Happy Wednesday

Happy Wednesday Parents, 

We had a great day today! We learned our new letters of the day, Ss and Tt!  We started our day writing the letter Ss and practicing the sound.  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger of the Day, did Calendar, our Daily News and wrote their name book.  After a short recess we had reading groups, we worked on all the letters we have learned and their sounds they make, writing our sight words (I and can), studied our name, wrote our letter Tt and read a cute story Molly Lue Melon.  Then we worked on writing the numbers 4 and 5, and completed our math worksheet focusing on counting 4 or 5 objects.  Then we were able to have a few minutes of free choice time!  

Take Home Books are due tomorrow, October 1!  

Options for the Take Home Book Exchange on Thursday:
1. If your child needs more practice with this book, return the book in the envelope so I can check off  that you have that book.
2. If the book was at an appropriate level of difficulty, but you are done with this book write on a sticky note: New Book
3. If your child could read this book in the first sitting and they know all the words, write on a sticky note: New Level.
**If a book doesn't have a sticky note, it doesn't get exchanged, just checked off.

Reminders:

1) Box tops are due tomorrow!

2) Cookie Dough is due Friday!

3) Homework and Library books are due Friday!

Have a great night!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Terrific Tuesday!

Hi Parents, 

Today was a fun filled packed day!  We started our day out with learning our new letters of the day, Qq and Rr!  Then we worked on writing our Qq and practicing the sound (coo).  As all of our friends finished up we played with Play-Doh!  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger of the day, Tysen (AM) and Ellie (PM).  We then read our Message of the Day, did Calendar and our Daily News.  We practiced all the sounds that we have learned so far A-R with our Alphabet song (different from the ABC song, A says /a/).  Then we wrote our Camp Ranger's name for their Name Book.  We had a short recess outside in the beautiful sunshine!  Today we had our first official reading group rotations!  I have to say they were amazing!  Way to go students and helpers!  We worked on reading I Can, a book about farm animals, writing our sight word of the week- can, and writing our second letter of the day (Rr), and listened to A Sheep In Wolf's Clothing at the Listening Center.  Our last activity of the day was math.  We worked on writing a number sentence to go with what we are doing with our cubes.  For example, I have 2 blue cubes and 1 red cube for a total of 3 cubes, my number sentence would be 2 + 1 = 3!  We were tight on time, so your child may not have had time to finish this in class, please help them finish it at home!  

1) Box Tops are Due on October 1st, so you can send them in anytime this week!  Thank you to those of you that sent them in today!
2) Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough paperwork is due Friday!
3) If you haven't turned in all your school forms or $8 cash for picture development, please do so!  :) 
4) Remember, the office actually needs you to fill out the WSP form and personally bring it into the office because they will also need a copy of your license when you turn in the form. This must be filled out before you can volunteer in the classroom.  If you sent the form in, I will be sending it back home tomorrow because you have to bring it in person to the office!  If you have questions, please let me know!

Have a great night!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Monday!

Today was a great day in Camp Kindergarten!  We had a guest teacher Mrs. Gradin in the classroom, while I worked with students individually in the hall.  Our letters of the day today were Oo and Pp!  We worked on writing our two letters both ways, capital and lowercase!  We introduced how to write the numbers 1 and 2 in our math lesson today!  We also had to find the matching number of items to the correct numeral!  We interviewed our Camp Ranger of the day, Bridger (AM) and Aiden (PM).  Then we did our Daily News and Name Book for our Camp Ranger.  After a short recess, we read of reading book, Jazz Baby, which was a read-a-loud with picture cards.  After we listened to the story, we used the picture cards to help us retell what happened in the story in order.  Our PM class also had library today!  We were able to read one of my favorite books, Pete The Cat and His Magic Sunglasses!

Reminders:

1) Tonight is the first night of homework for the second week!  Students should work on their homework packet. Remember, we don't expect your child to be reading and spelling everything correctly. Please just provide them a quiet spot and read the sentence prompt to them. If they ask how to spell something, just say..."use your best guess spelling! You can do it!" 

Here are some rules for you that will be very hard to stick to during writing homework:

#1- Do not spell anything for them,

#2 Do not write anything for them,

#3 Do not tell them they wrote something incorrectly. 

