Weekly Report

We've had an exciting week this week, learning about Columbus Day, Fire Safety, and having hat day and a visit from the APA!

Thank you so much for sending in your change this week! We earned over $116 in our class! We had fun working with the coins each day, too!

Now the first quarter of Kindergarten has come to an end. I'm so proud of the growth that the children have shown during these first nine weeks of school. They are working so hard, and learning so much!

At some point during the week this week, you will receive your child's report card. You will notice that there are no overall grades for each subject. In Kindergarten for first quarter, teachers simply mark items in each subject area that need improvement, and then write a long narrative comment to give you specific information about how your child is currently doing. Starting second quarter, we will use the grades EE, ME, SD, and AC to summarize each subject area. (Exceeds Expectations, Meets Expectations, Still Developing, and Area of Concern). Traditional letter grades (A, B, C, D, F) begin in third grade.

Each skill on the report card is not assessed during the first quarter. The report card has the complete skill list for the year. The skills that we are working on will always be indicated on the mid-quarter progress report. Those are skills that we assess for the quarter. If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'm happy to clarify things for you, and report cards can be confusing.

REMINDERS:
*Please be sure to send a non-dairy, non-peanut snack to school each day. Several of the children have not had snacks, and everyone is usually hungry by snackime at 9:20. We also have children who are not bringing allergy-free snacks. When that happens, those snacks have to be saved for lunchtime, and children can be sad about that. Thank you for your help with this!

*Any time your child's transportation is different, be sure that I have a note or email. Those also will go on file with the office. All notes should have your child's first and last name, and my name.

We've continued to focus on recognizing sight words in the beginning reading books that we are working on together. Children can learn sight words in isolation, but it can be tricky to recognize the words that you know when they are in a sentence on a page in a book. You can help at home by keeping sight words posted somewhere your child can see them often, and then pointing out the words in books that you read together. Don't forget to keep working towards your October reading goals. October will be over before we know it!

The Peeps have lots of terrific story ideas that they are using in their personal narratives. Children have written about playing at the "bouncy house," going to the grocery store, riding the bus, and going to bed! At home, you can help your child think of ideas to write about. When you do something fun as a family and your child is excited about it, say, "You could write a book about that at school!" We're learning how writers get ideas for their books.

Writing number 8 can be tricky! "Make an S and do not wait, go right back up to make an 8!" We've been practicing writing numbers from 1-8, while finding all of the ways to make 8. We've also spent the week reviewing counting skills, patterns, more/less/equal, sorting and classifying as we end the quarter and complete our assessments to see what we know. Many of the children can already count to 100! Please keep working on oral counting at home. (When counting orally, the number a child can officially count to is the highest number reached without any errors.)

Be fire safe! Be sure to check the batteries in your smoke detectors, and develop an escape plan for your family in case of fire. When the Crestwood Fire Department came to visit this week, they focus on making sure that the children aren't scared of firefighters, know to stay low in a fire, and remember how to "stop, drop, and roll" in case fire gets on them. The boys and girls were so excited to sit in the fire truck and squirt the hose!



Monday is E Day - Library/Technology
Be sure that your child has his/her library book! 

Tuesday is A Day - Art

Wednesday is  B Day - Music/ EARLY RELEASE DAY Dismissal at 1:40
Please let me know if your child's transportation is changed from the usual plan. We will have Show and Tell for Early Release Day!
The book fair starts at school. Our class will preview the fair on Thursday morning. 

Thursday is  C Day - P.E.  Be sure to wear tennis shoes!

Friday is D Day - P. E. Be sure to wear tennis shoes!

Click here to view our lunch menu.

Dates to Keep in Mind:

Monday, October 24 and Wednesday, October 26: Parent/Teacher Conferences (please sign up for a time, if you have not already). 

Sunday, October 30, 4-6 pm: Trunk or Treat

Monday, October 31: Halloween Parade (1:40), Halloween Party (2:00-3:00)

Monday, November 7: NO SCHOOL (Conference Compensation Day)

Tuesday, November 8: NO SCHOOL (Election Day)

Have a great weekend!