week of October 9

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of October 9) Homework For Week: Tuesday-Thursday: ½ sheet practice, Reader practice, sight word practice We will be reviewing in Phonics this week. There will be no new letter due to No School on Monday, Fall Festival on Thursday, and Pajama Party on Friday. The Pajama Party will be on Friday, October 12th. Kindergarten students are invited to wear their pajamas to school, but please wear sneakers or shoes to school because we will be having recess and specials. We will be participating in several activities to reinforce the letter Pp. In Math, we will work on identifying shapes by their attributes, AB pattern, numbers 0-10, and ordinal position. Our class had a great time at the Pep Rally on Friday. The Spartans will take on Tamaqua Blue Raiders tonight at 7:00 pm in Spartan Stadium. The Spartan Football team, Cheerleaders, and Halftime Club will recognize October as Breast Cancer Awareness month during the game. They will be hosting a fundraiser at this game. Our bulletin board contains all of our October topics such as: fall, fire safety, pumpkins, Columbus Day, and Halloween. We will be reading lots of books, doing different activities, and making lists of all the fun facts we learned about each topic. Thursday, October 11th is the Kindergarten Fall Festival. Students are allowed to dress in Gym clothes even if they don’t have Gym that day. Please remember that we will be spending the day outside (unless it rains) so dress your child for the weather. If you haven’t sent in your $3.00 please do so. There will be No School on Monday October 8th. There is a change in the schedule for next week, as listed in the new October school calendar. Monday- No School Tuesday- Day 5 Computers Wednesday- Day 1 Art (please send in a paint shirt if you didn’t do so already) Thursday- No Special class Friday- 2A Library (don’t forget your books)

week of September 10

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of September 10) Homework: please complete ½ sheet nightly If you would like to send in an old T-shirt that your child can keep in his/her cubby for the year, please do so next week. It would be helpful to have this old shirt to put over the nice school clothes when we do messy projects throughout the year. Thank you! In addition to the old T-shirt, if you didn’t yet send in a spare set of dress code clothing for your child to keep in the cubbies, please do so. They will all be sent home at the end of year, but it is handy to keep a spare set in case of an accident, spilled food or drink, or mud from outside. This would save parents a trip to the school to bring in clothes if any of that would happen. In Saxon Phonics, we are working on the letter Gg like in Goat. We have already learned the letter Ll and the letter Oo and now we can put all of the sounds together to make our first word, log. We will also be coding short vowels in words. The rule in class is, “if a vowel is followed by a consonant, then the vowel is short and we code it with a breve”. In Saxon Math, we are working on sorting by color and shape. We are also working on counting to 5 and one to one correspondence to 5. We are also working with pattern blocks, tedding bear counters, and linking cubes and reviewing an AB pattern. We also do Math Meeting every day and review months, days, the date, and how many days we have been in school. In Reading, our new story is “Plaidypus Lost”. We will be talking about sequence of story events as well as characters and setting. We will continue to review retelling the story along with author and illustrator. Please don’t forget to label coats, bookbags, lunchbags, and other accessories. If the mornings are a bit chillier and it might get warm by recess, many children take off their coats outside but forget to take them inside. This would ensure that your child would get his/her coat back in the event that it is left outside. There has been a change made with regard to the book fair schedule. Instead of the book fair taking place throughout the entire week of September 10th-14th, students will have a preview on Monday, September 10th. The preview for each homeroom class is five minutes long in order to accommodate everyone in one day. They obviously will not be able to purchase books during the preview, but will have the opportunity to purchase them at the evening sale which will run from 4:00-7:00 P.M. that same evening. Please see attached note for information regarding the Kindergarten Fall Festival. On Monday, there will be chicken patty not chicken rings for lunch. A great big cheer goes out to Ms. Shearn, our occupational therapist, who came to present all about her job for the letter Oo. She not only had lots of fun activities, but helped us make a wonderful bulletin board that is on display outside of our classroom. Ms. Shearn did an Outstanding job! Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones would like to send a big Thank You and Great Job to all of the parents and families of our students. The forms that were sent home have been completed on time, homework has been completed and signed, and the envelopes with money have been labeled correctly. The class is doing a great job following rules, walking quietly in a line, completing their work, and being great citizens. We thank you for your continued involvement and participation in your child’s Kindergarten year. Please write a note or send an email if you have any questions or need any additional information. Thank you so much!