You literally smile and say good job!  I am so proud of you!  That is perfect!  

2) Take Home books also came home today, so be sure to help your child point with their magic pointer finger to all the words as they are reading!  Remember you can help guide them and help them read the first time if needed, but they are pointing to the words.  

3) Box Tops are Due on October 1st, so you can send them in anytime this week!

4) Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough paperwork is due Friday!

5) Reading Group rotations start officially tomorrow!  Woohoo!  :)

6) If you haven't turned in all your school forms or $8 cash for picture development, please do so!  :) 

7) Remember, the office actually needs you to fill out the WSP form and personally bring it into the office because they will also need a copy of your license when you turn in the form. This must be filled out before you can volunteer in the classroom.  If you sent the form in, I will be sending it back home tomorrow because you have to bring it in person to the office!  If you have questions, please let me know!

Have a great night!

~Love,

Mrs. Wittwer

Picture Day and Fun Friday All In One!

We had an amazing Friday!

We started our day with 4th grade buddies. The students got to meet their fourth grade buddy.  Kinders taught their fourth grade buddy how to play the math game, Birthday Candles and then they got to have Free Choice together!  We will actually start doing buddy art projects starting in October. We then walked down to the gym for picture day. The students did a wonderful job listening to instructions! Finally, the kiddos were able to enjoy P.E. (outside) and music with Mrs. Mulder. 
Have a wonderful weekend!~Love, Mrs. Wittwer

Reminders:
1. Homework folders will come home on Monday (9/28). Please have your child work on their homework each night (Monday-Thursday) and keep it in their homework folder. If your child did not turn in their homework today, please have them turn it in on Monday.

2. Take Home Books are due Monday (9/28).Options for a reading the Take Home Book Exchange on Thursday:
1. If your child needs more practice with this book, return the book in the envelope so I can check off  that you have that book.
2. If the book was at an appropriate level of difficulty, but you are done with this book write on a sticky note: New Book
3. If your child could read this book in the first sitting and they know all the words, write on a sticky note: New Level.
**If a book doesn't have a sticky note, it doesn't get exchanged, just checked off.

3. Please continue to help your child sell cookie dough. Remember, if your kiddo sells or receives donations, to fill out the white coupon and send it in. They will get a minion key chain for every 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 tubs they sell/donations they receive. Again, please email with questions!  All Cookie Dough Fundraiser paperwork and donations are due Friday, October 2nd!

4. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.   

5. If you haven't turned in all your school forms or $8 cash, please do so!  :) 

6. Remember, the office actually needs you to fill out the WSP form and personally bring it into the office because they will also need a copy of your license when you turn in the form. This must be filled out before you can volunteer in the classroom. If you have questions, please let me know!

Thursday!

Today was a great day in Camp Kindergarten!  We started our day introducing two more letters in the alphabet, Mm and Nn!  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger of the Day, AM- Nate and PM- Luke.  We read our Daily Message, did Calendar, our Daily News and wrote the Camper Ranger's name for their book.  We had a really fun math fluency game today where the students each had a paper birthday cake, they roll a die and then put that many candles (crayons) on the cake and of course blow our their candles and start over!  Our math lesson was about the number zero and how the math name for nothing or none is zero!  We had a short recess outside with Mrs. Snider's class.  When we came back in we had Reading Group Rotation practice again today!  In rotations, we practiced writing our names with the correct capitals and lower case letters, listened to Pete The Cat Loves his White Shoes, puzzles, and worked on writing our letters of the day!  

Reminders:

1.  Pictures are tomorrow. Please make sure your child has their picture envelope filled out (with money inside) ready to go tomorrow!

2. Homework folders are due tomorrow. Inside the folders, on the right back to school side, should be your child's completed homework and their picture envelope (with money). Also, if you haven't yet taken out the red/blue open house folder you were given, please do so. It gets a bit confusing for the kiddos if they have two folders in their backpack. :) 

3. Library books are due tomorrow.

4. We have music and P.E. tomorrow. Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate shoes. 

5. AM KINDERS have library tomorrow. PM KINDERS have library on Monday. 

6. Please continue to help your child sell cookie dough. Remember, if your kiddo sells or receives donations, to fill out the white coupon and send it in. They will get a minion key chain for every 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 tubs they sell/donations they receive. Again, please email with questions!

7. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.   

8. If you haven't turned in all your school forms or picture developing $8, please do so asap! Remember, the office actually needs you to fill out the WSP form in the office. They will also need a copy of your license when you turn in the form. This must be filled out before you can volunteer in the classroom. 

If you have questions, please let me know!

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Wonderful Wednesday!

What a great day today!  We started our day with writing and saying the sounds of our first letter of the day, Kk!  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger for the day, AM= Liesel and PM=Ali!  We did our Morning Message, Calendar, and Daily News.  We looked very closely at our poem for the week that includes our two sight words of the week, I and can!  Then we wrote our campers name as neatly as we could for their name book!  We had a cute and fun math lesson today where students were working with numbers and cubes (bears).  They had to use their number card to tell how many cubes.  We were working with math story problems about bears(cubes) either swimming at the lake or playing tag on the field!  Example: I have 3 bears swimming at the lake and 2 bears playing tag on the field.  How many do I have altogether?  Then we had a nice recess outside in the glorious sunshine!  After recess, we practiced our reading groups again today.  Today was closer to how reading groups will actually be.  Each group had more time today at each rotation.  In our rotations we worked on: Reading a pre-decodable book with me working on concepts of print, practiced writing the second letter of the day, Ll, listening to Pete The Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons, and working on puzzles!  Students did a great job during these rotations today!

Reminders:
1) Tomorrow is the Take Home Book Exchange:

Options for a reading the Take Home Book Exchange on Thursday:
1. If your child needs more practice with this book, return the book in the envelope so I can check off  that you have that book.
2. If the book was at an appropriate level of difficulty, but you are done with this book write on a sticky note: New Book
3. If your child could read this book in the first sitting and they know all the words, write on a sticky note: New Level.
**If a book doesn't have a sticky note, it doesn't get exchanged, just checked off.

2) Students should continue working on their homework packets. Remember, we don't expect your child to be reading and spelling everything correctly. Please just provide them a quiet spot and read the sentence prompt to them. If they ask how to spell something, just say..."use your best guess spelling! You can do it!" 

Here are some rules for you that will be very hard to stick to during writing homework:

#1- Do not spell anything for them,

#2 Do not write anything for them,

#3 Do not tell them they wrote something incorrectly. 

You literally smile and say good job!  I am so proud of you!  That is perfect!

3) Make sure your kiddo reads their take home book at least twice to you. Remember, it's very normal and developmentally appropriate for kiddos to use picture clues. Please do not cover the pictures in your child's book.  I taught students today that I want them to use their "Magic Pointer Finger" while reading.  If they can read the book, have them point to each word as they read it.  If they are using picture clues still, have them point and put your hand over the top to show them how to read and point to the words on the page.  This helps students to develop their concepts of print and really helps us as we get further along in reading!

4) Please continue to help your child sell cookie dough. Remember, if your kiddo sells or receives donations, to fill out the white coupon and send it in. They will get a minion key chain for every 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 tubs they sell/donations they receive. Again, please email with questions!  Wow!  Right now our PM class is tied for first!  :)  

5) If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.   

6. If you haven't turned in all your school forms, please do so asap! Thanks!

7. Pictures are this Friday (9/25). Please send in pictures envelopes in as soon as possible. 

Happy Trails!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Terrific Tuesday!

Hi Parents, 

Today was a great day!  We started with writing the letters of the day, Ii and Jj!  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger of the day, AM: Nevaeh, and PM: Aven.  Then we read our Message of the Day, did calendar, the Daily News, and wrote our Happy Campers name for their name book.  We had a short recess outside in the middle of the day.  Then we read a non-fiction story about all the things our hands can do.  We discussed that a non-fiction book is a book about real things.  Then did our math lesson of the day, discussing how we have to have a starting place and an ending place while counting objects so we do not accidentally count something twice.  We talked about hidden partners in a number.  For instance, 4 and 1 make 5, 3 and 2 make 5, etc.  We completed our practice pages and put them in our backpack.  The very last thing we did was practice how our reading rotations will go.  We are going to practice these mini-rotations on Wednesday and Thursday, so when we have reading groups next week we are ready!  :)

Tonight is the second night of homework!  If you did not read last nights blog post about homework, please scroll below so you can get all the info you need!  Remember to have your child in a quiet space and encourage your child to do their best!  Please just provide them a quiet spot and read the sentence prompt to them. If they ask how to spell something, just say..."use your best guess spelling! You can do it!" 
Again, here are the "very hard to follow, but super important for your kiddo's growth" homework rules:

#1- Do not spell anything for them,

#2 Do not write anything for them,

#3 Do not tell them they wrote something incorrectly. 

