Happy Halloween Friday!

We had a spooktacular day!

We started our day with a Halloween parade through our 4th grade buddy class. The kinders loved seeing their buddy all dressed up! We then went to music and P.E. The kiddos thought it was pretty fun playing games in their costumes! Our am class also went to library this morning for checkout time. Our pm class will have library on Monday. Finally, we ended our time together with a wonderful Halloween party! Thank you SO much to our parent helpers for planning our parties and to all the parents who helped out. You truly made their day (and mine)! :)

Important Information:

**Starting Monday, November 2nd: Please call the office to schedule your child's conference! 465-7800**  

1. Homework folders are coming home on Monday (11/2). Please note that our building policy is to only give between 5-8 minutes of homework per day in kindergarten (that includes writing their sentence, three math problems, and reading their take home book). If you would like to give your child extra work, that's up to you. If you have questions regarding your child's homework and/or our homework policy, please email me. 

2. Take Home Books are due Monday (11/2)! 

Options for the Take Home Book Exchange:

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 without any errors (they knew every single word) 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 practice the flash cards you were given at Open House with your kiddo (sight words and numbers). Daily practice for just a few minutes is better than one big chunk at once.

4. Just a reminder that the PTO and school calendars are linked on the side of the blog. All upcoming events are posted there and is a great resource.

5. We will have a Veteran's Day Assembly. The kinders will be singing two songs at the assembly. The assembly is on Tuesday, November 10^th, at either 10 a.m. with our primary students (AM-K, 1, 2, and 3) or at 2:00 p.m. with our intermediate students (PM-K, 4, 5, and 6). Click HERE for more information about the assembly.   Kindergarten does not do a Thanksgiving or Christmas program. The only big production we do is in the spring.

6. Friday, November 6th and DURING CONFERENCE WEEK (NOVEMBER 19-25), GRADES 1-6 HAVE HALF DAYS; HOWEVER, THE KINDERGARTEN SCHEDULE DOES NOT CHANGE. AM KINDERS GO FROM 9:10-11:45am AND PM KINDERS GO FROM 12:45-3:20pm.

7. Start thinking about whether or not you can join us for our all-day field trip on Dec. 10th. We must have one adult for every two kinders or we cannot do the trip. For safety reasons, we cannot take siblings on the trip. Please find childcare for younger kiddos, if you plan on attending. 

8. Cookie Dough delivery will be November 5th. You can pick up

orders between 11:30-5:30 pm. Please note, Prairie View cannot store any cookie dough orders. All orders must be picked up on the 5th.

Thursday!

We had a great day!

We started with a review math activity, focusing on "one less." We did our calendar and Daily News routine. We then went back to our desks to work on our math lesson (arranging, analyzing, and drawing sequences that are one less). Finally, we read the book I Like Myself and talked about all the things we liked about ourselves. The students then went back to their seats and wrote their own sentence (I like me because...). I know I say this every time we do writing, but I'm so amazed at what your kiddos write and for how long they're able to focus! We then made it outside for a chilly recess, but felt lucky to get the wiggles out without any rain falling. :) We then transitioned to reading groups, where the kiddos worked on letter sounds, sorting according to the /s/, /m/, and /a/ sound, and identifying the words that didn't start with the /s/ sound. 

Important Information:

1. Please send your child to school with a coat!  We will still go outside even though it is getting colder!  

2. Our Halloween party is tomorrow - 10/30/15 from 9:50-10:45 (am) and 2:00-2:55 (pm).  Also, kinders do wear their costumes to school. Costumes should NOT be scary (no blood, guts, etc.) and NOT include any sort of weapons. If you have specific questions about your child's costume, please feel free to email me.  

3. We will have a Veteran's Day Assembly. The kinders will be singing two songs at the assembly. The assembly is on Tuesday, November 10^th, at either 10 a.m. with our primary students (AM-K, 1, 2, and 3) or at 2:00 p.m. with our intermediate students (PM-K, 4, 5, and 6). Click HERE for more information about the assembly.

4. DURING CONFERENCE WEEK (NOVEMBER 19-25), GRADES 1-6 HAVE HALF DAYS; HOWEVER, THE KINDERGARTEN SCHEDULE DOES NOT CHANGE. AM KINDERS GO FROM 9:10-11:45am AND PM KINDERS GO FROM 12:45-3:20pm.