classroom reference page

A quick reference guide to Mrs. Borden/Mrs. Jones’ Kindergarten Room (2012-2013) Please keep this information in your child’s folder to use during the year! Thanks! - We want you to be well informed on what goes on in the classroom and in Kindergarten. Our newsletters for the week will be sent on a Friday. Please check the school calendar, the PTO newsletter, and the NSE weekly and monthly newsletter. Please read them all for the information about what is happening. - All of this information will be in your child’s folder. It must come to/from school every day in a book bag. They will need both every day to transport important information and their belongings. Please check both sides of the folder each day and take out the left at home papers. - If there are any questions, please feel free to write a note and put it in your child’s folder, we will write back that day. Or you can call at (570) 874-3661 ext. 3237 and leave a message. You can also email us at: jborden@northschuylkill.net or ajones@northschuylkill.net . Please also check our blogs under the North Schuylkill Website, under the Elementary School tab, under Homework Helpline, and click on Borden, J. - Our homework will be explained in greater detail in the next few weeks. Homework is a vital part of your child’s learning and we feel it is important to show your children that you value their learning by continuing to practice at home. Kindergarten follows the homework policy stated in the NSE handbook, please review it and follow the policy. Our homework should not take a long amount of time and we want it to be a positive experience for you at home. If it is not going well please let us know so that we can help. - An extra set of clothing should be sent in as well to keep in their cubby in case of an accident or mess. With anything that is sent into school, we asked that it is labeled clearly. For extra clothing or coats, winter accessories, book bags, etc., please either write your child’s name in the tag or use a sticky label that can be removed at the end of the year. Writing our room number (237) might be helpful as well. Many items end up in the lost and found each year and are never reclaimed. - Please also have snack in a separate bag/container and labeled as such. This is especially helpful if your child brings their lunch and avoids any confusion. Please make us aware of any allergies as well, especially when birthdays and parties start to take place. - Listed below is an example on how to label any money or information that needs to be handed in and should be placed in an envelope. - Notes that come in for your children should also be clearly labeled. A note is needed for a child leaving school earlier than dismissal time, a child that is being picked up by a parent instead of riding the bus, a change in the person picking up the child, and if your child is absent from school. Below is an example of what information should be included in the note. - Please read the NSE handbook and refer to it during the school year. Kindergarten follows all policies on homework and school attendance. Please see the information on the dress code and follow it accordingly. Our gym day is on Day 1, the children must wear sneakers in order to participate, even in the winter when some may wear boots to school. - Please label everything that comes into school so that it can be returned in a timely manner. Also, we ask that no toys or personal belongings come into school for recess time; they tend to get lost or broken. - All children have all privileges (snack, recess, free choice time) when they start the day. If there are rules broken during the course of the day, the child will sail his/her boat to the islands. This will lead to time lost from our classroom privileges. We encourage positive behavior and like to reward those children who follow the rules of our classroom and school building. We do not use whole class punishment but like to use whole class rewards. In the event that there would be behavior issues, we will encourage participation from home in order to have a successful and positive school year. - A final note on how the classroom is run and what to expect during the course of the year. In the classroom, there are two certified teachers that hold degrees in elementary education, early childhood education, special education, and reading. There will also be a part-time paraprofessional that has a highly-qualified status to work with the children under the direction supervision of the teachers. We differentiate instruction in the classroom to meet the needs of all of the students based on their abilities. There is much working together in groups and a team mentality in the classroom. We also value the importance of learning centers and having the students’ input in their learning. All children have the ability to learn and we want them to succeed. We thank you for your cooperation in these important matters and look forward to working with you over the course of the school year. Thanks in advance for all your participation in Kindergarten!

week of August 27, 2012

Welcome to Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones' Blog! We are so excited to have you in our class this year. Please check the blog for information and news in Kindergarten. We can't wait for a year filled with fun and learning. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Thanks for checking our blog, Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones

week of May 14

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of May 14) *This will be the last week for both the Readers and ½ sheet homework. Great job to both students and parents for all of your hard work this school year. We appreciate all of the effort and are so very fortunate to have had the pleasure to work with you and your children this year.* This week in Phonics, we will be reviewing combinations of er like in butter, or like in horse, and ar like in star. We will also be introducing and using the vowel consonant consonant vowel pattern. We will use the division line and accent mark when coding words. We will continue to review compound words, rhyming words, and sound manipulation in words. Our reading story is Animal Homes and we will be discussing how animal build their homes. We will also be “making up our minds about things in the story.” This concept is called drawing conclusions. We have also been working very hard on telling sentences, questions, and exclamation points. The class is doing a good job giving examples of each. They also know the difference between a verb (action word) and a noun (person, place, or thing). We are working very hard to practice lots of addition and subtraction skills to get ready for first grade. We have also been reviewing graphing, shapes, patterns, counting by 1’s, 5’s, 10’s and 2’s to 100. We also work on estimation, fraction, and money daily in Math Meeting. A special thank you goes out to the Teens Against Tobacco for the great activities they had planned for us on Friday. We loved getting outside and learning about all the ways to make good choices for our bodies. Summer Practice Packets will be sent home shortly. This will contain a mixed review of Kindergarten skills along with some First Grade skills to get us ready for next school year. The Kindergarten DVD order form and the Carnival Lunch form are due by Monday, May 14. Monday is Day 1, Art. Please bring your Library Books back if you have one at home, Book Exchange is ending this week. Thursday is Day 4, Gym, please wear your sneakers. Important Dates Coming Up: May 22- Kindergarten Graduation at 6 pm at North Schuylkill High School May 24- Kindergarten Field Trip May 25- NSE Carnival Day May 28- No School For Memorial Day May 31- Last Day of School (dismissal at 11:45 for students)

week of April 16

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of April 16)
Homework for the week:
Monday-Thursday: ½ practice and sight word practice
Tuesday-Thursday: Decodable Reader
*There will be a fill in the blank page coming home. Please work on it together and return it by the end of the week, Friday, April 20.*

