Speeding to the end!

My goodness, May has flown!  It has been a wild month--guest speakers, wrapping up assessments, FIELD DAY!  The students have been doing a wonderful job and I am so looking forward to our final few days together.  We will continue to learn and grow until the very end...I cannot wait to spend these final days with them.  Shine on kindergarteners!

May Flowers and Fun

Wow!  May is here and that means the end is near.  I am sad to see the year coming to a close,  but these kids are ready for first grade!!!

Some odds and ends to make note of:

This week is Right to Read Week!  A "BIRD" form will come home for you to fill out when you and your child read at home.  Please return it to school each day, so I can track our reading in class as well.  We have many fun activities planned for the week and some special guests will be visiting.  Thanks to Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Tippit, our Reading Specialists for organizing an amazing week!

Flower Sale is this week only!  Our "A" class will have the chance to buy flowers on Wednesday, and the "B" class will have the opportunity on Thursday.  If you would like your child to purchase flowers, please send money on the appropriate day.

Field Day is coming.  "B" day will be on May 23 and "A" day will be on May 31.  It is so important to send your child to school on Field Day with comfy clothing that can get a little dirty, gym shoes, and water.  Please be sure to put sunscreen on your child before they come to school.  Being outside for long periods of time, kiddos tend to get sunburn.  Help protect your son/daughter from this by layering on the sun block at home. :)

Reminder, the weather is pleasant, which means outside recess.  Flip flops, high heels, and other cute shoes tend to lead to injury for kindergarteners.  Please keep this in mind when getting your child ready to school.  In the past week, I have had to send multiple students to the health aide due to shoe-related injuries.  Gym shoes are always a safe choice!

As I said, the year is coming to a close at a rapid pace.  This month is critical for students to be in school!  We have many assessments to complete and fun activities planned.  These include time outside while we show what we know.  Last Friday, B class went outside to demonstrate their math skills with sidewalk chalk--the kids had a blast!  (See photo.)

It's the "write" time to practice sentences!

Hi all!  Hope you are enjoying Spring Break.  I miss all of the students' smiling faces, but they deserve a rest after working so hard to end the third quarter.

As we enter the fourth quarter, one area that I will emphasize in class is writing sentences.  Kindergarten students need to be able to write a sentence that:

1. makes sense
2. starts with an upper case letter
3. has space between words
4. ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point

Phonetic spelling is perfectly okay at this stage of the game.  For instance, a child might right "skool" for "school" or "budrfli" for "butterfly."  This is developmentally appropriate for young writers.  The students will be expected to write complete sentences as they enter first grade, and this skill is an important one to have mastered in order to do well on the first grade reading tests.  Please practice with your son/daughter at home to support our learning in class.  Below are some websites that may help you in this process:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/abc123/eng/tips/writekto3.html

https://www.leapfrog.com/en/leapfrog_parents/kindergarten/blogs/writing_-_tips_and.html

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/21885/

http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/sequence/sentence.htm

Online "games"

http://roythezebra.com/reading-games/sentences-that-make-sense-2-1.html

http://www.cookie.com/kids/games/simple-sentences.html

http://www.softschools.com/language_arts/games/sentence_structure/form_a_sentence/

Happy writing!