Ms. O’Shaughnessy’s Overview 9/7/10

I hope that you all enjoyed the long weekend with family and friends! We have another short four day week of kindergartenJ

Theme:

 To finish up our All About Me theme the students will be presenting the posters about themselves that they have been working hard on to the class. Towards the end of the week we will move into our Community unit. The students will be learning more about the school and neighborhoods around us. We are going to be reading Oh the Places You’ll Go! by Dr. Suess to help the students set goals for themselves this year.

Literacy and Math:

All of the students are assessed in both subject areas. This week we are going to be getting the students use to moving into different classrooms, meeting new friends, getting to know all three kindergarten teachers during the scheduled literacy and math times. Next week the students will be officially switching for math and literacy. There will be a purple slip sent home in the Monday Folders on Sept. 13^th telling you your child’s literacy and math teacher.

Newsletters:

I will send a weekly newsletter home every Monday via email. Please make sure you sign up online to receive your copy. Go to www.stargateschool.org. Under the Parent section of the website look for newsletter management to sign up to electronically receive your child’s homeroom, literacy, and math teacher’s newsletters. The Kindergarten team webpage listed under Teams. I will send home hard copies for the next two weeks while things are still new. If you have a hard time logging onto receive the newsletter through email, contact the front office and they can help you.

Important Dates:

9/7 – 9/10 Schwartz Family providing snack

9/7 Entertainment books and orders due

*The entertainment books order should be back to you by Sept. 14^th

9/8 Zane and Tommy’s share day

9/10 Picture Day

9/15 Curriculum Night   

This is a very important night for you to come and meet your child’s math, literacy, and homeroom teachers. We will go over expectations and curriculum as well as answer any questions you may have. In addition, this is when we have the volunteer sign-ups. It is best that parents attend this evening without their children if possible. There will be a lot of information to go through and not much seating room for entire families.

9/24 Staff development day, no school for students

Have a good week!

Ms. O’Shaughnessy’s Overview 8/30/10

Welcome to all the families that are starting the Stargate kindergarten program this year!  The first eight days that our class has experienced here at school have been very exciting, and I am looking forward to what the remainder of the school year is going to bring for our class.

This Week:

We have been busy establishing routines, becoming familiar with the classroom rules, and having discussions about being a good friend. Today we had a conversation about being responsible and understanding what choice feels and looks like in our classroom. This first full week the students were introduced to the job chart, and they enjoy having a contributing role to the success in our room. Our specials for the first trimester are general music with Mr. O and PE with Ms. Lamonski.

Theme:

On Friday we started the “All About Me” theme. In morning meeting the children have been sharing what things there are good at, things that they want to get better at, and other interesting facts about their unique characters. We will continue working on this theme into next week. Each child will be creating a big poster about themselves and their family. Please send in a picture of your child that you do not wish to be returned, if you have not already, they will be put on the posters and laminated for the children to have. At the end of the unit the students will share and present their posters to the class.

Home Folders:

Everyone did a great job on the first week with the folders, students and parents! The purple folder is their homework folder. Homework is sent home on Monday and is due back by Friday.  The white folder is the parent communication folder.  It will contain your child’s finished work, news from the school, and any other information that parents should know. Please check your child’s backpack every Monday for these two folders. These are just two opportunities for us to communicate throughout the school year, please always feel free to contact me by phone or email when you have a question about your child or our class.

This year the kindergarten team will be stamping the parent signature page in the white folders with a room number stamp, ours is 135. This is a new system school wide to further teacher and parent communication. The way our kindergarten team preparing parents to look for these stamps in the years to come at Stargate; is by stamping the white signature page in the Monday folders. Here at Stargate we are enthusiastic about encouraging students to be accountable for their work at school!

Extra Clothes:

Please send in a set of extra clothes for your child, if you have not already. In case they have an accident or spill something on themselves, they will feel more comfortable changing into their own clothes here at school. Thank you for thinking through all the small details as the beginning of the school year gets off to a busy start.

Assessments:

The assessment days were a great tool for us to know how to talk to your children about math and reading these first couple of weeks.  The kindergarten team has gone over the assessments and we plan to discuss with you what math and literacy groups your children will be in on Curriculum night. Thank you for adjusting your schedule to allow time for your child to come in and be assessed.  It was great having one-on-one time with your children before the regular school days started.

Pictures:

Individual picture day is on Friday, September 10th.  Picture retakes are also available on this day if your family came in the week before school began when the photographers were here and you would like to try again. The forms for pictures are being sent home in the Monday folders this week.

Library:

Our class is enjoying going to the library for fifteen minutes every day of the week, except for Wednesday. The librarian’s name is Mrs. Doubrava, and she has been reading the all different kinds of books this week to show the students what the library has to offer. Next week she is going to be giving the students guided tours of the library, teaching them about the different sections of the library, and help the kids take books off the shelves and learn how to put them back correctly or on a table.

 It is our hope that by the third full week of school the students will be ready to check books out on Friday. We plan to have the students keep the checked out library books in their cubbies the first couple of weeks that they check books out, to ensure that they have a great attitude towards the responsibility that comes with borrowing books from the library. We are looking forward to teaching the students how to have responsible attitudes about borrowing library books. Our goal is to have them be ready to bring them home towards the end of September.

If your family wishes to not have your child borrow books from the library, in fear of losing them, that is totally fine as well. You know how your house and children work best. Please make a note in your Monday folder if this is the case and we will help your child enjoy the books during library time.

I really look forward to getting to know all the families in our classroom. I truly believe that in order to best educate your children that communication should be strong among students, parents, and teachers. You are the expert on your child and please contact me any time throughout the year to share your ideas, I value your input.

Have a fantastic week!

Ms. O’Shaughnessy