Thanksgiving!

Hi Parents,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and safe travels!  My time was wonderful getting to catch up with family and friends.  I am so thankful that I get to teach your little Kinder!  I couldn't have a better job!  To add to that, having wonderful supportive parents is such a blessing!  It was SO great getting to meet with each of you during conference week and plan for your child!  These next few weeks will be very busy and super exciting!  I have so much planned, that I am excited just thinking about all that we get to do!

Some big things happening in December:

1) Holiday Party on December 19th:  I am looking for one parent helper from each class to head up the Christmas Party Rotations and Snacks.  I will also need volunteers during the rotations on that day.  I am planning the schedule for that day to look like this:

• 4 Rotations @ 10 minutes each = 40 minutes
• Pajama Party!  Kiddos come in their pj's to school!  They bring one stuffed animal or a pillow pet (that can fit in their backpack) to snuggle with while we watch the Snowman Movie by Raymond Briggs.  
• Specialists (PE, Music, and Library) 

2) Concerts at Retirement Communities!  Remember there isn't room at the facilities for parents to come watch, but we will have a concert for parents and grandparents to come watch!  Look below!  :)  

        December 4th our AM class going to Fairwinds!  

        December 10th our PM class is going to Fairwood!

3) Concert in Classroom for Parents and Grandparents on December 18th!  

     AM concert will be at 9:30 and PM concert will be at 2:30!

4) All Day Scavenger Hunt Field Trip on December 17th!  This is a walking Field Trip so you will be indoor and outdoor!  Please make sure your child (and you) dresses in super warm gear so they can enjoy the whole field trip.  I would rather them be too warm, than too cold!  Also make sure they wear shoes appropriate for walking around all day.

5) In addition to reading groups, I will be doing some grouping for math at different times throughout the week.  This way each child gets individualized attention when it comes to math too!  

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer    

Happy Thursday!

Wow!  What a great day!  We were able to get through everything today in AM and PM classes, including a recess at the end of the day!  Today, we started out making all our letters with Play Dough, and even creating things that start with some of our letters that we have learned (snake, snail, turtle).  Then we had calendar, and today was a very special day because Zero The Hero came because today is our 50th day of school!  Can you believe it?  We are half way to our 100th day of school!  Then we wrote about something special we can see in our classroom!  I can see ____.  Students wrote the sight words they know how to spell and sounded out the words they wanted to write to finish their sentence.  During reading groups, we read our readers, worked on our sight word of the week:  see, ex: I am so happy to see you here today!  Our letter of the week is Tt, so we worked with words that start with Tt!  In math, we were working on the numbers 8 and 9, counting, filling in a five frame and coloring counters.  You can see this page in your child's backpack tonight!

Reminders:

1. Tomorrow we have Library, Music and PE so please return any Library books and help your little peanut to get their PE shoes on!
2. Schedule your child's conference if you have not yet at 465-7800
3. Dress your child in a warm coat, hat and gloves (label them all with your child's name).
4. If you can come on our Field Trip December 17th please email me to let me know you can make it!  If you have emailed me, I have you down!  Thank you to those of you who have said you can come already!  I am still looking for about 5 more adults to come, so if you can, please do!  It is all day on the 17th!
5. Homework Folders are due tomorrow!
6. Conference week is our normal schedule for Kindergarten, it is different for every other grade but us from November 20-26th!  :)  

Have a great night!  Happy Trails!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Wonderful Sunny Wednesday!

The kiddos were very happy to be back! They worked so hard and we had an awesome day!

We started our day with entry task (writing the number 9), a loop and a down line, thats the way to make a nine! We had reading groups today where kids worked on writing the letter Tt, the letter T sound, our ABC books, reading, and listening. We also did our question can for the letter T (ask your child what was in the can), and "What's in Mrs. Wittwer's bag?" picture guess for the letter T. During math we worked on reviewing numbers 6 and 7, counting the objects, writing the number and drawing how many counters fit the picture. Finally, we used our detective eyes to adventure walk around our classroom to find something new that we haven't noticed before, so to "see what we could see." 

Important Information:

1. If you have not scheduled your child's conference yet with me, please call the office at 465-7800 to do this.

2. During conference week (Nov. 21-26), grades 1-6 have half days; however, kindergarten will keep our normal schedule (AM: 9:15-11:45 and PM: 12:45-3:15). Please let me know if you have any questions regarding conference week.

3. December 17th is our ALL DAY field trip. We will be sending more information home at conference time. We need 1 parent to every 2 students,  otherwise we cannot go on this field trip.

4. Tomorrow is our book exchange. If your child needs a new book OR level, please send a note in their plastic folder.  Remember book exchange days are only Monday and Thursday!   
5. Library books are due tomorrow as well.

