WEEKLY UPDATE 3/1

Please visit your child's Seesaw to see our weekly update. Join us Tuesday, March 14 SCHOOL WIDE LITERACY NIGHT! We will have games, crafts, the scholastic book fair and more! Dressing up as your favorite SUPERHERO is optional, but recommended! If you are interested in purchasing dinner, see the PTA. We still need YOUR HELP! We are also collecting paper grocery bags for the event. Drop them off in the green basket across from the office - Thank you! Questions? Contact Roberta Kavanaugh. (773)383-3133

Report Cards

Please sign the report card envelope and keep your child's report card.

Please complete the Federal Card and return it tomorrow.

Thanks so much!

If you would like to donate to our troops, please send it supplies by Friday. We have had 3 families donate so far. THANK YOU VERY MUCH! The cards are fantastic as well. Today would be a great day to encourage your child to make a card for our troops!

Young Author's Night

On Tuesday June 16th from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Kingston will be hosting our Young  Author’s Open House

Your child's non-fiction book will be on display.  Please join us for this celebration of learning and literacy.

Reading

I hope everyone enjoyed their day off.  
On Wednesday your child will be bringing home a Chili's bookmark! 
When your students read 4 books, they write the titles on the bookmark and earn a free kids meal at Chili's.   Who doesn't love free???  You will save the book mark and redeem it either upon their completion or....  
we'll be having a cashola night at Chili's on Tuesday, February 24th.  Kingston will get a % of the check from each Kingston family.  

Today was filled with planning and construction.  I am excited to enter quarter 3.  I can't believe it is quarter 3!   We will be learning about shadows, measurement (coins, time, measuring with non-standard units), extending our sentences, and retelling, retelling, and more retelling, and reading fluency.  
Our class is really lucky to be getting a new white board!!! I am over the moon.  This will be an interactive word wall white board! 
The folks came in today and began construction. It looks a little messy right now, but man will it be sparkling when it is up! 

Enjoy your day off tomorrow, and I can't wait to see my kindergarten friends on Wednesday!

Parents here are some helpful ideas to encourage reading fluency at home. 

How can we foster reading fluency?

Parents can help their child develop reading fluency through a few simple and fun activities.

Paired or "Buddy" Reading

The easiest and best way to help your child develop fluency is to sit with your child and read! Read together every day, which is often called paired or buddy reading. To use paired reading, simply take turns reading aloud. You go first, as your reading provides a model of what good fluent reading sounds like. Then, ask your child to re-read the same page you just read. You'll notice that your child's reading will start to sound more and more like yours. Do this for several pages. Once your child is comfortable enough, and familiar enough with the book, take turns reading page for page.

Reread Favorite Books

Another way parents can help develop fluency is to build a tall stack of books that your child can read quickly and easily. Encourage your child to reread favorite books over and over again. With each reading, you may notice your child reading a bit easier, a bit faster, and with a bit more confidence and expression.

Record It

Another fun way to practice reading and build fluency is to have your child create her own audio books. This can be done simply with a tape recorder or audio recording feature or app (like Audioboo) on your phone. Or, use something more sophisticated like StoryKit, where a user can create an electronic storybook and record audio to accompany it. Regardless of the method you choose, your child will be practicing what they want to record and that reading practice is critical. Sharing your audio recordings with family and friends is a great motivator too!
These activities are easy and require very few materials. Doing these activities with your child will help build fluency — a skill that will last a lifetime. 

The Seven Habits

In order to help our friends understand the 7 Habits I am asking that we participate in this school wide event.

December 5, 2014

Dear Kingston Families,

Season’s Greetings!  As we anticipate and experience upcoming holiday celebrations, we are more mindful of the needs of others.  The great spirit of giving through Kingston Elementary School’s Frosty’s Friends and Helping Hands programs have benefited many over the past several years.  Among many other initiatives during this time, 70 Holiday dinners-in-a-bag were provided along with staple foods for The Chapel Pantry, a local food closet, and over $700 worth of supplies and monetary donations were contributed to the SPCA. What a tremendous and true display of Kindness from the heart!

This season, Kingston Elementary School would like to, once again, provide a holiday meal for hungry families through The Chapel Pantry and support the H.O.P.E program (Help Out Pets Everywhere) through the SPCA of Virginia Beach. The Chapel Pantry of Eastern Shore Chapel serves more than 2,500+ local families each year.  Many of these same families are also faced with the decision of giving up their furry best friends (pets) or cannot afford medical treatment for them.

