The children are now writing daily in their draft books.  They have mastered the left to right and top to bottom writing and having their illustration tell the same story as their words!  Now we will focus a bit on spacing, hearing more sounds in words and becoming more independent.  "Am" and "at" are now expected to be written correctly amd independently by my authors.

In everyday math our pattern work with the unifix cubes was very successful.  The children were introduced to the mathematical labeling of pattern.  We are now reading our calendar pattern and other patterns in math language.  When we read, for example, a blue, green pattern, the children also practiced reading the pattern using the AB (math language) designation.  This has been a challenge for all of us as we think of letters mostly being in our reading and writing work.  We have spent time ordering numerals and reviewing digits.  Money was revisited and visited Mrs. Mildner's Store and made some difficult but fun purchases with our pennies.  In addition to the EM activities we did some apple math.  Ask the children how our apple graph turned out! 

Thank you to Cole Luggi's family for purchasing more antibacterial cleaner for our tables.

Report cards and conferences are coming!  Starting on November 17, you may contact the office and make an appointment to see me in early December.  I can't believe we are just about on third of the way through our school year! 

Math:  Our growing number line continues!  We are looking at digits in numerals and learning about what they stand for.  We are becoming more familiar with tally marks as we graph our weather each day.  This week we will begin to learn about the penny with games, peotry and song.  We will do some more measuring.  We will continue to work on quantities and learning how to make our numerals.

Science:  We still are building in here and the marble run is still the favorite material to use.  We have read lots of books on construction and seen a video on how to build a road.  This week we will ocmplete one more assessment and explore pulleys and levers.   A  very big THANK YOU to Jenna's mom, Suzanne, for the fantastic drawings that we used in classwork and for our architecture walk.   Thanks also to the moms that helped out as we explored the neighborhood.  Perhaps the best part for us was mixing the two classes and working with a friend from the other kindergarten!

     Consolidated School and classroom rules, routines and expectations.

     A mini-unit about themselves and how they can be a good friend.

     A mini-unit exploring the alphabet as a whole.

     At the end of the month our Phonics and Friends program and our first science unit (Construction) will start.

     Sneak-a-Peek   August 25th from 9:00 t0 10:00  A bus ride will be available for the children and you will get to meet with school staff and the PTA at that time.  Then it is off to explore the rooms!

     Parent Orientation   September 8th 6:00 to 7:00 in the classroom. We will talk about curriculum, schedules and expectations for the year. Come with questions!

     Literacy Screening   September 2nd and 3rd.  Your child has received an appointment for this screening.  This literacy screening will give us initial literacy information in order to fine tune our curriculum to best meet the needs of each student.

     September 4  The first day of classes for all K students.  We will be meeting the students at the bus door the first week and into the second week.  

                                Other Items of Interest 

Each morning we will have a short snack (healthy, please).  Milk, bottled water and orange juice may be purchased for $.50 a carton.  There is a hot lunch program (children $2.25, adult $4:00) with several choices daily. Our lunch program is computerized and you can access your child's account online as wll as the menu. You may pay by the week, month or the year.  The drink choices are available for those who bring their lunch from home as well.  Our lunch time is 11:15.   We will update you about lunch at the sneak-a-peek.   

After lunch we have a short rest time.  We are asking that each child bring a beach towel to keep at school for rest time.  We will send them home periodically for a wash and ask that they be returned the following Monday.  It is also helpful for children to have a change of clothes here. Please label all items and put in a zip lock bag.  These will kept in the classroom bathroom to ensure privacy if students need them.

We share bus duty at the end of the day.  We will need a note from home should your child have a change in their normal afternoon routine.  This prevents tears and anxious moments for your child and for us! 

We encourage you to subscribe to our blogs (see the Kport website).The blogs are updated monthly and with a subscription you will automatically receive all updates.

We are looking forward to meeting each of you and forming a partnership that will ensure that we all have the best kindergarten year ever!