Wallace/Phillips

Last Post

This will be the last  post on our weblog for this school year. Please look for  information in your child's newsletter that will continue to come home every other week.

Correction!

The sing-a-long that we mentioned in the previous blog is March 23rd, at 9:00a.m., not February! All parents are invited to attend.

March came in with a roar!

March certainly roared in like a lion, didn't it? It is kinda like our class! We are really roaring along with our writing, reading, and math!

The children are writing the best stories ever, with very little help. We have begun Writing to Improve journals. We use a rubric to assess their writing. The children are encouraged to work on their stories for several days, to continue to improve on it. When they are finished the student conferences with the teacher to assess the writing. Stickers are used to encourage their improvement.

In math we are using a ten grid  to help us count teen numbers more easily. The students are catching on to the fact that the grid always has ten, so they are learning to count on from 10. Miss Brackett extended this lesson by reviewing and comparing the ten grid with pennies to a dime and pennies. Thanks so much for your reinforcement at home. The children are really doing well on recognizing the numbers to 20 and money. Next week we will compare teen numbers and then we will move into recognizing the numbers to 30.

Frogs and insects are our focus as we continue to learn about animals in science and social studies.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! On Friday we learned all about Dr. Seuss.  We made hats, saw a slide show about him, did a word search of his characters, and made the coolest Cat in the Hat, hats! We do hope you will come to the P.T.A. Language Arts Night on February 22, where we will do more  Dr. Seuss activities.  More information will follow soon about this event.

On Friday, February 23rd we invite parents to come to our sing along at 9:00 a.m. in the lunchroom. Nearly every Friday the entire kindergarten meets to sing and have fun learning through song. We feel sure you will have fun, too!

We have a request.  We are  wondering how many of you read this blog on the internet? If you do, would you please send us an email at school or a note in your child's bookbag? Thank you.

Holidays!

Miss Brackett has taught us so much about the different types of animals. So far we have learned about mammals, birds, reptiles, and fish. Soon we will learn about amphibians and insects. Can you child tell you some of the characteristics of each type of animal? Which are cold or warm blooded, vertebrates, and what type of body covering do they have?

In math we have emphasized recognizing the numbers from 11-20 and identifying  how many tens and ones in each of the numbers.  Does your child recognize all the numbers, out of sequence? We will soon move onto the numbers to 30. Mrs. Brackett has really done a great job on teaching recognition and value of money. Be sure to reinforce this at home.

Dental health and Presidents are our emphasis in Social Studies this month.

On Valentines Day we counted and sorted our valentines. We also graphed valentine candy.

Yash was our author of the day on February 2nd. As you can see he wrote a sentence with a describing word,  one of the things we have been emphasizing.  The class helped to identify the sight words in his story and also the compound words,other things we have been focusing on. We have also learned about copyrights.  You can see that Yash has put the copyright symbol on his story so that no one can copy his story!

       Snow

Written by Yash  2-2-07

I have snow. I play with snow.I make a snowman. I make a cold

Snow castle. Snow is falling.

Snow is on the ground.

                        ©

Seth was the  author of the day on February 9th. He taught us some new things about bats. He also put a copyright on his story.

   

          Bats

written by Seth  7-9-07

Bats fly in the night. Bats sleep in the day.

Sometimes bats look like vampires. Bats have

babies at night. Bats are vertebrates. Bats

get food for their babies.

Our author of the day for today was Sarah. She reports some very important information for you parents!

    Holidays

written by Sarah   2-16-07

I like Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Valentine's Day.

I love the holidays because they are fun! We do not come to school on holidays. Do not send us to school on  Monday and Tuesday. They are President's Day holidays.

Don't forget that this Monday and Tuesday, February 19th and 20th will be holidays in honor of President's Day.                                             

Busy Kindergarteners

We have been so busy in this new year! We have been learning about telling time. Please help to reinforce the skills we are learning by practicing this at home on an analog ( the one with hands) and on a digital clock. Recognizing and counting the numbers 0-30 can be reinforced at home, too.

We also would appreciate your help with practicing recognizing the sight words. An updated list comes home this week. There is a lot of homework!

Kindergarten report cards will come home on February 28th.

Our students have made the cutest snow people and written descriptive paragraphs about them. If you visit our school, be sure to come see them. They are hanging in the hall outside of our classroom.

Miss Brackett, our student teacher, is teaching more and more in our classroom. She will eventually teach everything. She is doing a great job.

A valentine list will come home this week. Please read the instructions because we have a special way to do valentines in our class.

Don't forget that February 8th will be Cosmic Bowling at school. This will really be fun!

Since we will be into a new month on Friday, we are getting low on snacks.  We are also low on hand soap. Thanks for all donations.

February 19th and 20th will be holidays in honor of Presidents Day.

On Thursday, February 22nd there will be a P.T.A. meeting. The 1st grade will be performing.

Permission for a field trip to Publix and Oregon Park will come home this week. Remember that without sufficient donations it will have to be canceled. Also, your child may not attend without written permission.

Student Teacher

Welcome to our new student teacher, Miss Brackett.

January continues.....