5. Start thinking about whether or not you can join us for our all-day field trip on Dec. 10th. We must have one adult for every two kinders or we cannot do the trip. For safety reasons, we cannot take siblings on the trip. Please find childcare for younger kiddos, if you plan on attending. 

6. Cookie Dough delivery will be November 5th. You can pick up

orders between 11:30-5:30 pm. Please note, Prairie View cannot store any cookie dough orders. All orders must be picked up on the 5th.

7. Please practice the flash cards you were given at Open House with your kiddo (sight words and numbers). Daily practice for just a few minutes is better than one big chunk at once.  

8. Just a reminder that the PTO and school calendars are linked on the side of the blog. All upcoming events are posted there and is a great resource.

9. Kindergarten does not do a Thanksgiving or Christmas program. The only big production we do is in the spring.

Wonderful Wednesday!

Today was a great day in Camp Kindergarten!  Students did a great job by starting off with counting the objects and finding the matching number!  Then we did calendar and our Daily News!  We also worked on telling how many dots are on a card.  This subitizing skill is very important for students in kindergarten and later on to be able to tell quickly how many objects there are.  When I look at the picture below, how do I count the dots quickly?

When I look at the top left card, I might see 2 and 2 and 1 dots or I might see 4 and 1, etc.  After how many dots, we listened to the fable, "Country Mouse and City Mouse."  The lesson we learned is that we should be happy with what we have!  We then enjoyed a recess outside in the fresh air!  After recess, we had reading groups.  At reading groups we worked on listening for the S sound in a word, either at the end or beginning of a word.  We then read our readers, counted the dots on a 10's frame and wrote the number.  We worked on writing the letter S and also listened to the story "Goldilocks Has the Chicken Pox."  When we were done with reading groups, our math lesson was working on "less."  Students did a great job giving me their best effort!

Reminders:

1) Tomorrow is the Take Home Book Exchange!  

Options for the Take Home Book Exchange:

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) Please send your child to school with a coat!  We will still go outside even though it is getting colder!  

3) Our Halloween party is Friday! 10/30/15 from 9:50-10:45 (am) and 2:00-2:55 (pm).  Also, kinders must wear their costumes to school. Costumes should NOT be scary (no blood, guts, etc.) and NOT include any sort of weapons. If you have specific questions about your child's costume, please feel free to email me. 

  
4) Friday: Homework is due!  We will still have all of our specialist on Friday, so please be sure your child still wears their tennis shoes!  Thank you!!  

Have a great night!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

 

Tuesday!

Today was a spooktacular day in Camp Kindergarten!  We are getting pretty excited for Halloween around here!  We started off our day with one of my favorite things...puzzles!  Students had a chance to do several puzzles.  I love puzzles because it challenges their brain to look for patterns and clues to fit the pieces together!  They also are working together to help their neighbors finish their puzzles! After puzzle time, we did calendar!  We are up to the 35th day of school today!  We also did our Daily News with our Camp Ranger of the day!  We went to recess, and then had reading groups!  Today in Reading Groups, we worked on our letter of the week, Ss, blending sounds together to make words, writing the initial sound we hear in a word and last, reading letters and blending them together to made words.  We also worked on our ABC book, a math counting pumpkins page and listened to Ghost in the House!  After reading groups we finished up with our math lesson of the day, working one less!  Today, we had another math story about our acting friends and why each one had to go home, working on saying our math sentences, 9 is one less than 10.  Less means that we take away or that we don't have as many.  In the morning class, we finished with a quick game of 4 corners and in the PM we finished with a quick Free Choice time.  

Reminders:
1) Thursday is the next Take Home Book Exchange day!
2) Our Halloween party will be Friday, 10/30/15 from 9:50-10:45 (am) and 2:00-2:55 (pm).  Also, kinders must wear their costumes to school. Costumes should NOT be scary (no blood, guts, etc.) and NOT include any sort of weapons. If you have specific questions about your child's costume, please feel free to email me.   
3) Friday: Homework is due!  We will still have all of our specialist on Friday, so please be sure your child still wears their tennis shoes!  Thank you!!

