Week of November 7th

My dad lost his short, vicious battle with cancer yesterday after being diagnosed 1 month and 1 day ago.  I was blessed to be by his side along with my mom and brother his last few days and I will forever cherish that moment.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for allowing me to share something so precious to me with you and for respecting it so so much.  I thank you for all your kind words, support and hugs.
I will be taking the next 2 weeks to be with my family.  I will be postponing our parent conference to December.  I plan to take a kindergarten prep day and schedule your conferences back to back throughout that day.  Again, thank you for your support.
Mrs. Holke will be filling in for me next week (a 2 day week for students) and most likely the following week as well (all minimum days).
I would like to still have our Thanksgiving Tasting Feast for the kiddos and will be discussing that with some parents so that we can organize that.  I will be communicating with you throughout these next 2 weeks via Remind and our blog.  I will still be having regular scheduled parent helpers in the classroom as we work to complete "Christmas Art" (yes, I work like a retail store).  Feel free to message me any questions you may have, you will not be "bothering" me in the least.
Because I will not be seeing you before our Thanksgiving Break, I wish you and your family a blessed holiday for we all have much to be thankful for!

**There will be NO HOMEWORK this week or next week**

Week of October 31st

I want to thank you guys for your patience through this horrendously difficult time my family and I are going through.  For any who do not know, my dad was put on hospice last Monday.  His cancer is extremely aggressive and he has now lost 50 lbs since being diagnosed on October 4th. Hospice has been absolutely wonderful and my family and I are making every moment count.  He needs constant care at this point so I am helping my mom and I would appreciate any extra help in the classroom this week as I work to be able to head home quickly after school to be there.  If you are willing to work on something at home, check with me.  I also need help taking down all October art.  Again, I can't thank you enough for your support.  

This Week's Focus:

sight words:  my
we, see, a, I, the, like,  to, can, and
shape:  circle
Phonics:  Pp and Nn
Phonemic Awareness:  segmenting sounds
Writing: Writing sentences using our sight words and stretching out unknown words
Reading:
Reading Strategies:  make your finger match the word,
                                 look at the Pictures (Eagle Eye)
                                check the first letter of the word (lips the fish)
                           stretch out the sounds in the word (stretchy snake)
Comprehension Skills: inferring, problem/solution
Theme: Spiders
Math: Numbers to 10
Student of the Week: Santiago

Important Dates:

October 31:  Scarecrow Day
November 9-11:  NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

November 14-18:  Minimum Days (conference week)
November 21-25:  Thanksgiving Break (No school)

Parent Conferences:

At this point, I'm not sure what parent conference week will have in store for me.  I am going to "tentatively" schedule conferences.  I may or may not need to reschedule all conferences to a later date. Thank you for your support.

Pumpkin Donation

We will be having some fun activities on Scarecrow Day!  One activity will involve each student decorating a small pumpkin.  I am asking for a 2$ or more donation from each family to cover the price of the pumpkins.   Please send it in an envelope or a baggie.  Thanks for your support!


Scarecrow Day

Scarecrow day will be on Monday, October 31th.  On this day, all kindergarten classes participate by dressing up like scarecrows.  This can be done by wearing an old pair of jeans or overalls, a flannel and whatever else a scarecrow might wear.  This does fall on Halloween this year.  Other costumes are not permitted at school.  Your child may choose to participate in scarecrow day or dress in orange and black.  No other costumes are allowed at Cram.  We will be having a scarecrow parade at 9:40 that day and everyone is welcome to come see it!  You do not need to be board approved to watch the parade!  I would love any and all parent help that day.  You do need to be board approved to help on this day.  I will plan according to my parent helper availability.  Please message me if you'd like to be a part of this fun day.  I would love parent help from 9:30 to 11:15 that day. Please let me know by October 16th if you'd like to join us for our Scarecrow day!  

Week of October 24th

This Week's Focus:

sight words:  my
we, see, a, I, the, like,  to, can, and
shape:  circle
Phonics:  Pp and Nn
Phonemic Awareness:  segmenting sounds
Writing: Writing sentences using our sight words and stretching out unknown words
Reading:
Reading Strategies:  make your finger match the word,
                                 look at the Pictures (Eagle Eye)
                                check the first letter of the word (lips the fish)
                           stretch out the sounds in the word (stretchy snake)
Comprehension Skills: inferring, problem/solution
Theme: Spiders
Math: Numbers to 10
Student of the Week: Santiago

Important Dates:

October 27th:  Barnes and Noble Reading Night

October 28:  minimum day

October 31:  Scarecrow Day
November 9-11:  NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

November 14-18:  Minimum Days (conference week)
November 21-25:  Thanksgiving Break (No school)


Family Reading Night

Thursday October 27th is our annual Family Reading Night at Barnes and Noble.  This is a chance for your child to wear his/her costume down to Barnes and Noble for lots of fun activities.  Teachers will be reading aloud, there will be costume parades, cupcake decorating and prizes to win!  Cram receives a portion of the money spent that night and everyone has a lot of fun!  