We have continued to work on writing descriptive sentences this week. Emily was our Author of the Day and wrote a paragraph describing a bear. Here is her story:

The Bear      written by Emily 1-17-07

The bear is white.  His hat is green and has a red stripe. The jacket is red and he has a red tie. His pants are green . His name is Cloud.

This was career awareness week. We had visitors from Publix Bakery and the fire station come to tell us about their jobs.

In  math  we are finishing our chapter on measuring and  about to start a new chapter on telling time and money. We will need lots of reinforcement from home .

We have learned about  water and shadows in science.

We  are almost out of liquid hand soap and low on snacks. Thanks for any donations.

Welcome to our new student, Charles. We now have 18 students in our class.

Because the weather changes quickly, be sure you listen to the radio each morning to learn about the weather and school closings. If school is closed during the school day because of bad weather, you would have to listen to the radio. A.M. 750 With close to 1000 students, you would not be able to call the school.  There would be no after school program. All parents have signed the inclement weather letter to let us know if your child would ride the bus or in the car. ( Remember, if you chose car, traffic is going to be really bad.)

Wednesday January 24th will be the 100th day of school. Please be sure to read the letter about this special day.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back to Kindergarten! We are so excited to be back!

We are off to a great start! The children are really taking off with their reading and writing. This week we talked rocks in science. The children wrote  sentences about their rock. We also wrote a class story. It was a descriptive paragraph about a snowman. Next week your child will make a snowman and write their own descriptive story about it.  Can your child describe something in your home? Please guide them to identify descriptive words such as the size, color, etc. 

We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Friday. Your child has homework. They are supposed to show you his picture that they colored and tell you his name. They are supposed to tell you what he believed in (Peace) and what kind of language we use at Dowell to solve conflict.("I Care Language").

Please do not forget  Monday January 15 is the M.L.K. Holiday.

This has been a very  week! We will have more to tell you about next week.

December

December is certainly a very busy month! Music fills the air as we continue to learn many skills through songs. We are learning many holiday songs, too. We really appreciate that so many of you attending the art night so that your child could sing. We were so proud of our students and know you were, too!

In Science we have learned about the different forms that water can take. Ask you child to identify solid, liquid, and gas. 

In math we have begun measurement. We measure with thermometers, rulers, tape measures, scales,  non standard units of measure.

Our authors of the day for the last two weeks are Abigail and Sara Kate. Here are their stories.

The Sky written by Abigail 12-6-06

The rainbow is up in the sky. The bird flies in the sky. The bat is in the sky, too. The sun is in the sky. Many things are in the sky.

The Grass    written by Sara Kate 12-13-06

We play in the grass. We do cartwheels in the grass. We play duck-duck goose. We like the grass!

Flu season is upon us! There have been so many children absent from Dowell  with the flu. Please be sure to keep a close eye on your child and have them wash often with soap. We really emphasize this in our classroom . So far we have not had many absences in our room. We could use some donations of liquid soap ( not antibacterial, since that can break down their immune systems if used too often.)

Do you have a gently used coat that your child has outgrown? We have had a request for coats for children that do not have  them. Be sure to attach a note to the coat to let us know it is to be donated. Thanks so much. Speaking of coats, if your child has lost a coat or belonging, please check the lost and found between the office and gym. Any clothing that isn't claimed by the winter holidays will be donated. Be sure you put your child's name in all clothing that is removed(hats, coats, gloves).

Our holiday party will be on Wednesday December 19th from 9:00 to 10:00. The last day of school will be on Thursday December 20th. Winter holidays will be from Dec 21st- January 5.

November to December

We hope you had a very nice Thanksgiving. We now move into the really busy time of year!

We are practicing writing our numbers 0-10. We write with pencil and paper but also use various materials such as clay and paint. Be sure your child can form all the numbers correctly and can recognize them, too. We will soon move into larger number. Our goal is to recognize the numbers to 30.

A list of the sight words we have had so far was sent home this week. Be sure to go over them with your child. It would be a good idea to keep them on your refrigerator and review them often. We will update the list periodically.

We will study various celebrations from around the world this month. On December 18th your child will get the opportunity to learn about the holiday from other Kindergarten teachers as they "travel from country to country!" ( actually classroom to classroom!)

If any parent would like to do a simple holiday craft or cook with the children, write us a note and we will contact you. We will assist you in any way that you need.

Author of the Day:

               The Gameboy               written by Damani 11-29-06

Santa Claus is going to get me a present. The present is going to be a gameboy. The gameboy has games. I'm going to play with it. I'm going to be happy!

Thursday, 11-30-06, will be the P.T.A. meeting(7:00) and Holiday market from 5:30-8:00. Details came home earlier in the week.

  Tuesday,  12-05-06, will be Art Night. We need all Kindergarten students( with parents!) here at 6:45 to sing. After  your child sings, you may then accompany your child to view the art work in the school and purchase it. The invitations to this art show, also came home earlier this week.

As we move into another month, we are low on snacks and would appreciate donations of individual snacks. Thanks !

If you send in any donations for any of the various charities, the treasure box, or at the request of the room mothers, please label it to let us know what it is for. Thanks.

Our student's winter holiday will be from Dec 22- Jan. 5.