Mrs. Conner’s October Newsletter

 

Other Items…..

v     Magazine sale is over on Thursday, that s the last day for prizes, thank you to all of you who took time to see, the money made is directly routed back to the teachers for the classrooms!

v     The food drive begin this month and we have a personal goal of 100 items for our classroom!  Box tops contest is at the same time.  Classes with the most for either contest win!!

v     Homework is going well, the magazine cut out is every week with  a new letter.  Remember the pictures should correspond with the beginning sound not necessarily the spelled form of the word (ex: using art for A, or knife for K…but use it for N its okay!)  Also try not to use blends (like sh) shoes for S because it does not make the hard S sound.   I want the kids to make connections between the letter and the sound.  Magazines are availabe here at school for the kids to take home of they need one. Reminder to use pencil and help your child make the letter forms at the top. 

v     Thanks for the snacks many of you have sent, it is great to give them a little snack in the monring.

v     Library is on Mondays,try to help your child remember their books so they can check out new ones each week.

 

Star of the Week

 

 

Star of the week has been a great success!  They “star” on the webpage after their week.  The directions are in the bag they bring home. 

 

Sharing

 

Sharing is always on Friday and is the same letter as the homework.  You child can bring one item to share with their friends that begins with the letter we are working on.  Remember to be creative; there are only a few rules:

v     Nothing alive

v     The item must fit in the backpack

v     Food, household items, anything goes, we are just looking for a variety!

 

 

 

 

 

Conferences

 

 

It was nice to see all of you at conferences, I had 100% attendance!  You are welcome to contact me any time you need anything but I will offer some conference times again in April & May at the end of the year.

 

 

Reading

 

 

We are completing unit 1 in reading, which was about families, animal and people.  The kids learned letters and sounds A & M and also the fluency words we & the.  We will be taking a unit test on all the skills learned in the last 3-4 weeks, as indicated at conferences I will send those scores home when testing is done.

 

Next week we will begin unit 2, which focuses on friends.  The letters are S & P and the words are like & a.  The unit test for this unit we will take together.

 

 

Science

 

 

We are finishing our discussions about living and non-living.  We learned that living things; move on their own, grow & change, and make more.  In science we are beginning to talk about trees and the parts of trees.  This will help us prepare for our field trip to Vander Veer where we will learn many things about trees and leaves.  We are also talking about the basic things that all people, animals and plants need to survive which are another of our science assessments that follow up our living and non-living discussions.  Toward the end of October and into November we will begin our science unit on weather.

 

Math

 

 

We are working on topic 2, which is numbers to 10.  We explore them in different ways and represent them in different forms.  We will be into topic 3 towards the middle of the month, which teaches 3D shapes and patterns.

 

Second Step

 

In Second Step we are still looking at feelings of others as well as how to cope with our own feelings.  What is an appropriate reaction to a feeling.  The class as a whole has needed a lot of guidance about being kind to one another and treating people with respect.  We continue to practice the skills of following directions and getting attention appropriately.

 

 

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

October 13- PTA meeting 6:00

October 15- Donuts with Dad 8:00- Dad can eat lunch any day this week!

October 16- Picture day

October 21- 2 hour early out (1:20 dismissal)

October 23- PTA chili dinner

October 30- Last day for the Food Drive

November 3- Report cards go home

November 5- Hearing check

November 6- Box Tops contest over

November 10- PTA

November 25-27- Thanksgiving Break

 

 

 

 

October 16- Donuts with Dad! (Eat lunch with dad any day this week)

Link to the Wiki and my e-mail can be found from the Blue Grass website

connerd@mail.davenport.k12.ia.us Or 381-1712- School

 

October 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Conner's September Newsletter

 

 

 

Book Orders

 

 

I am sending home the first book orders of the year.  As long as interest remains I will send them home every month.  There are two different orders but both are through Scholastic.  You can order online or send one check made out to Scholastic.  The due date this month for book orders is September 8^th.

 

To order online use:

http://pcool.scholastic.com/parentordering/login.jsp

User name mrsconner

Password bookorder

 

 

Other Items…..

