Week of January 22nd

Welcome back from a long weekend. I hope you all enjoyed Human Rights day yesterday :).

No Homework or Spelling Words
We have decided not to introduce new spelling words or send home homework this week. We spent all of last week doing report card testing and so we thought we would use this short week to play catch up and introduce some new classroom activities. We will also be doing another Istation testing session this week as a progress monitor. Enjoy your week at home with no homework. I would still recommend practicing sight words and reading each evening :).

Math
We are beginning our unit on Place Value this week. We will still be reviewing concepts in Counting and Cardinality as well as adding and subtracting (Operations and Algebraic Thinking). I have introduced "tens place" and "ones place". Ask your kiddo to identify them for you! They may not be able to yet, but we started working on it today!

Report Cards
Your student's report card is coming home in their folder today. Thank you for your patience in getting them done. Please take some time to review it with them this evening. They are excited to show them to you! If you have any questions or concerns that you don't feel I addressed in the comments, please shoot me an email.

One of the biggest things you can do to help support your student at home is have them review the phonogram power point. You do need to have Power Point on your computer at home for the link to work. Click here to go to the correct spot on the Vision website and then click on "Spalding Phonograms with Sounds NEW" to download the Power Point. Because our entire reading program for kindergarten through 2nd grade is based off of these phonograms, the sooner your student masters them the better off they will be! :)

Week of January 14th

Spelling Words
We have ten words again this week that we are working on. This week's test will count as a grade. It won't be reflected on Quarter 2's report card, because it is technically Quarter 3 now :). You will be seeing a book come home each week. They are very simple and really focus on our sight words for the week. Please have your student practice reading them to you each night.
Our words this week are:

1. it
2. at
3. in
4. us
5. an
6. did
7. get
8. yes
9. can 
10. had

Math
We will be taking our post test on addition and subtraction this week. We will start our next unit next week because we are going to be working hard on report card testing this week. They do have some subtraction homework to work on this week though :).

Week of January 7th

Welcome back! I was so excited to see all of my students this morning! They got to share about their break and it sounds like everyone had a great one!

Spelling Words
We have hit that point where our "sight words" have now become our "spelling words". I talked to the kiddos today about how now that they know how to read most of them, they are going to learn how to spell them too. They will be taking a spelling test each week on the last day of the week. It is so important to have them practice writing these words each day. Ideas for that are rainbow writing with crayons or markers, sand writing (using a shallow baking dish, salt/sand, and their finger), getting window markers and letting them practice writing them on the window, using shaving cream on the counter and writing in it, etc.
Our words this week are:

1. up
2. I
3. on
4. a
5. no
6. go
7. be
8. me
9. he
10. we

Math
I gave a math test before we went on break to see how my class was doing. They still need work in subtraction. We will be working on that a lot in class with review of some of the pages we did before break. We will continue to work on addition as well with homework and in centers.

Water Bottles
Just a reminder that your child is welcome (and encouraged) to bring a water bottle to keep at school for the week. They have access to this throughout the day and it is just a little easier than letting them roam the halls to the drinking fountain :). I send them home the last day of every week to be washed.

Art
This week your student will be learning about the art element Value by studying the works of Camille Pissarro. Value is the lightness or darkness of colors. They will also be creating their own paintings of a winter landscape using this element.

Christmas Party

Thank you so much to Mrs. Roy for organizing our party and for each of you that sent in supplies or came in to help!! I appreciate you all so much!! Here are a few pictures of our fun day! The kids got to color pictures of Santa, make a Christmas Tree, play Bingo, decorate cookies, and play Charades. It was a great day!! I also wanted to say thank you for the wonderful gifts. I fell so loved and appreciated! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

First we started our day with letters from Santa!! Thank you to Mrs. Mitchell's classes for helping us out :).

Opening presents from Mrs. Martindale and Mrs. Rice!
The crayons stayed at school but the two books hopefully made it home!

Week of December 17th

Can you believe it is the last week before Christmas break? This year is just flying by! We will be celebrating Christmas in our class this Friday at 1:30. I just have one more gift to wrap for each kiddo, and I am ready ;). We will also be having a pajama day on Friday so your kiddo is welcome to wear their pj's as long they meet modesty rules!

Sight Words:
We have five new words this week. They are:

1. do
2. for
3. of
4. are
5. good

Math:
We will continue reviewing addition and subtraction this week. We took a test on it last week so that I could see how they are doing. I feel it is beneficial to keep working on it a little longer :).

Behavior:
It is not uncommon for behavior to be more of a struggle the week before Christmas, with all the excitement for Christmas and break it is understandable! However, we still have expectations of our students to make good choices. Our party is this Friday and I look forward to celebrating with them! Please encourage your child to make good choices so that they can celebrate too!

Week of December 10th

Sorry I am a day late getting this posted, I was home with sick babies yesterday.

Sight Words:
This week we have 6 new words instead of 5. They are:

1. she
2. her
3. by
4. my
5. small
6. all

Math:
We will be continuing to work on addition and subtraction this week. We will also be taking a post test to see how we are doing on this. We are working hard on being able to do both of them in different ways.

Snow Day Packet:
Your student is bringing home a packet of work that says "Snow Day Packet" on it. This is a packet of work for your student to work on in the case of excessive snow days. After the Snowpocolypse of 2016, we have started preparing ahead of time. Please make sure this packet gets put away in a safe place. In the case of a snow day, please check your email for further instructions from me. I will also be emailing you an electronic copy of the packet so that if you lose it, you can print it at home. All of our make up work will be done in this packet so that the high school siblings will have access to computers if needed.

Christmas Party:
Our Christmas Party will be next Friday the 21st at 1:30. Our Room Mom, Mrs. Roy, is planning that for me (yay!!). She will be reaching out to those of you who volunteered to help with parties so keep an eye out for those emails. Be sure to check your spam folders ;).

Week of December 3rd

Welcome to December! This is my favorite time of year in kindergarten! We have so many fun things planned :).

Sight Words:
We have five new sight words this week. They are:

1. as
2. is
3. has
4. now
5. down

Math:
This week we are continuing our work on subtraction and being able to show how we subtract in different ways.

Warm Clothes:
Please make sure your child brings a coat to school every day. It is cold out and we go outside every day. If your child is well enough to be at school, they are well enough to go outside so we don't leave anyone inside. If they forget a coat, I have them grab a coat from the lost and found on the way out. If you need help getting them warm winter clothes, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I would love to help you!

Warm Weather Clothing Drive:

Vision Charter is partnering with Boise Rescue Mission this Holiday season to collect warm socks, gloves or mittens, and warm hats for children and teens of all ages.  These items need to be new; used items will not be able to be accepted. You may drop off any of these items to the collection barrel in our main entrance.

Book Order:

I sent home book orders last week. The order has to be submitted by the 10th to guarantee delivery by the 20th. If you would like to order books as Christmas gifts, please email me and let me know. I will set them aside and send them to the office so that you can pick them up there without your student knowing.

REMINDER! NO SCHOOL THIS FRIDAY! There is no school this Friday the 7th. Teachers will be here for in-service, but the kiddos get a nice long weekend :).