Today was a great day!  So beautiful outside and so great to be back with your child!  With the chilly weather, please make sure you have your little peanut in a warm coat, gloves and a hat!  It also helps me out if you label your child's clothing, I have a little lost and found in my room, but I can help get it to the right child if there is a name!

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Thursday!

What a wonderful day!  The students did a marvelous job today at the Veteran's Day Assembly!  I was so proud of them and their performance!  It was very cool to see your family photos that you turned in for the Veteran slideshow.  We also read the folktale of "The Little Red Hen!"  Discussing how the mouse, cat and dog were not good helpers, so they didn't get to partake in the reward at the end.  In math, we also worked on the count on strategy in math with a ten frame.    

Tomorrow, we have PE, Music, and Library!  Please have your child wear their PE shoes!

Also, tomorrow is a funky day because the rest of the school has a half day, and our PM class still has school like normal!  Just to give you a heads up, this schedule will also happen the week of Conference Week!

Reminder: No school on Monday and Tuesday!  Please remember to honor your friends and family that are Veterans of our great country this weekend!

Happy Wednesday!

Today, we had a great day filled with Reading, Writing and Math!  We read a Times Article for Kids about Helping Hands and all the ways hands can help others!  Talk about some of the ways your child can help with their hands.  We worked on "math pathways" today!  This means having a strategy when counting to make sure we count every bean (or something else) and to make sure we don't count it more than once.  This week we are reviewing how to read and write all 6 of our sight words, and all 4 of our letters, sounds and even how to blend them together (map, sam, sap, etc.)!

I, can, we, the, like, a

Mm, Aa, Pp, Ss

Don't forget, tomorrow is the Veteran's Day Assembly!  Please have your child wear Red, White and Blue for our performance!  Come about 10 minutes early to make sure you get a seat!  This is the only time these two songs will be performed!    

AM performance is at 9:45

PM performance is at 2:00  

This Friday is a half day for grades 1-6, but for Kindergarten it is business as usual, so there is school for the AM (9:15-11:45) and PM (12:45-3:15) classes this Friday like normal.  

If you have not signed up yet for our Fall Conference, please call 465-7800 to schedule a time that works for you!  I love partnering with you parents, and this is a very special time that you and I get to talk and discuss your little peanut!

Happy Trails!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Happy Tuesday!

Wow, we worked super hard today!  We completed two of our fall assessments today, so students were taught how to use our "offices" and the expectations for how we work on our assessments.  Today we started with writing upper and lowercase letters from A to Z or as many as we could.  Then had a great time at calendar, and played a little "Mrs. Wittwer Says" (like Simon Says).  This week we are reviewing our sight words and reviewing Ss and Pp.  We learned about a panda today, so our Daily News is about "A panda..."  Then we had our first rehearsal in the cafeteria for our Veteran's Day Assembly.  We finished strong with our fall writing assessment, showing me everything they know how to do on their own!  I am so proud of my students and the wonderful effort they gave me today!

The Veteran's Day Assembly this Thursday will be the only time they are performing these songs we have been working on in music.  At the end of the year, we will have a performance, but we will be singing different songs.  So if you want to see these songs, this Thursday is the day!  9:45 (AM) and 2:00 (PM)!  Also, if you have a picture of a loved one that served in the miliary, please send them tonight or tomorrow to:

 melanie.wiser@mead354.org

Have a great night!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

November is here!

We had such a nice Monday! We are reviewing the letter sounds /p/, /s/, /m/, /a/ this week and the sight words we have learned so far: "I", "can", "we", "the", "a", "like". Our really big focus of the day was on writing!  We went through the whole writing process today, starting with our routine of getting our folders, how to sound out the words they want to write, sketch, label and color their picture when they are done.  The students wrote and illustrated the sentence "On October 31 I...". They had so many great stories and memories about this past Friday! :)  

I am going to get on my homework soapbox just for one minute.  On your nightly homework, please remember to help your child sound out the sounds in the words/sentences they want to write.  If you are writing it and having them write (copy) it, they are working on handwriting skills, not the skills in "writing."  I know it is so hard, but that is what I am looking for on their homework each week.  If students only know a few sounds, help them to write down the sounds they know.  Each word should be separated by a finger space so we know that is a word.  For example, if your child wants to write the sentence "I like to bike!" they could write "I lik t bik" or other variations, but these are great because those are the sounds they hear.  If you have any questions about how to help foster this at home I would love to chat about it.       

In the AM class, we read a wonderful book about friendship titled, "Simon and Molly Plus Hester" (PM will read this book tomorrow). 

 

We are also continuing to practice our songs for the Veteran's Day assembly this Thursday. They are doing a really great job singing and performing the hand motions.   Assembly times: 

9:45 for AM

2:00 for PM

Have a great evening!

Love, 

~Mrs. Wittwer

Also, tomorrow is a very important day because it is when your voting ballots are due!