Have a great evening!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Monday!

Today was a great day in Camp Kindergarten!  We started off with 3 STAR coloring one of our Memory Book pages.  Then we learned what our new letter of the week is: Ss and our new sight word is: like!  So we learned how to write Ss and like!  Then we read the story "Seals Silly Sandwich," which has a lot of things that start with the S sound!  Then we guessed what was in our Alphabet Can that starts with S, it was a skeleton!  We also guessed what was in my ABC Can, all things inside start with S!  We then did calendar and our Daily News!  After a short recess, we had a math lesson on 1 more, working with numbers all the way to 10!  We completed our math page, where we had to draw 1 more and tell how many total!  We also read our the story "What Do You Like?" about a boy and girl who like similar things, but they are just a little different!  In the morning class, we practiced our songs for the Veteran's Day Assembly and had a few minutes of Free Choice Time.  In the PM class, we went to the Library to check out the book fair!  Students wrote down books they liked on a Wish List! 

Reminders:

1) Take Home books were exchanged today!  Remember to get a new book, there must be a note or sticky note on the book.  Please put those notes inside the plastic envelope, so they do not fall off!  

2) Homework folders came home today (10/19). Please note that our building policy is to only give between 5-8 minutes of homework per day in kindergarten (that includes writing their sentence, three math problems, and reading their take home book). If you would like to give your child extra work, that's up to you. If you have questions regarding your child's homework and/or our homework policy, please email me. 

3)  If you are able to come help out at the Halloween Party on Friday, please email me if you have not already.  Thank you!  AM party is from 9:50-10:45 and PM party is from 2:00-2:55! 

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer  

Fun Friday!

Today was a super fun Friday!  Today was a 4th Grade Buddy Friday, so our class got to go upstairs to the big kid classrooms!  AM students went to Ms. Pecka's class and PM students went to Ms. Cozza's classroom!  We created a leaf art project with our buddy and had a few extra minutes to play a game or read a book together.  After buddies, we had a Royal Reader!  Mrs. Snider was my Royal Reader for my birthday!  She read one of my very favorite books, The Day The Crayons Quit, to all of our classes!  We also had our favorites, PE and Music!  The AM class got to go to the Library and check out the Book Fair and make a Wish List (purple paper in their backpack), the PM class will get to do this Monday afternoon at 2:50!

Reminders:
Monday is the Take Home Book Exchange:

Options for the Take Home Book Exchange:
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.   

  

Donuts with Dads Thursday!

Today was SO much fun!  Before school even started we had Donuts with Dads, everyone got a donut, toured the classrooms and the Book Fair!  During school, we worked on writing our numbers in order without reversals.  Please work on this at home as well!  After math, we did Calendar, and our Daily News!  We read David Get's in Trouble (AM) and No David (PM).  We then wrote our opinion about which book we liked more, either Peter's Chair or No David!  Students did such a wonderful job coming up with a reason for their opinion in their writing!  After writing we went out to recess.  After recess, we had reading groups, working on blending sounds, read our decodable book, and then even practiced writing our sight words I am ____.  At the other reading rotations, students made their "M" hat, and then Read It, Write It, Build it page for our sight words.  Not all students finished this page, so they are in their backpack to finish!  :)  Then for our last center, students played Starfall on the computer!  We finished up our day with our math activity page, working on one more!

Important Information:

1. Homework folders are due tomorrow (10-23-15). Inside the folders, on the right back to school side, should be your child's completed homework. 

2. Library books are due tomorrow.

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

4. We will not have library checkout tomorrow due to the book fair. We will, however, let the kiddos walk through the book fair and make a wish list.

5. Please practice the flash cards you were given at Open House with your kiddo (sight words and numbers). Daily practice for just a few minutes is better than one big chunk at once.  Pick one thing to have your child work on, start with a few cards and gradually add more as they learn them.  You do not want to overwhelm them in the first sitting.  For example, if they do not know all their letters, go through and pull out the ones that they know without any prompting, then add one or two more that you want to teach them.  FYI: studies show that B and D need to be introduced separately, students need to be solid on one, before you even think about adding the other. 

