What We Have Been Doing
For theme this week we discussed the five senses. The students made "My 5 Senses" books and took them home early in the week. We also began talking about our families, neighborhoods, and communities. They drew pictures of where they live and who they live with. The students also made watercolors of their families. You will see them at Curriculum Night. We also practiced what we should do if there is a fire drill. We talked about listening to the teacher, not panicking and where we would line up. The school will have a fire drill next week and I wanted to prepare the students ahead of time.
For Literacy, we finished alphabet pages. I know most of the students know their alphabet, but this exercise was reinforcing what they already know and assessing to find those who may not know their letters or sounds. Next week we will start our literacy groups with different teachers. I will talk to you more about this at Curriculum Night tonight.
For Math we did activities that explored patterns. The students worked with beads to make patterns. We also introduced pattern blocks to our Math Centers. Next week we will make a "pattern museum" and start exploring money.
Volunteers
I will have a sign up sheet for volunteers in the classroom at Curriculum Night. I would like to have a volunteer who could commit to coming in during Literacy on a specific day throughout the year, or at least until Christmas. If you think you can help, please sign up on the forms.
Curriculum Night
Curriculum Night will begin tonight at 6:00p.m. First, You will attend a general meeting with all the kindergarten parents. Then at 6:45p.m you will come to my room and we will discuss kindergarten curriculum. Later you will meet your child's literacy teacher and they will explain what literacy will be like for your child. Please do not bring your children with you during Curriculum Night. There will be no child care and the information we will present is for our parents. I am looking forward to seeing you all there!
Homework
Hard copies of homework will be sent home every Monday. Homework is due on Friday at the end of the week. Your child should not have more than 30 minutes of homework a night. If homework becomes frustrating, please call me and we can discuss what I can do to help the situation. Students should not be doing hours of homework on one night and turning in the homework the next day. Once the scanner works and we can post the homework on our web pages, you will be able to download a copy of this week's homework. We have been having problems uploading the documents, but there will always be a hard copy in your child's backpack on Monday. If we get unfinished homework we will put it in the homework folder for the next week so that the student can complete it. Grades will not be affected until I talk to you and we are still having problems.
Family Shield
I have assigned the first project of the year. Please look at the assignment in your child's homework folder or under the document link on my blog. This assignment is due on September 30. Please help your child with this project. I have also enclosed a grading rubric that will show you exactly how I am grading the assignment. I will talk to you more about this tonight at Curriculum Night.
Book Orders
Book orders have been sent home today. If you would like to order online, the class user name is misssneeuwjagtskinder and the password is BookOrders. You will see the four catalogs that I sent home today and you can order straight from the website. The books will be sent to me and I will give them to your child. If you have any questions, please go to www.scholastic.com/parentordering or contact me. I am so excited about this new option for you. Scholastic is wonderful for our classroom. They give our class free books based on what you order. It is a great way to get resources for the classroom.
Water Bottles
Please send a water bottle to school with your child everyday. It makes it much quicker for us to keep your child hydrated. After recess, the children are very thirsty. We do not have a drinking fountain in the classroom; instead, we have been giving the students who do not have water bottles a paper cup filled with water. They usually throw the cup away and don't drink all of the water because we are usually going to lunch or specials. This wastes cups and also does not give your child enough water that they need. Those who have water bottles may get a drink any time they are thirsty. It makes life much simpler if they have their water bottles.
Reminder
Picture day will be Friday, September 21. Kindergarten will get their pictures taken in the morning.
Thanks again for all your help and support with our classroom!
Have a great week and I will see you tonight!
Miss Sneeuwjagt