 

v     Thanks for the snacks many of you have sent, it is great to give them a little snack in the monring. They are also getting a few crackers in the afternoon as well until they get use to the schedule.

v     Library is on Mondays, the kids get bags to keep their books safe.  Try to help your child remember their books so they can check out new ones each week.

v     The kids have been very tired in the afternoon but are adjusting each day to the longer schedule and work than they are use to.  A routine and bedtime will continue to help this transition.

v     Thanks so much for letting me know in the planner if your child is going home  a different way than usual or if they will be leaving early for an appointmeent.  This allows me to have them ready to go.

v     Awesome job getting planners signed every night!  This is a super way for us to have communication.

 

Star of the Week

 

 

Star of the week will begin next week! The star helper is listed on the calendar.   They “star” on the webpage after their week is over.  Please check out your child as well as their classmates!  When your child is star helper they will bring a bag home with directions inside as to what they can bring to share as well as decorate a page about themselves that I will send home in the bag.  Star helpers also get to do all classroom jobs and be the line leader for the week.

 

 

Homework-

 

We will begin homework on September 15^th.  It is always on Tuesday and due on Wednesday. 

 

I will send home further instructions with the homework but the idea is to cut out pictures from a magazine that begin with the letter we are working on.  The students will also trace the letter at the top.  I expect at least 5-6 pictures but more is awesome!  The idea is that they begin to understand the letter/sound connection.  Please help your child with their homework but don’t do it for them.  Have them search for the pictures, narrow down a page if they are having trouble.  Have them cut and glue with your guidance.  If you need magazines your child can take a few home from our classroom.

 

Sharing

 

Sharing is the Friday homework and is the same letter as the homework on Tuesday.  This will begin on September 18^th.  It is listed on the calendar.  You child can bring one item to share with their friends that begins with the letter we are working on.  Remember to be creative; there are only a few rules:

v     Nothing alive

v     The item must fit in the backpack

v     Food, household items, anything goes, we are just looking for a variety!

 

 

Conferences

 

 

Conferences are September 21, 23 & 24th.  I will send home a reminder card.  If there is a conflict please let me know and we can reschedule.  We will be discussing the testing from before school started.  If both parents can attend it is appreciated.  We will not have school that Thursday and Friday (24^th & 25^th).

 

 

 

 

Reading

 

We have begun this week with Start Smart which is a review of all the alphabet letters, teaches the fluency words I & can.  We mainly establish some routines with the students about what reading looks like.  We will begin Unit 1 the week of the 14^th.  Unit 1 in reading, which is about families, the kids will learn letters and sounds A & M and also the fluency words we & the.  We will be taking a unit test on all the skills learned in October.  I will share those scores with you through a note home.

Each Monday you will receive a home letter that tells you what the focus of the week is in reading.  Please take time to look that over, focus on the letter/sounds for the week and the fluency words.  The workbook students have will go home at the end of the three week unit.

 

 

 

 

 

Science

 

In science we are exploring the idea of Inquiry and how our senses help us in science.  We planted strawberries and herbs as part of our inquiry.  We will be investigating the idea of living and non-living and what makes something living or non-living.  We will move into tree investigations by the end of September.  We will be keeping a science notebook for our work but there will be less written work coming home in science.

 

 

 

Math

 

We have begun the getting started unit which helps establish routines for math and also build a time capsule of information about them to keep until the end of kindergarten.  We will move into topic 1 which is sorting and classifying during September.  We will also begin Topic 2 before the end of the month which is focused on counting to 10.  Most math topics are only 2 weeks long.  There are home letters to let you know what we are working on in math as well and those will go home before each topic.  There is a math workbook as well and those pages may come home a few at a time.

 

 

 

Second Step

 

Second Step is our social studies component.  We discuss feelings and how to appropriately interact with others.  We work on life skills as well as making friends.  We have also talked about bullying since we have a new school-wide program for bullying prevention and identification.

 

HWT

 

Handwriting Without Tears is a new program this year to assist students in handwriting.  We will use this in conjunction with writing.  There is a specific order to which the letters are taught and how they are taught.  We are not focusing on writing the letters during homework because the letters taught in reading are in a different order than HWT.  We will be working on capital letters F, E, D, P, B, R, N & M in that order this month, as well as numbers 1, 2, & 3.  There is a workbook so much of this work will not come home but I hope you see progress in your child’s writing the more they learn.

We will be working hard on writing their name appropriately.

 

 

Upcoming Events

 

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