week of September 17, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (Week of September 17)

Handwriting/Writing:  We will continue work on the Frog Jump Capitals and work on letters: B, R, N, M and review all of the ones taught so far.  We are also practicing numbers 0-3 almost daily.  We have been talking about the author/illustrator and the audience when reading stories and our morning message so we know who wrote the selection.

Reading: Our new story is: Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip and we will talk about community helpers.  Our weekly essential question is: “How do people in a community cooperate? “We will be classifying and categorizing.  Our amazing words are: bakery, park, library, fire station, post office, chaperone.  We have also been working hard on identifying the initial sounds in words. (example: /m/ is the initial sound in map).

In Math, our essential question is: “How do we read, write, and count numbers up to 5?” and we will be counting a set of objects and demonstrating that the last number said tells the number of objects in that set.  We have been using domino cards, five frames, number cards, and handwriting practice to help us out in our small and large group lessons.

Science/Social Studies: We will tie in our community helpers from our weekly Reading story along with reviewing what being a good school/community citizen looks like from our previous social studies lessons. 

Important dates to remember:

***Paid Dress Down Friday, September 21st.  1-dollar donation to participate.

***The next Fall Festival Meeting will be will be September 24th at Francesco's at 7 pm.  If you have your clearances and would like to volunteer and could not attend the first meeting here at school, you can attend this meeting. 

*** FREE DRESS DOWN DAY IF YOU WEAR a Blue Shirt on October 1^st to Support Bullying Prevention in Schuylkill County.

week of September 10, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (Week of September 10)

Handwriting/Writing:  Our first unit is Unit 1: Readiness, Name, Frog Jump Capitals, Numbers 1-3.  We have been working on strengthening our hands and using our helper hand to steady our paper when coloring and writing along with working on coloring every morning to warm up for the day.  We have been working on writing our first and last names and writing the numbers 0-2.  In our Morning Message, we have identified 2-finger spaces between words when we write along with starting at the top when writing our letters.

Reading: Our new story is: Pladypus Lost and it is Realistic Fiction.  Our weekly essential question is: “How do families cooperate? “We will be sequencing the story’s events and listening for Rhyme and Rhythm.  Our amazing words are: platypus, around, lost, found, market, groceries.  Just a reminder that AR book log books could be books at home, books from the library, or they can borrow from our “pool”.  Keep on reading J

In Math, we are working on Numbers 0-5.  We have been busy writing numbers, counting objects, and demonstrating 1-1 correspondence using objects and a 5 frame.  In Math Meeting, we are working on: filling in the daily calendar, oral counting to 100, introduction to basic shapes, and talking about time of day/seasons of the year.

Science/Social Studies: We are learning about “What is Science” and what science means to us.  We are also talking about “Being A Good Citizen” and we have been reviewing all of the points of the SPARTY way and we have attached our Larry the Listener that we use to review what whole body listening looks like to us so that we are ready to learn.

Important dates to remember:

***Picture Day will be on September 14^th.  Next Friday, September 14, 2018, is the first official PAID DRESS DOWN DAY for the district. It is also picture day at NSE.  Therefore, we are rescheduling our paid dress down day at NSE to Friday, September 21st.  Please return the picture paper and money ASAP.

***School store will be starting on September 10^th, and Mondays are the days that Kindergarten can shop.  If your child would like to buy something from the school store, make sure that he/she has an envelope marked with their name and homeroom and that the money is for “School Store”.

***The next PTO meeting is September 10 and if you did not yet sign up for PTO, you can do so at this meeting.  Please make sure to sign up and also send in your clearances if you would like to volunteer at school.

week of September 4, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter (2018-2019)

Please read carefully (this newsletter and all of the papers included in the folder this week)!

It was a great first week! We are settling in and learning our new routines and expectations. Just a few reminders to help our classroom run smoothly:

***Please check folders each day. Take out any papers on the Left at Home side and complete or sign any pages on the Bring Right Back Side as soon as possible. *We realized some of the stickers were on the wrong sides, so we are working on correcting that! The front of the folder is for things left at home and the back of the folder is for things that need to be returned.  Thanks! *

***Accelerated Reader books will be sent home this week. There is no written homework but we expect children to read with someone each night. Sometimes there will be books in their bag that they can read to you, most times you can read to them and have your child pick out the letters and words they know. You can also use books from home to add to your log located in the folder. At the end of the year students with the most books read receive prizes.   We are also enclosing a read aloud list to give you some ideas of books that will be helpful in building vocabulary.

***Sight words will also be practiced each night in place of written homework. Begin with the first list. I will test students and put a star under the list when they’ve read it correctly you can then move on to the next list. Cut out the flashcards as you work on them and keep them in the envelope included in the communication folder and begin working on List 1.