You literally smile and say good job!  I am so proud of you!  That is perfect!  :)

 

Make sure your kiddo reads their take home book at least twice to you. Remember, it's very normal and developmentally appropriate for kiddos to use picture clues. Please do not cover the pictures in your child's book.   

Reminders:
1) If your child sold an item for the Cookie Dough Fundraiser, please send in the coupon for the number of items they sold.  Put this in their backpack and I will give them the Minion key chain they earned.  

2) If you plan on volunteering in our classroom at all OR if you want to attend any/all of our field trips, you must fill out the WSP form and return it to the office.  This will take a few minutes in the office, please have your drivers license ready.  Please do not send these in with your child.  If you are a regular volunteer in our classroom, you can come in on Friday and get your picture taken for a volunteer pass.  

3) If you haven't turned in all your school forms or picture developing money, please do so asap! 
Thank you!

Happy Trails!
~Love, 
Mrs. Wittwer   

Happy Monday! First Night Of Homework!

Hi Parents,

What a wonderful day of school we had today!  In the morning class we had two Royal Readers to celebrate Makena's birthday and Liesel's birthday!  Then students learned how to draw their very first self portrait, making sure they had all their body parts and we did our best to draw what we wore to school today.  Then wrote our letters of the day, Gg and Hh and practiced the sounds they make.  We interviewed our Happy Camper of the day today, Liam (AM) and Kinleigh (PM).  Together we read our Message of the Day, Calendar and our Daily News.  Today is the 10th day of school, so we introduced Zero The Hero.  He is our place holder than doesn't have a value, but is super important because without him it would be the number 1, not 10!  In math, we worked on one-to-one correspondence to find out how many, and then circled the number we counted.  We had a short recess outside in the middle of our day.  PM kiddos had Library today and got to check out 1 book, it is in their backpack.  Library books live in students backpacks so they do not get lost at home.  

Tonight is the first night of HOMEWORK!  On the LEFT AT HOME side there are a few little notes about picture day and some fun prairie events. Please take the papers out and keep them at home. on the RIGHT BACK TO SCHOOL side you'll see the picture order form, WSP volunteer form, and your child's homework. Each night we want students to write their sentence, read their Take Home Book and do part of their math page.  

Homework is going to be very challenging at first!  I PROMISE it will get easier throughout the year!  Your job is to praise, praise, praise your kiddo and to provide them a quiet work space free from distractions!  Tell them you just want them to give me and you their best effort.  The Daily News Paper is on the front, this is for you and your child to read together and enjoy.  The backside of the Daily News is where your child will write the sentence of the day and also where they will practice writing their name on the lines neatly.  Each night students should write one sentence.  Please do not wait to do it all at once, we are trying to get them into the routine of homework.  The daily practice is also very good for their brains.  Ask them what they would like to write for the prompt.  Tonight's prompt is:  Today I _____.  Ask your child what they would like to write about.  While writing, they are to write the sounds they hear, just like we do in our Daily News.  If your child doesn't hear or know the sounds now, that is ok, have them write just what they hear.  I have attached the progression of writing looks like.  Praise your child with whatever they do!  It might be scribbles right now, it might be a letter, it might be a few words, whatever they do is perfect just for them! Example of phonetic spelling: Today I rod mi bik. (Today I rode my bike.)

Some rules for you that will be very hard to stick to during writing homework.
#1- Do not spell anything for them,
#2 Do not write anything for them,
#3 Do not tell them they wrote something incorrectly.
You literally smile and say good job!  I am so proud of you!  That is perfect!  :)  I am telling you this because it is hard!

