Please scroll down to see previously sent home newsletters!
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December 4, 2009
Dear Parents,
I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! The children
all did a beautiful job completing the Thanksgiving fun homework pack. Thank
you for guiding your child with his/her work.
Mrs. Tanaka, one of the kindergarten assistants, made each child a special
turkey treat to eat for Thanksgiving! We gobbled up our turkeys that were
made of rice crispy treats, oreo cookies and candy corn! They were the
yummiest turkeys we’ve ever eaten! (see the picture above)
This week we continued on with the alphabet. We learned the letter Bb, and
next week we will move on to the letter Pp! We learned another new sight
word this week! We learned to identify and read the word like. We read many
sentences using the sight words we already know combined with the work like!
In math we will begin learning to recognize (read) and write teen numbers 11-
20!
It is very important that our home/school connection stays strong! It is
extremely helpful if you practice skills learned in school a few days a week
with your child. Please continue to review the letters and sounds that we
have learned.
Other VERY important skills to review weekly are…………….
Rhyming
Letter recognition
Sound recognition
Sounding out and writing 3 letter words (“at” family)
Reading the sight words (I, my, see, like, a, at, is)
Writing sentences using inventive spelling (kid spelling)
Number writing (1-20)
Number counting (1-100 or as high as they can go…..)
Number recognition (looking at a number & knowing it’s name)
Many children learned their phone number and address after parent teacher
conferences! Thank you so much for taking the time to teach your child this
very important safety information. If your child has not yet learned this
information, please take the time to practice it at home.
I really appreciate all of the time you spend reinforcing skills learned in
school with your child!
Mrs. Hoffman (our room parent ) has begun planning our winter holiday
party! She planned our Halloween party, and with the help of parent
volunteers we had a blast! Our party is on December 18th from 12:45-1:45!
Thank you Mrs. Hoffman for volunteering to organize & run the party! It’s
always a fun afternoon filled with music, games, crafts, yummy food and
smiles!!
Stay warm and have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Reinish
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November 20, 2009
Dear Parents,
We had an amazing time at the circus today! Our seats were amazing! We sat
in the 5th and 6th row! We were very close to the circus rings! We munched
on graham crackers, drank our juice and watched the amazing show! We ate our
lunch in our seats during the intermission!
Some of our favorite acts in the circus were:
Clowns
Elephants
Tigers
Tight Rope Walkers
Flying Trapeze
Thank you so much to the 12 parents who volunteered to supervise the
children! You were a huge help and very much appreciated!
On Monday we will learn all about Thanksgiving. We will discuss how the
first Thanksgiving occurred:
We will learn that:
The Pilgrims sailed on a ship called the Mayflower.
The Pilgrims sailed from England to America.
The Native Americans helped the Pilgrims settle in.
The Native Americans shared seeds with the Pilgrims to grow crops.
The Native Americans helped the Pilgrims build houses, make
clothes, and learn to fish.
The Pilgrims grew lots of crops from the seeds the Native Americans
gave them.
The Pilgrims planned a big celebration and invited the Native
Americans to the feast because without their help, they would not have had
food, shelter or clothes!
This celebration was the very first Thanksgiving!
The Pilgrims shared all of their food with the Native Americans.
Everyone at the celebration was Thankful!
I’m sure the children are looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with their
families. We will discuss what we are thankful for and I’m sure the children
will have some beautiful ideas to share! Please ask your child what he/she
is thankful for.
There IS school on MONDAY, however…..
There is no school Tuesday to Friday!
Your child will bring home a homework packet today that will be completed
over Thanksgiving Break!(wait till next week for your child to do the work!)
Mrs. DuChateau and I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Miss Reinish
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October 30, 2009
Dear Parents,
Can you believe that next week is November? I feel like we just started
school and yet now we are looking forward to our circus field trip as well
as Thanksgiving! We seem to be flying through the months!
Next week I will send home the list of parent volunteers that will be coming
with us to the Circus to supervise the children!
Our Halloween party was a blast! The children all looked fabulous in their
costumes! We had beautiful princesses, super heroes and so many more cool
costumes! I took some great pictures. They will be posted on my web site
soon! Thank you to our room mother, Mrs. Hoffman for planning a fabulous
party!! Also thank you to the volunteers, Mrs. Khan (Hamza’s mom), Mrs.
Vogelsberg (Lucas’s mom), Mrs. Bank (Maria’s mom) for assisting with costume
changes and helping with the fun and games at the party. Mrs. Hoffman had
the kids make a cute Halloween pumpkin; brought delicious cupcakes that the
kids decorated then gobbled up and planned terrific games. The kids played
pass the pumpkin, did a witch hat toss, and played freeze dance! It was a
fun afternoon! Thank you Mrs. Hoffman and parent volunteers for making the
afternoon a blast for the class! Thank you parents for coming to the parade!
I am glad it we were able to have a parade and the kids had the chance to
see so many familiar faces in the crowd. I hope you were able to take some
good photos of your child!
Also, thank you for sending candy to school! It was so much fun to trick or
treat in our classroom! We had a candy parade and passed out all of our
candy to our classmates while listening to the song “I Want Candy”. They got
their candy!! I have told the children that they are only allowed to eat one
piece of candy at lunch (home lunch), and then one more piece at home, only
2 pieces a day – no more. I hope that helps you out at home so your child
doesn’t have a tummy ache!
Please reinforce the importance of brushing your teeth 2 times a day,
morning and night!
Next week we will be learning a new sight word to add to our list of words
we are able to read by memorization on our own! So far we have learned to
read the words: (I, see) Your child should be able to read these words the
minute they see them! We will add the word My so we will be able to read
longer sentences. Your child has been bringing home small photocopied
stories each week that contain the sight words we are learning in school.