6. Just a reminder that the PTO and school calendars are linked on the side of the blog. All upcoming events are posted there and is a great resource.

7. Bring in any gently used costumes for our PV service project. Click HERE to read all about it! 

8. PV Fitness Fair is tonight 10-22-15! Read all about it below (click the picture to make it larger)! 

Have a great evening!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer  

Wednesday

Wonderful Wednesday!  Today we started out with a fun math play!  We had ten actors who helped me with our math story.  In the math story, our friends "walked" to a birthday party, on the way there 5 friends had to rest, so 5 friends resting and 5 friends walking equal 10 friends on the path.  We had different scenarios and for each one we said our number sentence to go along with it.  Then for our math page, we each made up our own math story problem about the bears, so tonight ask your child what their math story was!  We also worked on our math counting pathways!  After math, we did calendar, our Daily News and then we were able to enjoy a short recess!  After recess we had reading groups.  In reading groups, we read a short fictional story about a family that has dinner together, worked on phonics, phonemic awareness, our sight words, made Aa Hats and worked on patterns and counting.  We listened to "Class Two At The Zoo."  After reading groups, we read a short non-fiction story about how all families are different, they can be different sizes, etc.  Each student counted the number of people that live in their house, see if your child came up with the same number as you!  :)

Reminders:
Monday is the Take Home Book Exchange:

Options for the Take Home Book Exchange:
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.

Dads (and other friends or family), I will see you tomorrow for Donuts with Dad!  All AM and PM kinders are welcome to come from 8 to 9, have a donut with their special person, visit the classroom and check out the school!  AM kinders will then line up outside with their class at 9 am.  PM kinders, I will see you back here for our normal school day at 12:45!  Dads do need to stay with their kindergartener until 9am, there is not an early drop off!  

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer  

Terrific Tuesday!

The kinders had a wonderful day!

What a wonderful sunny Tuesday!  We started out by making David from the book "No David!" by David Shannon.  This author is a wonderful author, he wrote the first version of "No David!" when he was just a little boy and the only words he knew how to write was no and his name.  We talked about how David Shannon is both the author and illustrator of his books, which is the same with our kindergarteners!  After we created our Davids, we had our Vision and Hearing Screening test today, after that we read a funny book by Shel Silverstein, "Who Wants A Cheap Rhinoceros?"  After our screenings, we went to recess in the beautiful sunshine!  After recess, we had reading groups!  During reading groups, students worked on the sounds /a/ and /m/ and blending those sounds with other letters to make words, initial sounds, picture sorts, The "a" book, The sight word page, and at the listening center, we listened to Crankenstein!  After reading groups, we worked on our opinion writing about the story we read yesterday, Peter's Chair.  We talked about how an opinion doesn't have a right or wrong answer and it is what you think.  I am blown away by our students writing already and it is only October!!  I love how they are attacking the words they want to sound out, listening for the sounds they can hear!

Important Information:

1. Donuts with Dad is October 22nd from 8-9am. Dads DO need to stay with students until 9am. There is not an early drop off.

2. Bring in any gently used costumes for our PV service project. Click HERE to read all about it

3. There was a lot of Halloween talk today! Our party will be Friday, 10/30/15 from 9:50-10:45 (am) and 2:00-2:55 (pm).  Just a reminder that if you'd like to help out with our party, please email me. Also, kinders will wear their costumes to school! Costumes should NOT be scary (no blood, guts, etc.) and NOT include any sort of weapons. If you have specific questions about your child's costume, please feel free to email me.

4. We will have a Veteran's Day Assembly. The kinders will be singing two songs at the assembly. The assembly is on Tuesday, November 10^th, at either 10 a.m. with our primary students (AM-K, 1, 2, and 3) or at 2:00 p.m. with our intermediate students (PM-K, 4, 5, and 6). There is a slide show honoring veteran's who have served or currently serve our armed forces.  If  you have a picture of a loved one in uniform (if possible) that you would like to have included in the slide show, please email melanie.wiser@mead354.org the picture with your child's name, name of person, and teacher's name included in the email.

Have a great evening!

~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer   

Wonderful Monday!