During Reading Homework:  Read the Take Home Book provided.  Everybody started out on the same book on the same level.  Read the book with your child proving as much help and guidance as they need.  Teach them how to point to the words, they can look at the pictures while reading to give them clues.  Read the book several times.  At this point do not cover the pictures, we use pictures to give us clue to what we are reading.  Practice reading this book every night, several times.  Take Home Book Exchange is on Thursday.

To tell if this book is appropriate:
1) Only one word should be difficult for your child per page.  If it is more than that, they need to keep  this book and keep practicing that book until they can read the book.
2) If your child didn't know all the words at first, but by time Thursday comes around they know them all and can read you the book, it is time for a new book at the same level.
3) If your child knew all the words and can read them without looking at the pictures, it is time for a new book at a new level on Thursday.  

Options for a reading the Take Home Book Exchange on Thursday:
1) If your child needs more practice with this book, return the book in the envelope so I can check off  that you have that book.
2) If the book was at an appropriate level of difficulty, but you are done with this book write on a sticky note: New Book
3) If your child could read this book in the first sitting and they know all the words, write on a sticky note: New Level.

**If a book doesn't have a sticky note, it doesn't get exchanged, just checked off.

Reminders:

1) Please return the picture order form asap. Pictures are this Friday (9/25).

2) If you plan on volunteering in our classroom at all OR if you want to attend any/all of our field trips, you must fill out the WSP form and return it to the office.  This will take a few minutes in the office, please have your drivers license ready.  Please do not send these in with your child.

3) Wow!  Lots of Cookie Dough sales already in our class!  Way to go class!  Keep up the great work!  Please continue to help your child sell cookie dough. Remember, if your kiddo sells or receives donations, to fill out the white coupon and send it in. They will get a minion key chain for every 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 tubs they sell. Again, please email with questions! 

4) If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.   

5. If you haven't turned in all your school forms or picture developing money, please do so asap! Thanks!  

Happy Trails!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

         

Wonderful Wednesday!

Today was such a fun day!  I can tell students are starting to get familiar with our routine!  Today we started with introducing the letter Cc.  Then we interviewed our Happy Campers of the day (AM: Makena, PM: Ella).  The Happy Camper helped me with Calendar, then they wrote their Daily News sentence.  Finally, everybody wrote the Camper's name and then we made them a book!  We read a short non-fiction expository, Rules are Important, and had a great discussion about some of our rules that are very important.  We had a short recess outside in the middle of our day.

In math, we had a fun sorting activity where we sorted things that you would wear, do, or see in different weather.  Things you might do, wear, or use on: a nice warm sunny day, a rainy day or a snowy day.  Student did a great job sorting these!

One of my favorite parts about today was reading the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!  We read this book and then we started our very own coconut tree creation.  Today we painted our coconut tree and I have to say I was SUPER impressed by how well students followed directions!  This is only the second week of Kindergarten!!!  Wow, the trees look great and only minimal paint got on hands and tables!!!  After we painted our trees, we ended with writing our second letter of the day, Dd in our Handwriting book! 

1. I am finishing our volunteer calendar tonight, so I will be sending that out tomorrow.  We are going to start homework and the take home book exchange next week.  We are going to start reading groups Tuesday, September 29th.  I will send out the calendar with your specific dates and times.   If you have any questions, you can email me!  :)

2. Our cookie dough fundraiser starts this Friday (9/18/15). 
3. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.  
4. If you haven't turned in all your school forms, please do so asap! Thanks!
5. Thank you for all the parents that came to the PTO meeting Monday night!  It was so great to see all the parent support we have!  You are amazing!  Thank you!

Terrific Tuesday!

Woohoo!  What a wonderful day we had today!  We started our day with practicing writing our first and last name.  Then we wrote yesterday's letter of the day, Aa!  We learned our handwriting that all of our letters start at the top and they all sit on the line.  We try not to have sinkers (letters that sink below the line) or floaters (letters that float above the line). After practicing our Aa letters, we went to Calendar.  We interviewed our Happy Campers of the Day, Paige (AM) and Tyler (PM)!  Our Happy Campers helped me lead calendar, we did our Daily News sentence and then we practiced writing our Camper's names.

