Benny Bear

Benny has been to several students homes this year! He comes to stay for a week at each home, and brings along with him several activities involving literacy and math. He also comes with a book for the student to read with a family member each night Benny is at their house. At the end of the week, the student and parent collaborate to write a journal entry in our class Benny Bear Journal to bring and share with the class! Benny has had many adventures this year! Here is just one photo of a student in our class enjoying his time with Benny! Remember that Benny can only go home to students who turn in their Eagle folder EVERY day along with their homework,  library book, book in a bag, and blue reading folder on their designated turn in days. Benny is such a fun part of our Kindergarten class!

Newsletter for Feb. 13-17

Curriculum  

Alphabet: *We will practice the capitol and lowercase letters. Your child needs to be able to say the sound for each letter and write each capitol and lowercase letter for the Kindergarten Assessment and ABC club! 

Word Wall: 

*We will practice the sight words “one” and “they”. Practice! Practice! Your child needs to be able to read 25 Kindergarten sight words to be in the sight word club!

Math: 

*We will practice calendaring skills, counting to 10, counting by 10s, 5s, 2s, 3s, one to one correspondence, graphing, patterning, phonemic awareness, and phonics.

*We will review numbers 0-10 and practice numbers 11-30.

*We will continue our morning work folders. 

*We will practice fewer and more, most, greatest, and least.

*We will continue addition to 5.

*We will continue subtraction from 5.

*We will practice time to the hour.

*I will continue sending home Estimation Jars for the students to fill and return to school. We will use our excellent estimating skills to guess how many items are in the jar. Please watch for a jar and directions coming home soon!

Literacy

*We will continue the Harcourt and Fontas and Pinnel literacy programs.

*We will continue our Intensive Phonics program. Please watch for the homework sheets associated with this program.

*We will discuss Beginning, Middle, and Ending of stories. 

*We will predict and summarize.

*We will work on sequencing events in a story.

*We will practice asking questions.

*We will discuss book orientation and fiction and nonfiction.

*We will practice sight words and review rhyme using our Nursery Rhyme books.

*We will practice writing sounds we hear in words (beginning, middle, and end). 

*We will continue decodable books from Harcourt used in our power half hour groups when ready.

*We will continue our Power Half Hour literacy groups! These groups will be four days a week and involve intensive work toward literacy skills and reading! 

*We will continue to award students who get into the ABC, Sight Word, and Number Clubs! Keep working to earn these awards! Just a quick note that I have NOT done any number club winners at this time. I am waiting until we get closer to our spring assessment, which asks the students to write numbers to 30.

*Open enrollment forms are available to parents in the office.  They are due by the 3rd Friday in February for those that would like. 

*Valentine’s Day is Feb. 14! We will be having a exchanging Valentines and having a Valentine’s Day party on this day! 

*We will have a dentist presentation on Feb. 21

*Feb. 20 is President’s Day. NO SCHOOL on this day!

*We will have centers on Mon., Tues, and Wed. I will be having center times on Mon. and Tues at 10:00. Centers on Wednesday will be at 9:15. I REALLY need some center parents on Wed. at 9:15. I DO NOT have the support in centers that I began with at the beginning of the year! Any volunteers are welcome! All parent volunteers will need to begin signing in each time they are in the classroom to volunteer. There will be a volunteer sign in sheet next to the door of our classroom. I will show you where it is when you come to volunteer next. 

Books: There Was a Cold Lady, If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Slugs in Love, The Valentine Express, 100 School Days, Franklin and the Tooth Fairy, My Wobbly Tooth Must Never Fall Out,  Pirate Pete, Nonfiction books on mapping, 

Writing: 

*We will continue writer’s workshop and be writing in our Kindergarten Journals and Scribble Journals.

*We will practice proper pencil grip and handwriting.

*We will practice handwriting upper and lowercase letters and numbers to 30.

*We will work on writing our last names, birthdays, telephone numbers, and addresses.

Announcements: 

*READING FOLDERS are due Feb. 13. Please be filling out your reading record, so your child can receive two new books. Remember once your child has completed 210 minutes of reading he/she will receive a prize and a new reading record! Please remember to practice the alphabet using the chart in this folder also! It is GREAT practice since we use the same chart at school! 

*We will continue Benny Bear Backpacks!

*Please work on Sight Word List #6 and Skill Sheet #6 with your child! We are practicing these words and concepts in class! Return the skill sheet as soon as it is completed. 

*Please check out our class BLOG if you need to access the newsletter. To access the blog, go to the school web page and click on Teacher Websites. Click on my name below my picture and you will see our blog! 

*Just a reminder: Library is Friday so remember to return books, PE is Thursday so wear appropriate shoes, computer lab is Friday, and Book in a Bag is once a week on Tuesday. Remember to return book in a bags! I will be putting several kids into leveled books to start off the second half of the year! These are books the kids can now read TO YOU!

*Our class will be collecting box tops for education. If you have any of these, please send them in a baggie in your child’s homework folder! Thank you1
*Remember that if your child is going to be missing a day of school to call the office and excuse them. In addition, if you are going to be picking up your child early, please make sure you check them out in the office before picking them up from class.

Early Out Wed. Times: AM class – 8:55-10:55. Please be on time to avoid tardies and classroom distraction.

*Birthdays: Joshulynn 2/14

(You may bring a class treat on the day we celebrate your birthday. Please bring treats for 27 students.) Optional

Leader: Bryan Riquelme (We will do your poster and parent letters on Tuesday!) (You may bring a class treat on the Friday that your child is the leader. Please being treats for 26 students.) Optional

REMINDER: Please continue to remind your student to turn in their EAGLE FOLDER EVERY DAY! It would also be a good idea to remind your child on Monday to bring their blue READING FOLDER into the classroom to switch books! New books are always exciting!

HOMEWORK: We will have homework on Monday and Wednesday.  Please sign your name under your child’s name on the homework sheets. That way I know you have worked on it with your child. Please make sure you DO NOT have your child do homework with a pen, marker, or crayon. Pencil is best when handwriting.

Please make sure your name is on your homework and do you BEST work!

Questions or Concerns: 

sarah.george@ironmail.org

Home Phone: 586-2493

Call or come in if you have any questions