Laurel Keyes

January News

       

 

WELCOME BACK and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dear Parents,

I hope that you enjoyed the holidays and the time with your

families.  It's hard to believe, but Friday, January 27^th will be the 100th day of the school year! Kindergarten will be celebrating this event and will be participating in many fun 100th day activities that week.  A 100th Day of School Project will be sent home in your child's folder on Tuesday.  Please let me know if you have any questions. 

 

Report cards will be sent home on Friday, January 13^th. Please sign the white card inside and send it back in the gold envelope.  You may keep the report card.  At this time your child should recognize all upper and lower case letters out of sequence, all consonant letter sounds, and at least 20 sight words. Your child should also be able to write a simple sentence using known words and phonetic spelling.

 

 

In The Classroom...

 

This month in math, we will be working with numbers 10-30, and comparing numbers using more than, less than, or equal. In science and social studies, our focus will be on winter and exploring the North and South Pole.  The children will be "ice skating" in the classroom to practice measurement and participating in a science experiment to see if they can discover how Polar bears are able to stay warm in such a cold climate!  We will also be learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 

 

Homework...

 

Writing is a big focus of ours this month, and will be the rest of the school year.  Please encourage your child to write, and sound out the words that they are writing. Having them help you with grocery and "to-do" lists, or writing a simple thank-you note, are some fun ways for you to share the writing process with your child.

 

Please make note of the following important dates:

 

January 16^th – No school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 26^th - 100th Day of School Project due

January Specials Calendar

Download January Specials Calendar

December News...

 

   

Dear Parents,

The children really enjoyed our Thanksgiving Feast with Mrs. Hampton's Indians on Wednesday.  Thanks to all of you who sent in items for this, and to Christine Godwin for coming in and helping us set up. Ms. Bogale and I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

  

 

   

Nutcracker Ballet

 

 

 On Tuesday, December 6th, we will see the Nutcracker Ballet at the Cobb County Civic Center in Marietta.  We will leave the school at 9:15 and return to school around 11:45.  We will be listening to the music and story of The Nutcracker in class, to help the children understand and enjoy the performance.  Since this is the ballet, we would like for your child to dress nicely.  Please remember to send in the permission slip and payment envelope if you have not already done so.  We know this experience will long be remembered by your child!

 

  Holiday Centers

Friday, December 16th we will be having our Holiday Centers.  We will begin at 11:30 and end at 12:30. Please stop by and join us if you can.  There will be a sign-out sheet in the classroom if you wish to check your child out early this day.

 

 

Please check the December calendar for our specials schedule, and make note of the following important dates:

December 2nd:  Scholastic Book orders due

December 6th:  Nutcracker Ballet

December 9th:  Pajama Day/Barnes and Noble Night

December 16th:  Holiday Centers

December 23rd-January 9th:  Winter Break

January 10th:  Return to school

 

                                                                                                                                             

 

December Specials Calendar

Download December Specials Calendar

Wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

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November News...

 

Dear Parents,

We had a great time at our Fall Centers!  Thanks to our room moms, Christine Godwin and Danielle Soupiset, for organizing this for us.  Thanks also to everyone who helped out by volunteering and sending in supplies.  The children had a wonderful time.

In The Classroom...

During the month of November we will be learning about the First Thanksgiving, and we are looking forward to having a Thanksgiving feast with Mrs. Hampton's kindergarten class .  More information about this will be sent home soon.

Science Day will be on Friday, November 11th.  This is an all day event where the students will be rotating through different centers related to our science curriculum.  Please make sure you child wears her/his class t-shirt to school on Science Day.  We will be having sack lunches in the classroom that day.

In math, we will continue to work on graphing and problem solving.  We will also be learning patterning, trading pennies for dimes and working with 2-D/3-D shapes.

In language arts, we are continuing to work on multilevel activities in order to reach all the learners in our classroom.  Some of the skills we will be learning are; segmenting words (clapping out the syllables), word families and oral blending.  During our read aloud time, we will be working on comprehension skills (predicting, characters, setting and sequencing events).  These are great topics to discuss with your child when you are reading together at home.

Homework

Please continue to read with your child and practice the "40 Sight Words" list sent home last month.  Once your child has mastered reading these words, please have her/him practice writing the words or using them in a sentence.  The children have been learning to use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and a "stop  sign" (punctuation) at the end.  There is a wonderful website that I will be using in class as we learn about the first Thanksgiving.  I encourage you to visit the link below with your child and take a trip back in time!  http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/

 

Important Dates and Reminders

November 8th:  Student Holiday

November 11th:  Science Day - Wear your class t-shirt!  We will have sack lunches that day.