We had a short recess outside enjoying the sunshine.  It is a little breezy and chilly so please send a sweatshirt or coat for your child.  Then we read a book with only pictures (no words) and learned how we need to look at the picture clues to tell us what the book is about.  The students did a great job!  Our letter for today was the letter Bb, so we practiced the /b/ sound and practiced writing the letter Bb.

Our math today was really fun!  We practiced different ways we could sort some specific toys I had pulled out.  We learned we could sort them by color, by size, by shape, by how hard or soft the toys were.  Our math practice page is in our backpack and we had to sort the six items we cut out.  We had to figure out what would go in a backpack and what would go in the toy box.  Students did a great job with this too.  Practice sorting different things and looking for similarities at home with different objects.  For instance, the blue car and the Batman with the blue cape could be in the same group because they both have blue.  But the Batman could also be with the tall dinosaur and Garfield because they are the tallest and biggest toys. 

1. I will be emailing out the volunteer calendar either Wednesday or Thursday!  The volunteer calendar is set to start next week (9/21/15). 

2. Homework and Take Home Books will also start next week on Monday! (9/21/15).

3. Our cookie dough fundraiser starts this Friday (9/18/15). 

4. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.  

5. If you haven't turned in all your school forms, please do so asap! Thanks!

6. Thank you for all the parents that came last night to the PTO meeting!  It was so great to see all the parent support we have!  You are amazing!  Thank you!

Have a great night!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer   

Marvelous Monday!

We started our day with finishing up our First Week of Kindergarten Book.  Then transitioned to calendar, where the kiddos worked on counting, days of the week, months of the year, graphing the weather, and place value. We also started Happy Camper today. Happy Camper is an interview that is done in the front of the class. Each student will get a turn to answer the interview questions. I modeled being the Happy Camper today and the students loved listening to/guessing what my answers would be. :) In addition to our new Happy Camper routine, the students were also introduced to our Daily News routine. The Daily News is a classroom newspaper that will go home every week with their homework packets. After reading "Animals in the Park," we practiced the letter Aa sound (/a/). We were able to squeeze in a short recess (AM) and free choice time (PM).  One super fun activity today was that we made our very own Peter the Cat. To say Pete is cute would be an understatement! :) 

Important Information:

1. The volunteer calendar is just about done. I'm waiting on a few schedules from folks and then I'll put it all together. The volunteer calendar is set to start next week (9/21/15). 

2. Homework and Take Home Books will also start next week (9/21/15).

3. PTO meeting is tonight at 6:30pm in the library. Hope to see you there!

4. Our cookie dough fundraiser starts this Friday (9/18/15). 

5. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.  

6. If you haven't turned in all your school forms, please do so asap! Thanks!

First Fun Friday!

Hello Parents,

What a fantastic first week of school we have had!  Today was a wonderful Friday!  Some good news, Pete the Cat brought back Mr. Wiser's orange ball and left us a stuffed animal of himself!  :)  Today, we had Health and Fitness (PE) and Music with Mrs. Mulder!  In the morning class, we celebrated two birthdays with Royal Readers!  It was so fun to celebrate our friends with birthdays!  We also made our Hooray for Kindergarten visors!  Your child did an excellent job working on their cutting and coloring skills on this project.  They turned out pretty cute too!  We did our regular calendar and read our message for the day.

Reminders:

1. Cookie Dough Fundraiser starts next Friday, Sept. 18th.
2. Please turn in all forms and papers for the office and for our classroom if you still have them.
3. If your child does not have their transportation tag on the backpack, please make sure you put it on their this weekend.  It is for safety reasons in case of an emergency, so please check that this weekend.  :)
4. AM class parents: I am in need of a few parent volunteers that are willing to do Art-a-Baloo one time a month!  No one has indicated they would do this on the volunteer form, so if you can do this, please email me!  :)  Younger siblings are welcome, it only takes about 1 hour at most and no artistic ability is needed!
5. The first PTO meeting is Monday, September 14th at 6:30 in the library!  The Kindergarten Team is presenting and you will see a sneak peek of pictures already from this week!

Have a great weekend!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Rockin' In Our School Shoes!

Today was fantastic!

We started our time together with name writing and coloring practice. We talked about how we color: coloring in the lines, do your colors make sense, and not leaving any white space. 

We then read Pete The Cat - Rocking In My School Shoes. 