We started our time off together with a self portrait drawing lesson. The students did a wonderful job drawing and attempting to make their self portrait look realistic. We then transitioned to calendar, where the kiddos worked on counting, days of the week, months of the year, place value, and number identification. After calendar, we did our Daily News and read a book called, Peter's Chair. We all shared our opinion on whether or not we liked the book and why. Tomorrow we will do an opinion writing piece about the book and why we did/did not like the book. We then read a poem called, We Munch The Lunch and found all our sight words. Kiddos took turns coming up and circling the different sight words they saw in the poem. We did go out to recess (even though it was a bit rainy) and the kiddos had a blast. Thanks for sending your kiddos with coats! We sure used them today! :) After recess, we did a math lesson all about the number ten. We found two different hidden partners in ten (one and nine, five and five) and practiced writing the number ten. After math, the kiddos and I talked about rhyming and sang a lullaby (The Mocking Bird). We found all the rhyming words and then came up with a few of our own.

Reminders:

1. Homework folders came home today (10/19). Please note that our building policy is to only give between 5-8 minutes of homework per day in kindergarten (that includes writing their sentence, three math problems, and reading their take home book). If you would like to give your child extra work, that's up to you. If you have questions regarding your child's homework and/or our homework policy, please email me.    

2. Take Home Books came home today!  

3. Donuts with Dad is October 22nd from 8-9am. Dads DO need to stay with students until 9am. There is not an early drop off.

4. Just a reminder that the PTO and school calendars are linked on the side of the blog. All upcoming events are posted there and it is a great resource.

5. Bring in any gently used costumes for our PV service project. Click HERE to read all about it

6. There was a lot of Halloween talk today! Just a reminder that if you'd like to help out with our party, please email me. Also, kinders wear their costumes to school. Costumes should NOT be scary (no blood, guts, etc.) and NOT include any sort of weapons. If you have specific questions about your child's costume, please feel free to email me.

7. We will have a Veteran's Day Assembly on November 10. I'll post the information once I have it. Please note, there are two assemblies (one in the am and one in the pm). You are more than welcome to come and please feel free to invite grandparents, as well!

Have a great night!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer 

Happy Friday!

What a great day we had today!  We started our time together with a presentation from Mrs. Pittz (our school social worker) about bullying. We watched a short video (it is also a book) all about Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns about Bullies.  The students did a wonderful job listening and answering questions about how and who to report bullying to.  We completed our math lesson from yesterday, working on math counting paths up to 9!  Finally, the kiddos had a wonderful time at P.E. and music with Mrs. Mulder. 

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

Options for the Take Home Book Exchange:
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) Flash cards: Remember to have a few minutes of flash card practice at home daily.  Daily practice for just a few minutes is better than one big chunk at once.  Pick one thing to have your child work on, start with a few cards and gradually add more as they learn them.  You do not want to overwhelm them in the first sitting.  For example, if they do not know all their letters, go through and pull out the ones that they know without any prompting from you, then add one or two more that you want to teach them.  FYI: studies show that B and D need to be introduced separately, students need to be solid on one, before you even think about adding the other.

3) Thursday, October 22nd is Donuts with Dads day from 8-9.  The Book Fair also starts on Thursday and will be open during this time!

Have a great weekend!
~Love, 
Mrs. Wittwer

Thursday!

Another great day in Kindergarten!  Students started the day by working super hard on finishing our special project for Donuts with Dads!  After we finished our projects, we had a few minutes of Play-Doh.  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger of the Day, did the Daily News, and wrote their Name Book!  We had an Earth Quake Drill today.  Students learned that in an earth quake they are to Stop, Drop and Cover.  They learned to get under a table or desk, somewhere safe and to get in a ball and cover their head and wait until the shaking stops.  After the drill, we went outside for recess.  After recess, we had reading groups.  During reading groups, students worked on spelling and writing our sight word of the week, "the," blending sounds together to make words, and comprehension of our story that we were reading.  They also worked on writing our numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and the number of apple seeds in their apple, and they made an Apple Puppet.  Some students didn't get finish coloring, so they may want to finish at home tonight.  

1. Homework folders are due tomorrow. Inside the folders, on the right back to school side, should be your child's completed homework. 