Pumpkin Donation

We will be having some fun activities on Scarecrow Day!  One activity will involve each student decorating a small pumpkin.  I am asking for a 2$ or more donation from each family to cover the price of the pumpkins.   Please send it in an envelope or a baggie.  Thanks for your support!


Scarecrow Day

Scarecrow day will be on Monday, October 31th.  On this day, all kindergarten classes participate by dressing up like scarecrows.  This can be done by wearing an old pair of jeans or overalls, a flannel and whatever else a scarecrow might wear.  This does fall on Halloween this year.  Other costumes are not permitted at school.  Your child may choose to participate in scarecrow day or dress in orange and black.  No other costumes are allowed at Cram.  We will be having a scarecrow parade at 9:40 that day and everyone is welcome to come see it!  You do not need to be board approved to watch the parade!  I would love any and all parent help that day.  You do need to be board approved to help on this day.  I will plan according to my parent helper availability.  Please message me if you'd like to be a part of this fun day.  I would love parent help from 9:30 to 11:15 that day. Please let me know by October 16th if you'd like to join us for our Scarecrow day!  

Week of October 17th

This Week's Focus:

sight words:  we, 
see, a, I, the, like,  to, can, and
shape:  triangle
Phonics:  Cc and Tt
Phonemic Awareness:  segmenting sounds
Writing: Writing sentences using our sight words and stretching out unknown words
Reading:
Reading Strategies:  make your finger match the word,
                                 look at the Pictures (Eagle Eye)
                                check the first letter of the word (lips the fish)
                           stretch out the sounds in the word (stretchy snake)
Comprehension Skills: inferring, problem/solution
Theme: Pumpkins
Math: Numbers to 10
Student of the Week: 

Important Dates:

October 17: Field trip to pumpkin patch (minimum day)

October 21: Box Tops due
October 27th:  Barnes and Noble Reading Night

October 28:  minimum day

October 31:  Scarecrow Day

Family Reading Night

Thursday October 27th is our annual Family Reading Night at Barnes and Noble.  This is a chance for your child to wear his/her costume down to Barnes and Noble for lots of fun activities.  Teachers will be reading aloud, there will be costume parades, cupcake decorating and prizes to win!  Cram receives a portion of the money spent that night and everyone has a lot of fun!  

Field Trip

 Our field trip is Monday!  This day is a minimum day for kindergarten only!  To attend, you must have given me notification already.   We can not allow parents to show up at the pumpkin patch and plan to join our group due to state and district regulations.  Also, there are no siblings allowed on this trip.  If you are chaperoning, please make child care arrangements for your other little ones and meet us at Greenspot Farm at 9:15.  Students should pack a sack lunch that day and leave lunch boxes at home.  Let me know if you have any questions about our field trip.  


Scarecrow Day

Scarecrow day will be on Monday, October 31th.  On this day, all kindergarten classes participate by dressing up like scarecrows.  This can be done by wearing an old pair of jeans or overalls, a flannel and whatever else a scarecrow might wear.  This does fall on Halloween this year.  Other costumes are not permitted at school.  Your child may choose to participate in scarecrow day or dress in orange and black.  No other costumes are allowed at Cram.  We will be having a scarecrow parade at 9:40 that day and everyone is welcome to come see it!  You do not need to be board approved to watch the parade!  I would love any and all parent help that day.  You do need to be board approved to help on this day.  I will plan according to my parent helper availability.  Please message me if you'd like to be a part of this fun day.  I would love parent help from 9:30 to 11:15 that day. Please let me know by October 16th if you'd like to join us for our Scarecrow day!  

Week of October 10

Thank you for your understanding and patience last week as I had to be out. I want to let you know that unfortunately my dad became very sick, very quickly, 2 weeks ago. He was diagnosed with cancer on Tuesday. This has been devastating. We never saw it coming.  The road ahead is very unclear at this time and I plan to remain as close to him as I can be as we travel down it.  I appreciate your thoughts, prayers and patience as my mom, brother and I help him fight.


This Week's Focus:

sight words:  we, 
see, a, I, the, like,  to, can, and
shape:  triangle
Phonics:  short a
Phonemic Awareness:  segmenting sounds
Writing: Writing sentences using our sight words and stretching out unknown words
Reading:
Reading Strategies:  make your finger match the word,
                                 look at the Pictures (Eagle Eye)
                                check the first letter of the word (lips the fish)
                           stretch out the sounds in the word (stretchy snake)
Comprehension Skills: inferring, problem/solution
Theme: Bats
Math: Numbers to 10
Student of the Week: 

Important Dates:

October 17: Field trip to pumpkin patch

October 21: Box Tops due
October 27th:  Barnes and Noble Reading Night

October 28:  minimum day

October 31:  Scarecrow Day

Family Reading Night

Thursday October 27th is our annual Family Reading Night at Barnes and Noble.  This is a chance for your child to wear his/her costume down to Barnes and Noble for lots of fun activities.  Teachers will be reading aloud, there will be costume parades, cupcake decorating and prizes to win!  Cram receives a portion of the money spent that night and everyone has a lot of fun!  