Please have your child read you these books at home. It would be a good idea
to keep these books and review them weekly. You can add the name of the book
to your child’s monthly read-aloud homework!
Please review the letters we have already learned. Your child should know
the letter name, its sound and how to form the capital and lowercase letters
correctly!
The letters are Tt, Mm, Cc, Rr, Ss, and Hh!
I hope you have a great weekend!
Don’t eat too much candy!!
Miss Reinish
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September 11, 2009
Dear Parents,
We had a very busy week at school! We did a lot of fun and exciting
activities. I encourage you to ask your child each day after school to tell
you 3 favorite classroom activities that occurred that day!
This week we finished learning about colors and today we made beautiful
rainbows! At this point, the children should be able to read all of the
color words, which include; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. In
your child’s mail today are color word flashcards. You and your child can
cut them out and practice reading and spelling the words! PLEASE KEEP THE
FLASHCARDS AT HOME!
HOMEWORK
Your child’s homework this weekend is in their folder. Please help your
child complete the homework and return it to school on Monday! You child
should use PENCIL for the writing part of the homework. The home/school
connection is so important. Thank you for supporting your child’s program!
On Monday we will turn into scientists! I’ll read a story called Mouse Paint
by Ellen Walsh. The story is about 3 white mice that jump in puddles of red,
yellow and blue paint. The mice discover that by jumping into the different
color puddles, they could create new colors. After the story I will fill 3
jars with water and use food coloring to change one jar into red water, one
blue, and the other yellow. As the children watch wide-eyed, I will pretend
that the little bottles of food coloring are the mice & have them “jump”
into the colored water. As the yellow “mouse” (food coloring) “jumps” into
the red jar of water, we will watch it change to the color orange!
The children will be amazed! Next we will mix the colors red and blue
together and watch it turn purple, and finally blue and yellow to make
green. It will be a lot of fun! The class will love the activity.
The children will learn about primary and secondary colors.
The students will be exposed to the 3 primary colors:
Red
Yellow
Blue
The students will also learn that if you mix the primary colors together,
you can make the 3 secondary colors:
Orange
Green
Purple
In order to make a rainbow, all you really need are the 3 primary colors……
mix them together to make the 3 secondary colors and now you have all 6
colors in the rainbow!
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple!
Next week we will learn about shapes. We will discuss squares, circles,
triangles, rectangles, ovals and diamonds. We will learn that squares have 4
sides that are all the same. As an activity, the children will build square
frames to take home. Hopefully you can find a nice spot to display the
project in your home!
In Math next week we will begin discussing and creating patterns. The
children will be able to make a repetitive A, B, pattern. An A, B, pattern
is made up of 2 items that switch back and forth from one another such as…
bear, fish, bear, fish, bear, fish. Have your child practice making patterns
at home using household items!
Don’t forget to read to your child EVERY DAY!
Please write the names of the books on the
September READ ALOUD LIST
that is due at the end of the month!
The COLOR homework is due on Monday!
The children will get a prize from my treasure chest if they try their
hardest to do nice work!
Have a nice weekend!
Miss Reinish
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Sept.4, 2009
Dear Parents,
We have had a wonderful first 2 weeks of kindergarten! The children are all
so sweet and eager to learn the rules, school routine, and new things each
day! We are going to have a very exciting school year! The past 2 weeks we
concentrated on learning the jobs we need to do each day and feel
comfortable with the morning routine.
Daily Routine
1. When the children arrive at school they need to put away their lunch in
their locker.
2. Next, each child needs to check their folder for any notes form home and
place their folder in the “folder holder”
3. The kids then put away the rest of their belongings in their locker.
Please do not have your child bring any toys, or trading cards to school.
Toys are only allowed once a week on Fridays when we have show & tell. It
must fit inside your child’s backpack.
4. Once the children’s belongings are all put away, they need to put up
their lunch clip to signify what they will be eating for lunch that day.
5. Finally, each child needs go to the Are You Here Board and put up their
school bus nametag showing that they are in school.
Once all of these “jobs” have been completed the children can silently read
a book on the carpet until we are all ready to begin the school day! This is
called Super Silent Reading.
Colors
This week we began learning about colors. We learned about red, orange and
yellow! We will continue the following week with the rest of the colors in
the rainbow! As we learn a new color each day, the children will be taught a
song to help them learn how to spell the color words. Ask your child to sing
you the color songs!!! Each song is short and sweet and is a great
reinforcement for spelling! I will put the words to the songs we learn in
your child’s mail (folder) each day!
Some of the stories we read and enjoyed this week were:
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
*Franklin Goes to School by Paulette Bourgeois
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
*When you go to Kindergarten by James Howe
*Off To School Baby Duck by Amy Hest
*David Goes To School by David Shannon
*No David by David Shannon
Folders
Each day your child will bring home schoolwork as well as notes from school.
The office sends home information each day you may be interested in. Every
other Friday I will be sending home a newsletter. All of these materials
will be in your child’s folder. Please check your child’s folder EACH DAY
and remove whatever is in it. Your child should always have a folder in
his/her backpack. You can send me notes and other information using this
folder. Your child should check inside his/her folder each morning upon
arrival to see if there is something from you to give to me. If you ever
send me anything, please make your child aware that it is in his/her folder
and to give it to me. This will take some practice.
It was so nice to see so many of you on Thursday at Open House. Thank you
for showing your support by coming! If you ever have any questions or
concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at school!
The children are off to a great start! I am really looking forward to a
wonderful school year with this class. This is going to be an exciting year
for you and your child! It will be wonderful to watch your child learn and
grow each day!
Have a nice weekend!
*Please review the rules and routines before sending your child off to
school each morning!
Miss Reinish