It's a new quarter!

Hello all! Today marks the end of the second quarter. It is incredible to me that the school year is half over. Due to the snow days, second quarter report cards will go home on Tuesday, February 1. If you have not paid your child's school fees, please do so as soon as possible. Fees are $40.00.

Due to the snow days, our next cultural arts classes will be this Thursday. Morning students' parents: please make sure your child wears sneakers for gym class.

We had our mid-year DIBELS benchmark assessments last week, and the students did a terrific job! Being a kindergarten teacher is so exciting, because I get to see such tremendous growth from the students throughout the school year. I am so proud of them for all of their hard work. Their efforts are paying off. I have no doubt that they will each bloom in first grade next year. I am looking forward to watching them achieve more great things during the second half of kindergarten.

I found some fantastic new beginning sound "centers" recently. The students are having a blast showing off their skills at identifying the beginning sounds in words. See the photo above. Learning is fun!

Friday 1-7-11

Happy New Year! I hope that 2011 is a wonderful year for each of you. Our kindergarteners are off to a fantastic start. They returned to school refreshed and ready to learn. The students have done a great job remembering our school rules and making good choices. The morning class has even earned their fourth set of cardinal cards! I am so proud of all of the students for making such great choices at school!

In math this week, we practiced comparing weight (heavier/lighter) using a pan balance. The students really enjoyed using the pan balance and making predictions about which object would be the heaviest.

In Read Well, students are striving to read fluently (correctly and quickly). As we progress through the units, the students must complete timed reading passages. Please have your child practice reading from their Read Well practice books so that they may build fluency.

The students will soon be writing sentences independently. We have been practicing as a class for months to use all of the conventions to make a good sentence. Students should be able to: use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence, put space between words, write their sight words correctly, and use a period at the end of their sentence.

The end of the second quarter is drawing to a close. We will be completing quarterly assessments over the next two weeks and reviewing the skills that we have learned in the past few months.

Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone!

First, I want to say congratulations to all of the 2nd-5th grade drama students. They performed "Santa's Holiday Hoedown" to a nearly sold-out crowd. I am so proud of them. The students worked for 3 months to create a wonderful production. Great work boys and girls!

Second, today is the last day before vacation. We will return to school on Monday, January 3, 2011.

Third, thank you to all of you who contributed to our parties. They were a huge success. Many of you helped during the parties to make things run smoothly. The students seemed to have a lot of fun! It was a great way to spend our last hour before vacation. I am sure that the students will be talking about our games--"Pin the Nose on Rudolph" and the "Candy Cane Toss." They created some adorable ornaments with their photos to decorate your trees.

Happy Holidays!