Field Trip

 Our field trip is approaching.  Just a reminder, all parents attending must notify me.  We can not allow parents to show up at the pumpkin patch and plan to join our group due to state and district regulations.  Also, there are no siblings allowed on this trip.  If you are chaperoning, please make child care arrangements for your other little ones.  Students should pack a sack lunch that day and leave lunch boxes at home.  Let me know if you have any questions about our field trip.  

Scarecrow Day

Scarecrow day will be on Monday, October 31th.  On this day, all kindergarten classes participate by dressing up like scarecrows.  This can be done by wearing an old pair of jeans or overalls, a flannel and whatever else a scarecrow might wear.  This does fall on halloween this year.  Other costumes are not permitted at school.  Your child may choose to participate in scarecrow day or dress in orange and black.  No other costumes are allowed at Cram.  We will be having a scarecrow parade at 9:40 that day and everyone is welcome to come see it!  You do not need to be board approved to watch the parade!  I would love any and all parent help that day.  You do need to be board approved to help on this day.  I will plan according to my parent helper availability.  Please message me if you'd like to be a part of this fun day.  I would love parent help from 9:30 to 11:15 that day. Please let me know by October 16th if you'd like to join us for our Scarecrow day!  

Week of October 3rd

This Week's Focus:

sight words:  
see, a, I, the, like,  to, can, and
color:  black
shape:  triangle
letter identification:  Mm and Ss
Phonemic Awareness:  segmenting sounds
Writing: Writing sentences using our sight words and stretching out unknown words
Reading:
Reading Strategies:  make your finger match the word,
                                 look at the Pictures (Eagle Eye)
                                check the first letter of the word (lips the fish)
                        
Comprehension Skills: retelling and story elements (characters, setting, problem and solution)
Theme: Owls
Math: Oder by size, length or weight
Student of the Week:  Marlee

Important Dates:

October 7: deadline for parent volunteer paperwork
October 17: Field trip to pumpkin patch

October 21: Box Tops due

October 28:  minimum day

October 31:  Scarecrow Day

Phonemic Awareness:

We will be working on segmenting words this week.  You can help at home by playing a "Secret Word" game with your child.  Tell them you have a secret word.  Take a simple word such as bat and segment the sounds for them.  /b/ /a/ /t/.  Have your child blend your secret word sounds together to form the word bat.  If your child is mastering simple words, go onto more difficult words that incorporate blends and digraphs (flag, spot, smash, cash, flash, etc).  This is a great game to play in the car.  The next step of difficulty is to have your child come up with a secret word and segment it for you.  Have fun helping your child learn!

Jog a Thon

Thank you so much for your support!  The kids had a great time and I am so grateful for your donations!  

Apple Pie Day

We made apple pies on Friday and they turned out great!  We had so much fun learning about apples this month and now we will learn about nocturnal animals in October.

Week of September 26th

This Week's Focus:
sight words:  
see, a, I, the, like,  to, can, and
color:  brown
shape:  circle
letter identification:  Xx, Yy, Zz
Phonemic Awareness:  beginning sounds
Writing: Writing sentences using our sight words and stretching out unknown words
Reading:
Reading Strategies:  make your finger match the word,
                                 look at the Pictures (Eagle Eye)
                                check the first letter of the word (lips the fish)
Comprehension Skills: retelling and story elements (characters, setting, problem and solution)
Theme: Apples
Math: Comparing Sizes 
Student of the Week:  Hayden

Important Dates:
September 27th:  Jog-a-Thon
September 30:  Minimum Day/Crazy Hair Day/Apple Pie Day
October 7: deadline for parent volunteer paperwork
October 17: Field trip to pumpkin patch

October 21: Box Tops due

October 28:  minimum day

October 31:  Scarecrow Day

Phonics:
We have almost completed the first phase of our phonics program.  We will briefly learn about letter Xx, Yy and Zz this week and then we move onto our second phase.  After briefly introducing each letter of the alphabet in phase one,  our second phase our phonics program will focus on two letters per week.  There will be more emphasis on letter formation and letter sounds.  We will work on phonemic awareness skills such as rhyming, beginning sounds, onset and rime, blending phonemes.  

Jog-a-Thon:

Our jog-a-thon will be Tuesday!!  We will be jogging at 10 am.  Remember, I appreciate any donation given!  Your child can ask family and friends for support in this.  Please turn in your jog-a-thon donations that day.  Only cash can be accepted.  These donations go directly to our classroom for this year's costs.  Again, any amount is appreciated.

Field Trip:

Thank you for turning in permission slips and donations for the field trip!  It is going to be a great time!  Remember, if you are planning to join us, you must pay at the door and you must let me know.  There are very strict rules from the state and the school that we must follow in regards to chaperones.  I appreciate your understanding.  

Parent Volunteers and TB Tests:  
   Please remember, no paperwork will be accepted after the October 7 cutoff.  

Apple Pie Day:
Thank you to those who have offered to donate items for our apple pie day.  Please send in your items no later than September 28th.