99 at Staples, would be a great computer program to help with keyboarding skills.  Parents that have used this program tell me it is wonderful.   Our students are doing will in the ILS computer lab.  They all are now working in the first grade reading program.  I do recommend that each parent occasionally take their child to the lab (after school) for some extra ILS time and also, to give you an idea of what sort of problems they are getting.

            Many of our students are very close to becoming millionaires.  Please be sure to keep sending in your child’s reading log.  I have a chart on the wall that indicates how close your child is to becoming a millionaire.  Be come by and look at it from time to time. 

Important dates for this month:

Thursday, Nov. 12th   – Chick-Fil-A Night

Tues. Nov. 17th- Planetarium field trip

Wed. Nov.23 - Fri. Nov. 27 – Thanksgiving Holiday – no school

Fri. Dec. 4 - Home Depot field trip

Tues, Dec. 8th - Early Release Day (1:05)

                         I hope you and your family have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!!!