Veteran Stars

Coming home in today's take home folder is a star. This star will be a part of our Endeavour's Veteran Wall of Fame.

1.  Write the name(s) of any family member(s) that have served our country in the Armed Forces on the star
2. Write the branch of service of the family member(s) as well
3. Return the star to school by or before Monday, November 7th

Ms. Jane Lessons and Resources

Today we had another visit from our wonderful counselor Ms. Jane. Please take a look at her website. She has so many wonderful resources ranging from how to parent effectively to what to do about homework.

Ms. Jane's Website

Newsletter 10/17/13

Well, the weeks are really flying by now! Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to!

Literacy: I am continuing to assess students to gain knowledge on their strengths and weakness in reading. Hopefully I will have this all wrapped up by the end of the month.

During our literacy block in the morning we are working on making connections and being able to answer questions about a story. For many, this is still challenging. I am doing a lot of modeling how to do this. When reading at home with your child, it would be helpful if you too would model the connections you make while reading. For example, when reading a story about a pumpkin patch you might say, “Oh! I remember when I was young, I went to a pumpkin patch too. It was a lot of fun and I ran around in the corn maze just like the character in the book!”

We are beginning to learn the 25 sight words that are required for kindergarteners to know. This week’s word is: is

Math: Our learning target for math has been “I can identify and read numbers 1-10”. This week we have been learning about number stories (story problems). The kids have practiced orally with a partner telling and solving number stories with the use of manipulatives.

Handwriting: We are almost finished with the uppercase letters. I see improvement in many student’s neatness and their ability to write the letters in the correct direction.

Writing: We continue our writer’s workshop lessons on writing about topics they know a lot about. Students are encouraged to sound out and write at least the first letter of a word. For those that know all of their letters in the alphabet, I encourage them to write all the sounds they hear. For those kids who know how to spell words phonetically easily, I encourage them to write at least two sentences about their topic. Students are also prompted to label the items in their pictures.

Harvest Party: On Thursday October 31^st, we will be having our Harvest Party here in the classroom. Please, no costumes or partial costumes that day. I encourage kids to wear black and orange or holiday themed clothing, but no costumes (or crazy hair, or funny teeth, or make up, etc.)

Report Cards: As we continue on in our school year, our attention turns away from “adjusting” to the school environment toward “thriving” in the school environment. In the next month or so, I will begin assessing students on their progress during this first trimester of kindergarten. Please take a moment to look over the kindergarten assessment scoring guide http://www.issaquah.wednet.edu/documents/curriculum/fieldtest/Kscoring13new.pdf

I find that sometimes, parents have an idea of how their child is doing in school based on what their child tells them and also on their prior experience in preschool.  Kindergarten is quite different than preschool and the expectations for academics and behavior are higher. Being informed about what your child is being assessed on will help us partner together to bring out the best in your child!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

~Mrs. Perry

Picture Day

Picture day was today. If you forgot to send in your picture envelope, you can send it in tomorrow only. Picture retakes are Nov. 13th.