***Help your child learn their Identification number. This number was sent home in their welcome letter. If you need it again, please let me know. It will be used to get lunch, log on to the computers and check out library books.

***Please send a snack each day. We have an early lunch so we will grab a quick snack while we work in the afternoon.

***Don’t forget to send a dress code appropriate extra set of clothes to keep in your child’s cubby. Please put it in a bag (a gallon size Ziploc works great) and label it with their first and last name.

***LABEL EVERYTHING! Make sure backpacks, lunch bags, coats etc. are labeled with first and last names. All money being sent to school must be in an envelope labeled with first and last name, teacher name, what it’s for, and the amount included.

***This week we began learning how to use the manipulatives and staying in our centers for our Math Groups.

***We will begin our new Reading story, The Little School Bus by Pamela Paparone. We are using this story to talk about school and bus safety, following directions, and characters in a story. This story will be continued into next week with other Back to School literature. Ask your child about the books we’ve read this week. The Kissing Hand was one of our favorites. We even had a scavenger hunt throughout the building looking for Chester the character from our book and important rooms in our building. We didn’t find Chester but we did find a cookie for our hard work! 

***There is no school on Labor Day, and it will be Day 6 when we return on September 4^th.

***Picture Day will be on September 14^th. 

***This newsletter will be sent home as a hard copy and located on our class blog.  The remaining newsletters for the year will be on our class blog and sent out as an email unless you request a hard copy. 

***Thanks for a great start to the school year; we are looking forward to working with you and can’t wait to see all of the progress!

week of May 28, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter

Week of May 28, 2018

***For the carnival on Friday, May 25, please put sunscreen on your child to come to school.  They should wear gym clothes and they must have socks in order to participate in the activities.  Please also send a book bag so that they can take home anything from the carnival.

-This is our last newsletter of the school year.  We would like to thank you for your time and cooperation over this past year.  We are so thrilled with all of the growth over the past year and we would like to wish you the best of luck for the following school year.

-Please continue to check your child’s folder for the rest of the school year and please continue to send a book bag for your child because there will still be things coming home for the rest of the year.

***Important Information-

-Please send back all library books as soon as possible so our librarian can begin the end of the year inventory.

-We have most of the AR books back, thanks for your cooperation!  If you happen to find one of our books at home, please just return it before the end of the school year, Thanks!

-Thank you to the local libraries for coming to visit Kindergarten on May 31.  Thank you also to the Chill Out for providing Kindergarten with an end of the year ice cream treat on May 30.  We appreciate all that you do!

***Upcoming Dates:

May 28- No School, Memorial Day

May 29- Day 7

June 5- Last Day of School, Early Dismissal

week of May 21, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter

Week of May 21, 2018

***In Math, we are steadily working on the Step Up to 1^st Grade lessons and these will continue for the rest of the year.  We will also be sending home a reference sheet of vocabulary for the Step Up to 1^st Grade lessons prior to the end of the school year that can be used as a review over the summer.  In Morning Meeting, we will continue to rote count, compare greater than/less than, reading numbers, and 3D and 2D shapes.

***In Reading, our new story is Alistair and Kip’s Great Adventure and it is an animal fantasy story.  Our amazing words are: gathered, distant, drifting, voyage, island, aboard. Our essential question is “What can friends build together?”.  We will also talk about plot and character of a story.  Any time that you read a story at home, it is important to talk about the characters in the story, the setting of the story, and the events that are happening in the story.  Talking about the story helps build those comprehension skills. 

***Handwriting/Writing-  We have been reviewing number writing to 20 as well as writing the lowercase letters.  We are now practicing 2 lowercase letters each morning to review their formation one more time before the end of Kindergarten.  We have also been trying to tie in our writing prompts to either our reading stories or what is happening around us (example: what we like to do on a rainy day).

***Kindergarten Graduation Dress Code- Students are encouraged to wear a while collared shirt with dress code appropriate pants, shorts, or skirt for Kindergarten Graduation, however, it is not mandatory.  When picking out your child’s outfit for Graduation Day, please keep in mind that they will be wearing a cap and gown for the ceremony and it can get very hot on the stage with the lights on them.  There is also a possibility that we will be walking to the high school the morning of Graduation to practice so we ask that your child wears good walking shoes.

***Important Information-

-Please send back all library books as soon as possible so our librarian can begin the end of the year inventory.

-We have most of the AR books back, thanks for your cooperation!  If you happen to find one of our books at home, please just return it before the end of the school year, Thanks!

-We are winding down with the newsletters, next week will be the last newsletter of the school year.  Please continue to check the folders for important notes and information until the end of the school year.  Many Thanks!

