Welcome to KM!

Archive for March, 2011

In honor of Opening Day tomorrow, student council has decided to make tomorrow Red Sox Day! Please encourage your students to wear their Red Sox shirts tomorrow. Go Sox!

This Friday is Look-Alike Day. Traditionally, K classes have dressed as a whole class so no one feels left out. We talked today and decided as a class that we would wear our green Westwood Kindergarten t-shirts (or another green shirt if you no longer have your Westwood shirt) and blue bottoms. At first we thought blue jeans would be good but then we remembered we have yoga so any blue bottoms would be fine (blue sweats, blue running pants, jeans, etc.). Thanks!

Good News! KM was the class the brought in the most Box Tops yet again! Our reward this go around is an extra 30 minutes of recess and Popsicles! We have been informed though that we are not allowed to take it until sometime after April 1 so we will have to let you know later on when we actually get to celebrate this reward.

Also, tomorrow the school store will be open during lunch. There is a $5 spending limit. Keeping track of all of the money 20 Kindergarten children bring in in their pockets, loose in their backpacks or loose in their VIP’s can cause an organizational nightmare for Mrs. D and me and figuring out whose money is whose and organizing it for lunchtime can take away valuable teaching and learning time in the morning. Therefore, it is VERY IMPORTANT that each child who brings money to school for the school store brings it in a zip top baggie labeled with their name and the words “School Store” and that the baggie be placed in the child’s VIP. Loose, unlabeled money will be sent home. Thank you for helping us stay organized and saving us 20 minutes of teaching and learning time!

This week during Reading Workshop, Mrs. DeAngelis and I have begun gathering children in small groups for guided reading lessons and additional word work games. Each group will be working on phonemic skills, learning new high frequency words, strategies for figuring out unknown words while reading, and comprehension skills.

After each group reads with me, they will have the opportunity to bring a book home to read to you. They are to read this book to at least 1 adult and 2 other “people” (including siblings, pets, or stuffed animals). Occasionally there will also be some homework to go along with the book. The books (and homework) will go home in a special book bag, to protect our very expensive readers. Please take a few minutes to listen to your child read and help them if they get stuck. After listening to your child read, please assist them in completing the homework (if there is any) and return the book the next day! Feel free to attach a quick note if you’d like to tell me what went well for your child or was particularly difficult.

The books that they are bringing home are books with which they are known to be very successful. We call these independent books. Reading independent books over and over again helps to build confidence and fluency. Praise them often as reading can be a very difficult task for a 5 or 6 year old, and your enthusiasm will be sure to keep them motivated. The more difficult books (their instructional books) we will keep at school so they do not become frustrated at home.

Thank you for your help and I hope you enjoy watching your young reader blossom!