November 14th:  PTSA presents Turkey BINGO 

November 16th:  Thanksgiving Feast with Mrs. Hamptons' Indians - more information to follow soon.

November 21st-25th:  Thanksgiving Holidays- Be sure to have your child tell the story of the first Thanksgiving to your family!

November Specials Calendar

Download November Specials Calendar

October News...

 

                                    

“Finally it’s fall and the earth cools down.  Leaves change red, yellow orange and brown…” 

 

Dear Parents,

I hope that you are enjoying the nice fall weather!  We are looking forward to learning about the changing season.  As the temperature starts to get cooler, and the children begin to wear sweaters and jackets to school, we would appreciate it if you could label these items so that they can be easily identified if they are misplaced.  Thank you so much for sending in apples with your children last week.  We had fun reading and learning about Johnny Appleseed, making applesauce and made a picture graph of our favorite  apples.

Parent Teacher Conferences will be held the week of October 24th-28th.  Conferences will typically run from about 12:45-3:30 at 20-minute intervals.  We will be on an early release schedule for those five days, so please mark your calendar.  You will receive your child's report card at the conference, and we will discuss your child's progress.  I am looking forward to seeing each of you during conference week.

In The Classroom... 

During the month of October we will be learning how to extend, transfer, and create patterns in math.   In science we are learning about living and nonliving things, and in social studies we will be learning about Christopher Columbus.  In language arts, we will continue going through the alphabet letters and their sounds.   Your child should be able to say the name of these letters out of order and the sounds these letters make.  We have introduced the sight words: a, I, go, see, up, the, look, go, you, like, my, and color words.  The children are very excited each week when we get to add these words to our “Words We Know Wall”!  We are also continuing to work on identifying rhyming words this month. 

Homework

Please continue to read with your child each evening.  You may record your reading activities in the Reading Log, which is available under the homework section of my blog. 

I will be sending home a list of the 40 sight words for kindergarten at Parent/Teacher conferences in a few weeks.   We do many sight word activities in the classroom, but any additional practice you can do with your child at home would be helpful.  If your child masters this list, try having him/her write the words or use them in a sentence for an extra challenge. I also have additional sight word lists if you feel that your child is ready to move on.  Please take a look at the "What Are Sight Words?" section of my blog for fun strategies you can use at home to practice sight words with your child.

Review alphabet letters and sounds.  Ask your child if he/she can name things that begin with a particular letter.  For a challenge ask your child if they can name something that ends with a letter sound.  A fun way to practice is with a small dry-erase or Magna Doodle board.  You can call out a sound and have your child write the letter.  This is great reinforcement for the types of writing activities we are working on this year in the classroom.

Also, here are some great websites that we have been using in the classroom this year.  Your child will enjoy reviewing math and literacy skills on these sites....

 http://www.starfall.com/

http://playkidsgames.com/

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade/kindergarten/ 

Thank you for all the support you give your child at home!

Important Dates and Reminders...

October 21st:  Picture Retakes and Fall Centers

October 24th-28th:  Conference Week ~ Children are dismissed 2 hours early each day.

 

What Are Sight Words?

 

These are words that need to be recognized instantly or "on sight" for smooth reading. Another reason they are called "sight words" is that many of them can't be sounded out. Students just have to remember how "sight words" look.

Sight Words (sometimes called the Dolch Word List) are some of the most frequently used words in the English language. Even though they number only about 200, sight words comprise approximately 50 to 70 percent of any given general, non-technical text. Therefore, teaching sight words as early as possible is considered an important part of a balanced literacy program.

Knowing sight words can help students avoid the frustration of trying to do the impossible (trying to sound out words that don't follow decoding rules).  Sight words are everywhere! Many of the sight words will be in anything that we read. If students know these words, they will know many of the words in whatever they are trying to read. These small successes help build confidence in reading.  

I have attached some power point presentations of the 40 sight words your child should know by the end of kindergarten.  You can also use the list of games and strategies here  :Download KdgSightWrdStratgies

Download 1st-nine-week-sight-words-1

Download 2nd-nine-week-sight-words-09-2

Download 3rd-nine-week-sight-words-10

Download 4th-nine-week-sight-words-10

 

October Specials Calendar

Download October Specials Calendar

 

Please remember to send an apple to school with your child on Monday.