Practice...

Thank you to everyone who sent in your child's name information. We are going to begin sharing them next week. :)
Next week in small group we are going to begin working on letters. Please make sure that you are reviewing identifying uppercase letters, then, lowercase letters (Not together), last  letter sounds. Once your child has learned all his or her letter sounds they are ready for word families (at,an,am etc...)
In math we are working on number identification, number writing 0-9, and 1 to 1 counting.

Names and Colors, Colors and Names!

Thank you to everyone who has already sent in the story of your child's name. They are due no later than Friday, September 28th. 
We are working on learning to identify the letters in our names, how to correctly write the letters the school way, and today we worked on sorting letters in our names and letters that are not in our names.  The students enjoyed counting the letters in their names after reading a great story about a name Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. We graphed the letters in our names.  The largest numbers of letters in a name was eight and the smallest was two. 

This week we are learning about colors. We are learning how to spell and identify color words. 
We have read Pete The Cat I Love My White Shoes & Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Ask your child about these stories and please practice color words.

Here is a cute site to check out the story of Pete the Cat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUubMSfIs-U&feature=relmfu



Exploring Our Summer Tree

We have started our unit on the seasons and how things change over time.
Today we went outside and observed the summer tree.
Ask your child to tell you about their observations.



Talking about the parts of a tree.



Recording our observations

SPIRIT NIGHTS!

Please mark your calendars and join us for the following SPIRIT NIGHTS.

Tuesday, September 25th ALL DAY at Chill on Great Neck Rd.




Thursday, October 11th 5-8 Tropical Smoothie at Marina Shores



Tuesday, October 23rd 3-8 Tini's at Marina Shores

Terrific Thursday!

Today our kindergarten friends visited the computer lab for the first time. Ask your child about their nursery rhyme project. They will be on display in our hallway. 
Our normal computer lab time is every other week on Friday. Due to the 4th graders testing we have to reschedule. The children also missed snack. I am sorry about this.

This week we have also been learning about counting backwards from 20-0.  Please practice this at home as often as possible.



Library Monday!

Please make sure your child brings in his or her library book on Monday.
They can check out a new one if they return a book.
Thank you!

Book Boxes

Please Email me pictures of your child creating or with their book box.

Shapes, shapes, shapes.

How many sides does your shape have?

One of our friends made a hexagon out of rhombuses.

A person laying on the beach! Love it!

We are working on learning to identify, describe, and explore pattern blocks.
Today we talked about traingles, circles, rectangles, squares, rhombus, trapezoid, hexagon.
Ask your child to tell you about them.

Thinking Outside The Box

Today our kindergarten friends had their first lesson with Mrs. Betancourt.  She is our gifted resource teacher.  She will meet with our class every Tuesday from 9:00-9:30.

Today the lesson was called A School For Bears.  Ask your child to tell you about it.

My 3 Star Coloring

We are working on teaching the kids to be the best they can be when they are doing their daily work.
One area that we are working on is 3 Star Coloring.
Please help us by reminding your child when he or she is coloring at home to apply 3 Star Coloring.

Paperless = going green

Information

Would you like to help our school system save money and valuable volunteer time not to mention make things simpler for the classroom teacher? Please consider signing up for my school mail on the JBD website at www.deyes.vbschools.com. This will allow you to receive PTA and school information through your email on Thursdays.

First Week Of Kindergarten

This week was a great first week. Our kindergarten friends are excited about learning.
This week the students practiced how to properly use scissors, glue sticks, put crayons away in their boxes, walk to the carpet, walk in the hallway, and most importantly treat one another with kindness and respect.
Each table has a name. Ask your child what their table name is and what it means.
The students worked in their journals. They wrote about a time that they we kind, showed self control, shared, cleaned up ( this was a fan favorite to write about), or took turns with someone. During this lesson we learned about how and where to write our code date, and three star coloring.
We are working on numbers, tallying, counting, the days of the week, months of the year, and birthdays during calendar.  Does your child know his or her birthday?
In math we worked on measuring height and length.
Just a few friendly reminders...
Please initial your child's folder daily.
Please note that snack lasts 6-8 minutes
The children earn tickets on a daily basis for working together with their table mates. Some weeks we have all tables win prizes on Friday other weeks we have one or two who have the most tickets.   Encourage your child to try their best each new day. Our class rules are in their folders on their behavior calendars.
We will practice appropriate classroom behavior daily through modeling. Mrs. Stinard and I show the kids what the behaviors look like.

A sneak peek at next week...
We will be working on building our classroom community through reading stories about appropriate classroom behavior.
The children will be working in small groups everyday. Right now they are randomly grouped.
Each small group lesson will last about 8 minutes. (Baby steps)
They will learn a new nursery rhyme. So be listening for it. (Feel free to review Hey Diddle Diddle.)

Parent Connection Opportunity

Specialist

Today we had P.E. and music. Please ask your child about what they learned. 
We also practiced doing a fire drill.
Did your child tell you that the dish and the spoon ran away?
If not, ask where they found them! ;)

First Day Fun Day

Today was a fun day in Rainbow Valley!
Our kindergarten friends were ready to learn and have fun.
We learned this week's nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle, Diddle.  Ask your child to tell you it. 
We are working on rhyming this week.
Today our kindergarten friends met Ms. Booth our Guidance Counselor. Together we read The Kissing Hand.
We talked about our first day feelings.  We did a whole group writing activity and a small group writing activity.
We painted a special gift for our Moms and Dads that will go home tomorrow. We also worked on a retelling activity. 
Please ask your child to tell you about the story.

Today we worked on raising our hands verses calling out.  Sitting in our own personal space and putting our work in the finish bin verses yelling out, "I'm done!" 

Please remember to send your child to school with a full belly and a healthy snack and drink.
Check your child's folder and inital it each day.

Tomorrow is the first day of PE and Music. 

I love you!

Feeling we had on our first day.

Getting Ready For The First Day

Tomorrow is going to be a day filled with emotion. Your child may have any number of feelings about his or her first day. As a parent you, too, I'm sure have a number of emotions as well. I get it. We are all in this together. :)
Some gentle reminders to make everyone's day a successful and happy day.
Please make sure your child has a good night sleep. Wake your child up at the same time you plan on waking them each day this year. Everyone of our kindergarten friends should have breakfast. A warm breakfast will last them  longer than a cold breakfast.
Please send your child to school on the bus.
If you are a parent drop off, you may drop off @.7:45am. There are no adults to watch your child any earlier. Please go through the drop off line, do not, let me repeat, do not, park and walk your child in.  We want to encourage independence and high self-esteem from day one.  There will be adults waiting for them in the building to walk them to our room. We will help every child unpack the first week of school and second week if necessary.
SNACK!! Yes, please send your child in with a healthy snack. Some ideas...cut up fruit, Veggies, crackers and cheese ( not the spreadable type unless your child has practice with iT.), ceral bars or protein bars, half a sandwich, and a drink, water or juice thatbis not high in sugar that he or she can drink in 8-10minutes.  Please save the chips, candy, cookies, soda, high sugar juice drinks for special occasions at home.  Why? These snacks don't hold them over until lunch.  Studies show sugar actually slows down learning.  
All of our kindergarten friends should wear shoes that  fully cover their feet.
We have many fun learning activities planned for the first day.
Please check our blog as often as possible to learn about what is happening in Rainbow Valley (our class name). 
E-mail me any questions that you may have.  
I am so excited to be YOUR CHILD's teacher.  Thank you for affording me this awesome opportunity. :)
Here's to a year filled with learning, growing, happiness, respect, and friendship.