2. Library books are due tomorrow.

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

4. We will NOT have library tomorrow (am) or Monday (pm).

5. Please practice the flash cards you were given at Open House with your kiddo (sight words and numbers). Daily practice for just a few minutes is better than one big chunk at once.  Pick one thing to have your child work on, start with a few cards and gradually add more as they learn them.  You do not want to overwhelm them in the first sitting.  For example, if they do not know all their letters, go through and pull out the ones that they know without any prompting, then add one or two more that you want to teach them.  FYI: studies show that B and D need to be introduced separately, students need to be solid on one, before you even think about adding the other.

6. Donuts with Dad is October 22nd from 8-9am. Dads DO need to stay with students until 9am. There is not an early drop off. 

7. Just a reminder that the PTO and school calendars are linked on the side of the blog. All upcoming events are posted there and is a great resource.

8. Bring in any gently used costumes for our PV service project. Click HERE to read all about it! 

9. PV Fitness Fair is 10-22-15! Read all about it below (click the picture to make it larger)! 

Have a great night!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Wonderful Wednesday!

What a terrific day!  In the AM class, we started our day with a Royal Reader!  In the PM class we started our day with Play-Doh!  Then we interviewed our Happy Camper of the Day, did our campers name book and completed our Daily News!  Then, we did Calendar!  Can you believe we are already on the 26th day of school today!  We counted up from 1 to 26 and down from 26 to 1!  Then we read a non-fiction article called "Night Animals," all about animals that are awake while we are asleep!  We also learned that warm blooded animals are called mammals, and that mammals have hair and fur!  We had a short recess out in the beautiful sunshine today!  After recess, we had reading groups, working more on our letter of the week, Aa.  A says /a/, as in apple.  We are also reviewing last weeks letter Mm says /m/, as in muffin.  Please play a little seeking game at home where you are trying to find all the things around your house that start with the /m/ sound and the /a/ sound!  Also, in reading groups we read the story "Wet Dog," worked on writing our sight word "the" and the letter Aa.

Our math lesson today was all about the number 9.  To write the number 9, we "Make a loop and a down line, that's the way to make the number 9!"  On our math page, we worked on counting to 9 in different ways, following directions and writing the number 9.  Both classes were able to have a few minutes of Free Choice time at the end of the day!

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.  Students should be using their "Magic Pointer Finger" while reading, even if they need your help reading the book.  This helps students to develop their concepts of print and really helps us as we get further along in reading!

4) Remember to have a few minutes of flash card practice at home daily.  Daily practice for just a few minutes is better than one big chunk at once.  Pick one thing to have your child work on, start with a few cards and gradually add more as they learn them.  You do not want to overwhelm them in the first sitting.  For example, if they do not know all their letters, go through and pull out the ones that they know without any prompting from you, then add one or two more that you want to teach them.  FYI: studies show that B and D need to be introduced separately, students need to be solid on one, before you even think about adding the other.

Have a great night!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer  

Tuesday!

Terrific Tuesday!  We had such a great day today!  We started with math and worked on counting up to 8 in different ways, how to use a math counting pathway.  Then we interviewed our Happy Camper of the Day (AM= Aiden) (PM=Hollyn).  We did the Daily News, our camper's name book, and Calendar.  We had a nice short recess outside.  During reading groups today, we worked on blending sounds together, reviewed last weeks letter Mm and this weeks letter, Aa.  Our sight word for this week is "the."  We also learned the sight word "am" today! We finished up with writing something special for Donuts with Dads day, next Thursday!

Just a reminder: Please remember to use those sight word flash cards, number cards, and letter cards on a weekly basis.  If you child doesn't know all their letters, please start with teaching them their letters, then work on the sounds those letters make, then work on sight words.  In the Open House folder, we gave you all the flash cards you need.  Also, in the stapled packet, there is a special page that has all the sounds the letters make and the way we want students to say the sounds.  This might sound easy, but please read this page first to make sure you know the way we would like them to say the sound.  Thank you!!  Our goal is for students to have mastered their Magic 5 by the end of April!  For your child to master the Magic 5, they need to:

1) Read all their letters (capital and lowercase)
2) Know all the sounds the letters make
3) Read all 31 sight words
4) Read all the numbers from 0 to 31
5) Count to 100 without any errors

Thank you ahead of time for practicing this at home with your child!  When you think your child is ready to test for a specific area of the Magic 5, send me an email and I will try to get to it that week!

