week of November 14

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of November 14)

Homework for the week:
Monday- A change of pace! A Book Report Sheet will be coming home on Monday, please pick out your favorite book from home and help your child fill out the sheet. Please return the Book Report by Friday.
Tuesday-Thursday: Reader practice, ½ sheet practice, word list practice
In Phonics, we will be learning the letter Ii like in Igloo and Icicle, though we will be focusing on the short sound of Ii. Our second Phonics Decodable Reader, Hop on the Mop will be coming home to read. We are also working on syllables in words and clapping the syllables for each word. We will also be introduced to twin consonants in words and we will code them by crossing out the last of the twin consonants because we only make the sound of one of the consonants. An example would be the words: hill, inn, or mitt.
We are incorporating I Pads and their technology for our Phonics and Kid Writing lessons next week.
In Reading, our new story is “Whose Garden Is It?” and it is a nice wrap up to our previous Tree Science Unit. We will be talking about the plants and animals that live in gardens and parts of the plant. This is a rhyming story and we have been working on the “at” word family and the “og” word family previously.
In Math, we will be writing and ordering money amounts to 10 cents. We will be having a classroom store and practice using money to 10 cents. We will continue to practice grouping and classifying and identifying objects that don’t belong. Our new pattern in the Math Meeting is an ABB pattern.
Congratulations to our recent “3 Cheers” Winners! A “3 Cheers” Winner” follows the rules, tries their very best, and has a good attitude in school. There are lots of certificates to give, so keep up the good work and try hard!
This is our last full week before Thanksgiving break. Thanksgiving Break will be: an early dismissal on November 23 @ 11:45, No School on November 24, 25, and 28. We will see you back on November 29.
Monday will be Day 3. Tuesday will be Day 4 and we have Gym. Friday will be Day 2, Book Exchange.

week of October 31 (Halloween)

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of October 31)
Happy Halloween

Monday: ½ sheet practice
Tuesday: ½ sheet practice and reader practice
Wednesday: ½ sheet practice, reader practice, handwriting practice
Thursday: ½ sheet practice and reader practice
*Readers will start coming home on Tuesdays and can be practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. We will introduce the reader the week before, review it on Monday and send it on Tuesday. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.*
Just a reminder, conferences for Grades Kindergarten to 3 will be held from 4-6 pm on Tuesday, November 1. We hope to see you there!
Our new letter is Nn like in Nest. We will continue to review letter sounds and use them to blend words in the word list. If you have any questions/concerns about the blending or the word list, feel free to let us know.
Our new Reading Story is “Bear Snores On” and we will sequence the story and compare this fiction story to our last story, “Animal Babies in Grasslands” which was nonfiction. We will also be talking about animal hibernation. We just finished up our study of nocturnal animals, with a focus on Bats for Halloween!
In Math, we will be reviewing shapes, numbers 0-10, and aspects of the calendar. We have already introduced a penny and its value, but feel free to talk about other coins and their values at home or in the community.
This past week, we were able to Skype with one of the computer teachers, Ms. Kraft. She is in South Africa to help share technology with communities there. We were able to ask questions about her visit.
We also celebrated Red Ribbon week and the “Just Say No” campaign. We will have our lesson with Ms. Rowland this upcoming week.
A big Kindergarten thank you goes out to Chase’s parents for coming in to share 911 and safety tips with all of us. It was a great culmination to Fire Safety Month and community helpers.
Just a reminder, please do not send in candy for snack. Thanks for your cooperation!