Classrooms, faculty, families and students can choose to support the initiatives of Frosty’s Friends and Helping Hands by helping a group or classroom prepare:

1)      Holiday dinner-in-a-bag or staple food item donations,

AND/OR

2)      Compassion-bag of HOPE in support of saving family pets.

Grocery paper bags with an attached list of items for a Holiday Dinner or for a Compassion-bag of HOPE will be provided upon request. See reverse side of this letter for a list of suggested items for each bag.  Please know that participation is completely optional.

If your family would like to lend a Helping Hand with Frosty’s Friends this holiday season, you may talk with your child’s teacher and look for information being sent home or posted on the classroom communication tool.  You may also contact me, at #648-2852, with any questions. All donations should be returned to Kingston by December 19^th.  We will then deliver  them to the respective organizations. Of course, these organizations would welcome any donations year-round.

Thank you in advance for your thoughtful generosity and true community spirit.  Best wishes for a joyful holiday season!

Most Appreciatively,

Martha Wallace

School Counselor

martha.wallace@vbschools.com

News From Rainbow Valley!

If your child is participating in make-up pictures please let us know via note.

Food Drive Information:

 We are excited to "Stuff the Turkey." Join us as we collect canned goods and non-perishable food items for the Food Bank. The food drive will run from November 10th to November 21st.

Pink Out!

Thank you to all of our friends who supported the PINK OUT today!

Some Announcements!

If you place something in your child's backpack, please let them know. We don't check backpacks.

Our treasure box has lots of lollipops! Thanks so much!  If you can please send in some small rewards other than lollipops for the reward bin. 

Field Trip Information Sheet- A form went home to each family today asking how your child will be getting home from school this Friday.  We will need the sheet back to school no later than WEDNESDAY.  Thanks so much!  
Your child will need a bag lunch and drink.  No glass please , and no lunch boxes.  We must throw everything away before we leave. :)

We are in need of plastic store bags.  The kind your bring your groceries home in.  Please send in as many as you can by Thursday. Thanks!

Conferences- I am currently scheduling conferences that will be held over the next three weeks.  If you have not received a conference form, you will.  With every conference form you will find a pre-conference sheet.  I am asking that you fill it out and return prior to your scheduled time.  Your time is valuable to me, and I want you get the most out of our time together as possible. 

Schoolwide News You Can Use - Please mark your calendars:
 Kingston Skating Party
Tuesday, October 21st Haygood, 5:30-7:30

October 20-24, is National School Bus Driver Appreciation Week.  Our bus drivers ensure our children get to and from school safely.  Please do something extra special for your bus driver and show them they are appreciated!  Some ideas are, but not limited to; homemade cookies, small gift or gift card and handmade cards.  Thank you for helping shower our bus drivers with appreciation!!!

Learning can be so much fun!
Check out some of the songs we are learning and practicing during the day to support our learning standards.
Counting to 100! (Watch out for those tricky teens!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TgLtF3PMOc

Sorting-
http://www.abcya.com/counting_sorting_comparing.htm

Color of the week: Black! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o47o3b06-Xg


We are in full writing mode!  I have been sharing with the children all about sentences.  I encourage you to ask your child to be authors and write about their illustrations at home.
Writing can be and should be inventive spelling for most of our friends.  It's not about spelling every word correctly, its about trying your best to write what you hear not what an adult "tells" you.  Great sentences always begin with an uppercase.  If your child is still learning their uppercase letters this is a great way to practice.
Our sentences end with periods.  We are also talking about this during our small group reading time.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wrv_ZviMEc

Dr. Seuss

This Friday the children may dress as their favorite Dr. Seuss character or in red, white, and black to honor Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday.
We will continue all next week reading books by Dr. Seuss.
This Saturday from 2-4 at Pembroke Barnes and Noble I will be reading along with many other readers from our community. I hope that all of you can come and see me and purchase some new books! All proceeds go to the Virginia Beach Education Foundation.http://www.vbschools.com/volunteers/educ_found/
I have a special surprise for the kids...
I will be reading at 2 and be around the store until 4! Sometimes they let me read twice!!! (Because they know it's my favorite thing to do!)
Remember to tell them you are there with Mrs. Chiaverotti!!!

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

Report Cards/100th Day/ Literacy Night

Report cards will be issued today! I am so proud of each and everyone of my kindergarten friends. Each one of them has improved. Way to go smart children!!!
The 100th Day of school will be Feb.13th. Please have your child bring in their 100 items.
Tonight you can join us at JBD to hear an amazing author and visit the book fair!!!