In Math, we will be identifying and making symmetrical designs. We will be also counting pennies to 30 Cents and writing numbers to 30. We will also be making indirect comparisons with heights and lengths and measuring length using inches.
In Phonics, we will be working on Digraph sh like in shark and we will be reviewing Digraph ck like at the end of duck. We will also be introducing Digraph th. Digraph th has two sounds. The voiced sound is like the sound in feather and the unvoiced sound is like the sound in thimble.
Our Reading story is This Is The Way We Go To School and we will be comparing and contrasting how children get to school all around the world. We will also be drawing conclusions from the story information.

Great Job on all of your hard work; Keep it up! We are proud of you!

week of March 26, 2012

Homework for the week: ½ sheet practice (Monday-Thursday) and Spin to Win Reader Tuesday –Thursday)
This will be the last newsletter until we come back from Easter break. All important dates will be listed in this newsletter.

In Reading, our story will be The Little Engine that Could. We will be talking about the plot of the story and continue our discussion on going places and different forms of transportation.
In Math, we will be continuing writing practice to 30 and problem solving practice. We will also be discussing time of day and what you do at those times. We have also introduced 3-D shapes like cone, cylinder, cube, and sphere, and will be reviewing them as well.
In Phonics, we are learning combination Qu like in Queen and Quilt. Information about Queen Day and the wedding of Q and U will be coming home next week. We have now learned all the letters of the alphabet including long and short vowel sounds. We will now be working on combinations, digraphs, and other phonics rules. We will continue to put rules and reminders in the newsletters.
Friday, March 30- Kindergarten Graduation Pictures, please wear your white collared shirts and no up-dos for the girls.
*There will be no homework the week of April 2 due to the short week.*
Tuesday, April 3- Wedding of Q and U and Queen day. Queens- wear your Queen clothes and Boys can dress for the wedding.
Wednesday, April 4- Easter egg hunt and Easter party for Kindergarten
April 5-11- No School
April 12- Back to school, Day 4, Gym, please wear Gym clothes and sneakers

week of March 12, 2012

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones Nifty Newsletter (Week of March 12)

In Phonics, our letter is Xx like at the end of Fox. We will be having a Treasure Hunt at the end of the week to find the “Xx that marks the spot.” We have also been working on a new Phonics rule for long vowels. The rule is “When a vowel is not followed by a consonant, the vowel is long and we code it with a macron.” We also talked about the sound that long vowels make. They say their own name. Examples of the words we have been coding and reading are: me, he, so, no, hi. We are also naming words that begin with long vowels (acorn, equal, icicle, overalls and universe.

In Math, we will be working on identifying and writing numbers to30, reviewing penny, nickel, and dime. We will also be introducing quarters. A favorite lesson of ours is the tangram lesson and we will be working more with them as well.

To get ready for St. Patrick’s Day, we will be graphing and comparing Lucky Charms. We also had a Kid Writing about what we would do with a pot of gold that we found.

In Reading, our story is Mayday! Mayday! A Coast Guard Rescue. It is a nonfiction story and we will be learning about the ins and outs of a rescue. We will also be talking about different kinds of transportation that can be used in an emergency. Our skill is linking the cause to the effect and talking about the features of a nonfiction text.

Library is Day 2, Tuesday, please remember your books. Gym is Day 4, Thursday, please wear your sneakers.

Information about Kindergarten Graduation went home on Friday. These pictures will be on March 30th. The children will be wearing caps and gowns for the pictures. Your child will need to wear a white collared shirt so that the collar will be visible. If you need an extra picture form it is located on our blog to print.

We would just like to give a big shout out to all of our hard workers! We have started some report card testing and will continue to do so over the next week. Everyone is trying their best and working so hard. We are also working on word families, spelling words, and writing sentences. Great job everyone!

week of Feb. 27

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter
(week of February 27)


Next week in Reading we will finish Unit 4 Let’s Explore. We will be reading the story Abuela. We will discuss adventures in a city. Students will review the vowel Ee and the story element, setting. In Phonics we will be learning about the consonant “Vv” as in vest, vegetable, and volcano. A big thank you to all the parents that completed the dinosaur projects with their child. They were all DINOmite!!! Word List 14 will be tested Friday, March 2nd.In Math, we will continue to practice using nickels and counting by 5’s.

