Newsletter ~ April 4

April Greetings Rascal Families!

Exhibition Night is Thursday, April 18, from 5:30-6:15 PM!  Parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, baby-sitters and friends are invited.  Special recognition is in order for your child’s literary accomplishments!

Your favorite Rascal will be your Tour Guide as he (she) guides you through the evening.  Rascal Tour Guides are looking forward to leading the way while focusing on their classic pieces of work. A Gallery of ME Posters will be on display for all of you to admire....just to mention another exhibition of many!

The show goes on…Do you believe we are going to start the last chapter of Unit 8 in the Imagine It Reading Series next week?  Add sight words some, there to your growing list.  I am very pleased that you have been writing your sight words at home.  Kudos to you!!!

It is no surprise, we’ve been spelling words and are getting quite good at sentence dictation.  Writing sentences with words having the medial sounds of long vowels is first grade work!   We love reading our sentence to you!   Blending and reading words with long vowel sounds is a work in progress. The You Tube below shows you the blending routine we practice at school. 

Reviewing the long vowel sounds /A/ (as in ate)  and /I/ (as in ice) is the focus for next week.  Click on the arrow to hear the song that reinforces the silent/magic e rule.

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Budding architects are showing off their math smarts. 

Look at the structures the Rascals have created.  Yes, they are good at Math, Creating and Problem Solving.  Do you want to know more about each dimensional creation?  You might ask our Rascal the following questions:  How did you make that window?  What shapes did you use?  Have you figured out how to make a cube?  Tell me how you attached those triangles to each other?  Does your structure roll, slide or stack?  Your SMARTIE has come out of the box with BIG ideas!!!  Do you agree? 

Spread the word!  Reading decodables is a favorite pastime.  The readers range in levels of ability.  We choose a reader that is a good fit for what we can do independently.  The sound of all the Rascals reading is music to my ears. I am so very proud of each and every ONE of them!!!!

Counting the days 'til Monday when the AM Rascals buddy-up with 
Mrs. Dubisz' second graders....

and the PM Rascals have their weekly reading dates with Mrs. Lyscars' second graders.  Kindergartners may choose a book from home to read to their partner.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know.  The more that you'll learn, the more places you'll go."  Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

                                    
                                     The Count Is On....only 53 days left!
                                                June A. Rich

Mrs. Rich is "EGG"cited to get a phone call from Peter Rabbit. This is what he had to say, "Hi! It's Peter Cottontail! My bunny ears tell me you've been good boys and girls. Some "bunny" is very proud of YOU! I've been hopping in the ART Room and hiding eggs for you to find. Hop to it!!!

HIPPITY, HOPPITY....
The  AM  Rascals  are  on  their  way!

DdDING -A-LING -A-LING!

Here  come  the  PM  Rascals...
HIPPITY,  HOPPITY!!! 

HAPPY  EASTER  DAY  TO  ALL!

Newsletter ~ March 28

Spring Ahead Rascal Families!

Grateful accolades to you for sending in your child’s baby picture.  The combination baby/kinder photograph bulletin board works in beautifully with our reading theme:  Ready, Set, Grow!  Look who is grooowing!!!  Now we have a special connection to the concept of growth.  Needless to say, we are very excited about learning how living things grow and change. 

I LOVE the week following report cards.  The Rascals are focused on becoming better students.  

They’re on a mission to improve in every area.  Thank you for helping them set learning goals for the remaining kindergarten days.  With your support, they are going to grow like weeds from this day forward….Go Rascals!!!!

Root, Root, Root for your child!  We’ve been working together to help each other become better readers.  This week, we buddied up with a partner and took turns reading decodable readers aloud to each other. The children had fun pressing the easy button as they read aloud to their Rascal partner. 

          Good Readers A-Bloomin' With The Help Of 

                               A Rascal Buddy!

I am proud to share with you my observations.  We have learned to follow along and listen attentively while others read.  We praise each other for good reading such as correcting an error that didn’t make sense or reading with good expression.  We try to give others some “wait time” to work out unknown words on their own.  If help is needed partners work together to help their classmates solve it by prompting them to try something else such as:  “It’s a sight word”, “you can take that word apart”, or it can be as simple as helping them with the beginning sound.  We have learned so much one can only imagine what we will have mastered by June!

Each kindergarten student’s goal is to read the kindergarten decodable quite fluently.  Kindergarten decodables are sent home weekly (usually on Friday) for your child to read at home on a daily basis. 

We’re in the groove  to move….. The Rascals are on the “50 Sight Word” run for fun, fun, FUN!!!!  What?  Just 57 kindergarten school days left?  We ‘re determined to learn all 50 sight words by the end of kindergarten. Daily practice is a must in order to maintain the pace at which the sight words are introduced.  With your nightly help at home and daily practice during school, we will reach our goal of reading 50 sight words with automaticity (as quickly as we can say our name)!  GO RASCALS!!!!!!

The Imagine It Reading Series has brought us deep into Literacy Activities.  I am surprised that long vowel lessons are part of kindergarten instruction in this program.  The good news is long vowels will be taught in first and second grade, too.   We’ve been introduced to Long A. 

Moving right along to Long I next week with two new sight words:  down – they.  Many Rascals are ready to practice all 50 sight words.  Check out the complete list on our class blog.  Some kinders know them already… I am soooo impressed!!!!

Math has been a popular center this week. The focus has been on 2 and 3D shapes.  Our goal is to be able to name and describe the following:  square, circle, triangle, rectangle, hexagon, cube, cone, cylinder and sphere.

Be on the look-out for our 3-D shape papers.

Music with Ms. Latham will take place every Tuesday from now until the end of the year.  

  

Calling all Reading Challenge blue forms on Friday….  Remember to complete it and send it to school.  Last week the PM Rascals read the most minutes in the entire school… Congrats!!!   We’re on a mission to help our school reach a goal of reading 100,000 minutes.  This challenge ends April 12th.  Thank you!

 

                                                                        Happy Easter!

                                                                        Happy Passover!

                                                                        June A. Rich