- A big THANK YOU AND CONGRATUTLATIONS for all of the hard work over this past school year.  For the end of the year DIBELS that included: letter naming, phoneme segmentation, and nonsense words, everyone in the class has improved since the beginning of the year!  We are so happy with the growth and thank you if you practiced at home, the support has really helped! J

***Upcoming Dates:

May 22- 1pm, Kindergarten Graduation

May 25- NSE Carnival Day

May 28- No School, Memorial Day

June 5- Last Day of School, Early Dismissal

week of May 14, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter

Week of May 14, 2018

***In Math, we have covered all of the lessons in the Kindergarten math series.  There is a Step Up to First grade component that we will begin in order to prepare for the transition to 1^st grade.  We will continue to review: rote counting to 100, identifying numbers and writing numbers 0-20, one to one correspondence, greater than/less than, comparing two numbers or two groups of objects, composing and decomposing numbers up to 19 into ten and ones, and two and three dimensional shapes.

***In Reading, our new story is Building Beavers and it is an expository nonfiction story.  Our amazing words are: beaver, lodge, paddle, river, stream, lake. Our essential question is “How do beavers build their homes?”.  We will also talk about main idea of a story.  Please continue to review: letter names, letter sounds, all the sounds you hear in a word, blending sounds together to make a word, reading nightly and practicing all sight words.

***Handwriting/Writing-  We will continue responding to a given prompt.  We are practicing chopping out the sounds in the words that we want to write in order to write the letters in the words independently.  We are also saying out loud what we want to write before we begin to write so that we are focusing on answering the prompt correctly.  We are making an illustration to match the writing as the final step.

***Kindergarten Graduation Dress Code- Students are encouraged to wear a while collared shirt with dress code appropriate pants, shorts, or skirt for Kindergarten Graduation, however, it is not mandatory.  When picking out your child’s outfit for Graduation Day, please keep in mind that they will be wearing a cap and gown for the ceremony and it can get very hot on the stage with the lights on them.  There is also a possibility that we will be walking to the high school the morning of Graduation to practice so we ask that your child wears good walking shoes.

***Important Information-

-Please send back all library books as soon as possible so our librarian can begin the end of the year inventory.

-Please also send back books that you may have borrowed for AR to return to our classroom library.

-Please continue to practice skills for the DIBELS test that is happening the week of May 14.  Please complete the practice packet and send back ASAP for a prize!

***Important Dates:

Monday, May 14- Day 8

Week of May 14- DIBELS Reading Testing

***Upcoming Dates:

May 22- 1pm, Kindergarten Graduation

May 25- NSE Carnival Day

May 28- No School, Memorial Day

June 5- Last Day of School, Early Dismissal

week of May 7, 2018

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Newsletter

Week of May 7, 2018

***In Math, we will continue Topic 12, Measurement.  Our topic essential question is: “How can objects be compared by length, height, capacity, and weight?” Our new Math words are: longer (than), shorter (than), as tall as, taller (than), lighter (than).  Please continue to review: counting to 100 (by ones and tens), identifying numbers, writing numbers 0-20, more/less and greater/fewer, and next number in a series.

***In Reading, our new story is Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop and it is an animal fantasy story.  Our amazing words are: saw, drill, hammer, screwdriver, file, chisel. Our essential question is “What tools do you need to build things?”.  We will also talk about characters in a story.  Please continue to review: letter names, letter sounds, all the sounds you hear in a word, blending sounds together to make a word, reading nightly and practicing all sight words.

***Science and Social Studies-  We will be working on problem solving skills and listening skills as we end the school year.  We will continue to review how to be part of a group and working hard on our PBIS skills (being safe, participating, acting respectful, and teamwork) to earn our last reward of the school year.

***Handwriting/Writing-  We are working on independently answering a given prompt.  We are trying hard to stay on topic, use two finger spaces, using a period to end our thought, using lowercase letters when writing (unless it begins a sentence or an important word) and chopping out the sounds in the word before we write it down.

***Important Information-

-Please send back all library books as soon as possible so our librarian can begin the end of the year inventory.

-Please also send back books that you may have borrowed for AR to return to our classroom library.

-Please continue to practice skills for the DIBELS test that is happening the week of May 14.  Please complete the practice packet and send back ASAP for a prize!

***Important Dates:

Monday, May 7- Day 3, Parent Night for the Book Fair (4-7 pm), PTO Meeting 6:30 pm

Thursday, May 10- Our Book Fair shopping day

Friday, May 11- Dress Down Day (please see separate paper for further information), DIBELS practice packet due for a prize

***Upcoming Dates:

May 22- 1pm, Kindergarten Graduation

May 25- NSE Carnival Day

May 28- No School, Memorial Day

June 5- Last Day of School, Early Dismissal