On Friday, March 2nd NSE will celebrate “Read Across America.” In the morning we will have students from Bloomsburg University visit our classroom to teach a lesson using a Dr. Seuss book. In the afternoon, a retired North Schuylkill Elementary teacher, will visit our classroom for another special Dr. Seuss lesson. We will be doing lots of Dr. Seuss activities all week and we might even have a few surprise guest readers!



Specials schedule for next week is:
Tuesday: Gym, please don’t forget to wear sneakers!

week of February 13, 2012

In Phonics, our letter is Yy like in Yarn. Please continue to review all letters and sounds and sight words/high frequency words that are located on the back of the Phonics practice page daily. Word List 12 will be sent home and tested at the end of the week.
In Math, we will be working with numbers 0-20 and comparing sets of objects. We will be dividing things by sharing them and identifying hot and cold. Also, we will continue our work with nickels, but please don’t forget to review penny and dime.
In Reading, our new story is Goldilocks and The Three Bears. We will be discussing what kind of adventures a little girl can have and sequence the events in the story.
Our Valentine Party will be on Tuesday, February 14. Please don’t forget your Valentines!
Our Gym day is Day 4, Tuesday. Please wear sneakers.
Papers that come home that are extra are from the writing center. The students may pick papers to keep in their desks are work on during transition times. They do not have to be completed for homework.
There will be no school on Friday, February 17 or Monday, February 20 due to Teacher In-Service. School will resume Tuesday, February 21.
Thank you so much, but we are no longer collecting coupons for the Troops. Thank you to everyone who participated. Please see the pink paper for further details.

week of Jan. 30

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of January 30)
Homework for the week:
Monday-Thursday: ½ sheet practice paper and Word List 10
Tuesday-Thursday: Reader practice
In Phonics, our letter is Cc like in Cat. The rule to use C and K when spelling words is: Use a K before e, I, or y like in key, kid, or milky. Use a C before a, o, u, or any consonant like cat, cot, cup, or clip.
In Math, we will continue to copy line segments and shapes on geoboards and measure objects with nonstandard units as well as compare length. We are also learning a new pattern that is the ABC pattern and will problem solve and act out some and some more problems.
In Reading, our new story is My Lucky Day and we will be talking about animal adventures and fiction/animal fantasy stories. We will also be talking about cause and effect and retelling a story.
• Just a reminder: Party money is due as soon as possible.
Tuesday, January 31 will be the 100th day of school. Please don’t forget your collections!
Gym is Day 4 on Tuesday. If your child wears boots to school on a gym day please have sneakers for them in their bookbag so that they can change for class. Thank you!
Important Dates in February:
February 2 is Groundhog’s Day. We will be making predictions if the groundhog sees his shadow or not.
February 14 is the Valentine’s Party. Please make sure that you have a class list to fill out your Valentines.
The Month of February is Dental Health Month and we will be doing various activities throughout the month about this very important topic.

week of January 17, 2012

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of January 17)
*There will be no school for students on January 16.*
Homework for the week:
Tues-Thurs.: 1/2 sheet practice, reader review, word list 8
In Phonics, we will be learning the letter Uu like in Umbrella. The United States report information was already sent home and the reports will be due on Friday, January 20.
Our Reading story is Hide Clyde and the concept of the story is changing for protection. We will also be talking about the main idea and the plot of the story.
We will continue our number practice and identification to 20 and problem solving activities. We will also be talking about measuring cups and following recipes as well as full and half full containers.
We will begin our new Science unit called Wood and Paper. We will become familiar with different kinds of wood, learn their names, and observe how they are alike and different, we will go on a wood hunt in our classroom, and observe how wood and water interact.

The first day of the 3rd Marking Period will be Wednesday, January 18 and report cards for the 2nd Marking Period will be sent home on Friday, January 20. Please sign and return report cards as soon as possible.
The “I am Special” Packets that might be coming home were a bonus packet passed out this week. The students were able to keep them in their desk to work on in down time and then take them home as they wish. They are not a mandatory assignment. Sorry for the confusion.
Tuesday will be Day 4, Gym day.

week of January 3, 2012

Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Jones’ Nifty Newsletter (week of January 3)

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!
The next class newsletter will be sent home on Friday, January 6.

Homework for the week:
Monday-Thursday: ½ sheet practice and new reader

Our new letter in Phonics is Kk like in Kite. Word list 7 will be sent home.
In Math, we will be working with Geoboards and counting by 10’s to 100. We also count pennies in Math meeting and identify nickels and their value.
Important dates:
Tuesday, January 3- Welcome back from Holiday Break. Day 5, Computers
Thursday, January 5- King Day for the Boys for Letter Kk.