Newsletter ~ January 10

January Greetings, Rascal Families!

Beautiful beginnings for our first 5-day week in 2013. Volunteer Tanguay (Blake's Nana-pm) and Blake gave us a New Year class gift.... Pete the Cat puppet and a book entitled, Going to the Sea Park, by Mercer Mayer.  Of course, we'll add the puppet to our class Book Nook Library

and the book will be included in our Read at Home Program. 

 Thank you so much, Mrs. Tanguay and Blake!!!!  You know we're wild about puppets and books!

Speaking of gifts, Mrs. Pearl and I got so many we needed a truck to transport them home. We feel LOVED by all of YOU! We spent 2013 days writing and sending thank-you notes to let you know how grateful we are for your generous presents and amazing children. We believe we're the luckiest teachers in the entire school! Some gifts had no names attached to them....perhaps they fell off. We enjoy writing personal notes to our students and know the Rascals love receiving them. If you did not get a thank-you, please send us a note to let us know. Merci!

Winter progress is happening this time of year.  Kinders interest in learning to read is at its peak!  You know it when you listen to them read the kindergarten decodables.  They are easy for some, just right for others and TOO hard for many.  These readers are sent home weekly.  Keep them at home and read repeatedly.   Cal Can Bat will be sent home on Friday.  

New sight words for next week are him and on.  We are going to focus on letter sounds; /o/, /r/ and /g/.  It will be a busy week, indeed!

The testing season has begun.....The Sight Word Assessment has been completed and sent home.  All of Rich’s Rascals are scheduled to take the “Imagine It! Benchmark on Wednesday, January 16^th..  There will be a substitute teacher in my classroom while I administer the Benchmark.  Your child will be tested in all the skills taught in the Imagine It! Reading Series thus far.   Some of the skills assessed will be in the following areas:  reading comprehension, letter recognition, letter sounds, generating rhyming words, reading sight words, sounding out words, segmenting and blending words, punctuation marks and knowing where to use capital letters in sentences.  These results will give me a profile of what your child knows and specific skills that need to be reinforced.  Be sure your child gets plenty of sleep!

Addition has been introduced and practiced at the Sensory Table this week.  Ask us about the + symbol.  We’ve modeled and solved addition number stories using play food.  

                   
                    We recognize “joining” sets as addition. 

                                Addition is our game!

 It’s fun to make up addition stories with a partner during workshop!  

Common Core Standard:   The children will know addition facts to 5 by memory.  This is challenging for kindergartners.  We will continue learning our math facts to 5 from now until the end of the year.  Thank you for reinforcing this at home, too.

We are happy to inform you that the new 2013 Show & Tell approach, featuring a Special Child of the week, will begin on Monday.  The “Bear”y Special Child will have center stage for a period of time each day of the week.  Kindergarten classmates, the teacher, the assistant and the volunteers are looking forward to the presentation of a poster, collection, estimation activity and Ted E. Junior’s home visit.  The highlight on Wednesday is the drawing.  The Special Child draws a name to determine who will be the special child the next week.  Overall, the new 2013 approach will be a very positive and educational experience for all of us.

Our class Teddy Bear, Ted E. Junior, has inspired us to learn more about Teddy history.  

Ask us who Teddy was named after.  Be ready to hear all about the famous bear hunt.  You might be surprised! 

Please note and mark Thursday as the recess day on your calendar for winter 2013.  During the cold, snowy  weather days, we will be going out to recess on Thursdays only.  There are NO specials on that day, therefore we will have time to dress in our “extra” outer clothing and play outdoors.  Every Thursday, your child will need to dress in winter coats, hats, mittens, snow boots and pants. 

It is best to pack all of this winter gear in a recyclable cloth bag. 

 If your child wears snow boots to school, please remember to send slippers (with soles) or shoes/sneakers to change into.  

Stocking/knit slippers are not allowed for safety reasons.  Our class is much too hot to stay in snow boots all session.  I hope this is helpful for planning your child’s winter clothing needs for each day throughout the snowy season.

IMPORTANT DATES….Get a pen and mark your calendar.  There is NO school on Monday, January 21, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  

February vacation will be Monday, February 25 throughout Friday, March 1.   

                         Happy  January Weekend! 

                         June A. Rich