Have a great evening!
~Love,
Mrs. Wittwer

Monday!

What a wonderful Monday we had today!  We started out by finishing our writing from last week.

FYI: With our writing, we are working on writing our name and date on the paper, drawing a picture of what we did in our story, labeling all the parts of our story and writing our sentence the best we can.   We are working on listening for all the sounds in the word, this is phonetic spelling, which means words are probably not going to be spelled correctly and that IS what we want at this point!  I have attached the same alphabet chart that we use in class, so your child can get used to looking for the picture for the initial sound.   Please do not help them spell the word, ask them to sound it out, you may help them at the beginning of stretching it out long so they can hear the sounds (snake= ssssnnnnaaaaaakkkkkkeee), then transfer the responsibility to them to sound it out.  This is one thing you do NOT want to do on a regular basis for your child, because then they are relying on you to sound out a word.  They must be able to do this on their own!  You could use this chart to help with writing homework sentences as well.

 Please note, I love this chart, but the only letter that doesn't start with the correct sound on this chart is the Xx, Xylophone doesn't start with the Xx sound.  We talked about how it should be an X-ray there instead.

After writing, we played with Play-Doh for a few minutes.  Then we interviewed our Camp Ranger of the Day, did Calendar, the Daily News, and wrote the campers name for their Name Book.  We then had a short recess.  After recess, we worked on counting to the number eight with objects in a tens frame, tall like a tower and long like a train.  We worked on how 5 and 3 make 8, then we completed our math page where we are creating 8 several ways with 5 and 3.  After math, we read "The Picnic at Apple Park," where several families went and had a picnic at Apple Park, they flew kites, played baseball, ate their picnic, their dogs found a skunk and then it rained on them, so it was time to go home.  The PM class also had Library today!

Reminders:
1) Tonight Homework is coming home in backpacks along with the Take Home Book!  Students should work on their homework packet.  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!" Please note that our building policy is to only give between 5-8 minutes of homework per day in kindergarten (that includes writing their sentence, three math problems, and reading their take home book). If you would like to give your child extra work, that's up to you. If you have questions regarding your child's homework and/or our homework policy, please email me.    

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) Donuts with Dad is October 22nd from 8-9am for AM and PM classes. Dads DO need to stay with students until 9am. There is not an early drop off.

4) Tonight is the second PTO meeting at 6:30!  If you can make it that would be great!

5) Just a reminder that the PTO and school calendars are linked on the side of the blog. All upcoming events are posted there and is a great resource.  You can click Here to see the PTO website!

Have a great evening!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer

Wednesday News!

We had a great day in Camp Kindergarten!

We started our day with learning how to write the numbers 6 & 7.  Then we interviewed our Happy Camper interview and completed their name book. After Calendar and Daily News, we started math.  In math today, we were working on Counting 4–6 objects in circular and scattered configurations, counting 6 items out of a larger set and writing numerals 1–6 in order.  After math, we were able to go outside for a short recess. It wasn't the best weather, but at least we got outside, :) We then came in and did reading groups, where the kiddos worked on the /m/ sound, reading, sight words, and listening to the story "Goldi Rocks." We ended our day together with a read non-fiction read aloud called, Who's Baby Am I?, about baby animals and their adults.  We learned the names of many baby animals today!

Important Information:

1. NO SCHOOL ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9TH!

2. Homework is due tomorrow. Please make sure your child's homework is completed and in their homework folder. 

3. Take Home Books are due tomorrow. 

*If your child needs more practice with their book, return the book in their plastic envelope/bag so I can check off  that you have that book. 

* If the book was at an appropriate level of difficulty, but you are done with this book write on a sticky note: New Book 

*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.**

4. Library books are due tomorrow!

5. All book orders are due tomorrow, whether online or paper version!

6. Donuts with Dad is October 22nd from 8-9am. Dads DO need to stay with students until 9am. There is not an early drop off.

Have a great night!

~Love, 

Mrs. Wittwer