After the book, we were going to start another activity, but we found a NOTE FROM PETE!!! :) He was out exploring our school and we wanted to try and find him. We visited the music room, lunch room, gym, office, and library. By the time we made it back to our classroom, Pete had already gone back to his school. Darn! But, he did leave us a cool coloring page and note. 

*Parents, this activity is very meaningful because the students not only learn their way around the school, but they also meet the specialist teachers and our office staff. 

After coloring our Pete page, we went outside for recess. Some kids played, but most kept looking for Pete. :) It was really cute!

We then transitioned to math, where kiddos worked on identifying objects that match. Comparing and contrasting objects is a large part of our kindergarten math standards.

We ended our time together with free choice. The students played together beautifully. I wish you could have heard their dialogue and seen their sharing! So, so great! 

Important Information:

1. Please turn in the yellow First Day of Kindergarten paper as soon as possible.

2. Please turn in all the office papers (in the brown envelope) as soon as possible.

3. Please turn in your parent questionnaire and volunteer forms as soon as possible. 

4. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home. 

5. We have P.E. and music tomorrow. Please make sure your child is wearing tennis shoes!

6. Also, the very first PTO meeting will be this coming Monday, September 14th at 6:30 PM in the Library.  The Kindergarten team is the first team to present!  You might even get a sneak peek at some pictures we've already taken this year!  :)

Wednesday!

Hi Parents, 

We had a wonderful second day of school!  We started out with our Pledge and attendance.  Today we did all of our calendar activities at calendar.  That includes counting the number of days we have been in school, singing the days of the week, filling in a tens frame, writing the number of the day, writing the date, saying the months in order, figuring out the weather and our pattern.  

After calendar we played our name game Higglety Pigglety again!  We read the story Boris The Bear Remembers His Manners, about a bear who learns what to do in different situations, like on the bus, in line, at lunch, in the classroom and on the playground.  After Boris, we reviewed our own recess rules and then had recess!  

Right after recess, we had our math lesson of the day!  Today our focus was to find things that were almost exactly the same.  For example, I had two sharpie pens that were exactly the same, but one of blue and one was purple.  We worked on the vocabulary _____ and ______ are exactly the same, but ____.  

After math, we had a really fun brain break where we did the Chu Chu Hua Hua.  It is a Spanish song that has special moves with it and it is SO fun!  Our last activity was our very first self portrait on our I Am Special page!

Reminders:

1.  Please turn in the yellow First Day of Kindergarten paper as soon as possible.

1.  Please turn in all the office papers (in the brown envelope) as soon as possible.

1. Please turn in your parent questionnaire and volunteer forms as soon as possible. 

1. If you have not yet put the yellow transportation tag on your child's backpack, please do that tonight. It is so helpful and important that we know how your child will be getting home.  Thank you!  

Love, Mrs. Wittwer

First Day!

Wow!  What an amazing first day we had!  We started out with reading "The Kissing Hand," a wonderful story about Chester the raccoon getting ready to start his first day of school.  After students gave and received a kissing hand of their own, they said goodbye to the parent or grandparent who brought them to school today.  Then we did a very special Kissing Hand activity, where we traced our hand very carefully and put a heart in the center to represent the love we feel for our parents.

After all the Chester activities, we went to our calendar rug, read the message of the day and did calendar.  We played a name game called Higglety Pigglety.  Then we learned our rules for going outside to recess and our ABC lineup order.  Then finally, we got to go outside for recess!  We took a first day picture that will go in the memory book!

When we came inside from recess, we had our very first math lesson.  Today's lesson was about finding things that are exactly the same or not exactly the same.  Our lesson was really fun because it involved socks and students had to find a partner with their exact same sock.  Some of them were pretty tricky!  Our final activity was Free Choice, where students picked the one thing they would like to play with during this time.  Ask your child what they chose for Free Choice time!    

All students did a FANTASTIC job today!  Give your kiddo kudos and a high five because they gave me their best effort, did a great job listening, and learning all about our routines and procedures!  I am so proud of each and every student!  I am honored and so happy I get to be your child's teacher!  What a great start to the year!

Thank you so much parents and grandparents for coming in and helping our first day start off the right way!  Please return the white and yellow pages tomorrow! :)

Happy Trails!
Angie