Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Superfish
We enjoyed a special presentation from the Burlington Science Center. Mr. Musselman brought the famous Superfish to teach us some pretty cool facts about fish. He also told us a lot about the other sea creatures we will be seeing at the aquarium this week, including mollusks (scallops, clams, mussels, and oysters), sharks, penguins, lobsters, and more! He even brought in a real, dead octopus that we got to see and touch (and smell)! We certainly are excited to visit the aquarium on Thursday and to see a lot of the really cool animals we have been learning so much about!
Friday, January 26, 2018
January 26, 2018 Newsletter
Dear Parents,
The children are certainly learning quite a bit about sea life! Their aquariums are on the back wall and they have made octopuses and sea turtles and have learned many interesting facts about them both. You should ask them how many legs an octopus has and about where the sea turtle lays her eggs!
We are getting excited to go to the Aquarium this Thursday, February 1st. More information about the trip and what the students will need will be going home the day before we go. They will need a disposable drink and lunch. We will eat snacks before leaving the school. Chaperones should plan to be at the school by 8:30am. If you have not sent the $12 to cover the cost of the trip, please send it in as soon as possible. It should be a fun trip!
We will be having our Fish Day this Wednesday, January 31st. Students will get to travel to all the different Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish and other sea creature projects. Thank you in advance to those who have offered to volunteer. Volunteers should plan to be here from 9-10:15am and should check in at the office first.
We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Wednesday, February 14th by passing out Valentines. Please don’t attach any candy or other edible items to the Valentines. If you would like to send something, pencils or stickers make great alternatives to food. I sent a list home with students today for students to use to write out their valentines. Students can also bring a special snack from home to eat in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day. They will need a morning and an afternoon snack that day. All snack items need to be nut-free.
The students continue to write in their journals. We continually encourage them to write on their own in their best guess spelling and not to be afraid to make a mistake. We will be starting a unit on persuasive writing. The students will try to convince our science center to give us a class pet! We will be talking a lot about features of good persuasive writing.
We have been practicing our letters and numbers but it never hurts to have them practice at home too. The more they write numbers 0-20, the easier and more natural they will become. The teen numbers are particularly challenging so those are great numbers to practice. We have are currently working on subtracting in math. We spent a lot of time this week practicing our addition and subtraction fluency facts. I would encourage you to continue working with your children on them at home.
We started our guided reading program last week. Guided reading enables children to practice reading strategies with the teacher's support in small groups. This is just the beginning. It helps your children become more and more comfortable with text. It’s amazing how far they have already come since September!
There has been a lot of sickness going around lately. Our school nurse wants to emphasize the importance of good hand washing and hygiene. If your child has a fever, just a reminder that they have to be fever-free for 24-hours without medicine before returning to school.
Have a great weekend!
Melanie Duncan
PS...We will be going to the library on Wednesday.
Also, we will extend the deadline for the Scholastic Book Order until Monday. It’s not too late to order books for Valentine’s Day!
The children are certainly learning quite a bit about sea life! Their aquariums are on the back wall and they have made octopuses and sea turtles and have learned many interesting facts about them both. You should ask them how many legs an octopus has and about where the sea turtle lays her eggs!
We are getting excited to go to the Aquarium this Thursday, February 1st. More information about the trip and what the students will need will be going home the day before we go. They will need a disposable drink and lunch. We will eat snacks before leaving the school. Chaperones should plan to be at the school by 8:30am. If you have not sent the $12 to cover the cost of the trip, please send it in as soon as possible. It should be a fun trip!
We will be having our Fish Day this Wednesday, January 31st. Students will get to travel to all the different Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish and other sea creature projects. Thank you in advance to those who have offered to volunteer. Volunteers should plan to be here from 9-10:15am and should check in at the office first.
We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Wednesday, February 14th by passing out Valentines. Please don’t attach any candy or other edible items to the Valentines. If you would like to send something, pencils or stickers make great alternatives to food. I sent a list home with students today for students to use to write out their valentines. Students can also bring a special snack from home to eat in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day. They will need a morning and an afternoon snack that day. All snack items need to be nut-free.
The students continue to write in their journals. We continually encourage them to write on their own in their best guess spelling and not to be afraid to make a mistake. We will be starting a unit on persuasive writing. The students will try to convince our science center to give us a class pet! We will be talking a lot about features of good persuasive writing.
We have been practicing our letters and numbers but it never hurts to have them practice at home too. The more they write numbers 0-20, the easier and more natural they will become. The teen numbers are particularly challenging so those are great numbers to practice. We have are currently working on subtracting in math. We spent a lot of time this week practicing our addition and subtraction fluency facts. I would encourage you to continue working with your children on them at home.
We started our guided reading program last week. Guided reading enables children to practice reading strategies with the teacher's support in small groups. This is just the beginning. It helps your children become more and more comfortable with text. It’s amazing how far they have already come since September!
There has been a lot of sickness going around lately. Our school nurse wants to emphasize the importance of good hand washing and hygiene. If your child has a fever, just a reminder that they have to be fever-free for 24-hours without medicine before returning to school.
Have a great weekend!
Melanie Duncan
PS...We will be going to the library on Wednesday.
Also, we will extend the deadline for the Scholastic Book Order until Monday. It’s not too late to order books for Valentine’s Day!
Friday, January 19, 2018
January 19, 2018 Newsletter
Dear Parents,
We have begun our unit on sea life in preparation for our trip to the New England Aquarium on Thursday, February 1st. Please don’t forget to send in the $12 to cover the cost of the trip (for students and chaperones). Checks should be made payable to Francis Wyman Kindergarten. We have three chaperones joining us for the trip. Thanks in advance to Mrs. Tedesco, Mrs. Nambooze, and Mr. Boossarangsi for your willingness to come!
The children made their own aquarium scenes and sea turtles, which look amazing hanging on our back wall. They are also working on an innovation of Eric Carle's, A House for Hermit Crab. We have been learning more about fascinating sea turtles and octopuses too!
The students continue to write in their journals and practice writing the lowercase letters. We will be learning the uppercase letters very soon. Although the children are more familiar and comfortable with these, we are spending quite a bit of time making sure they are forming the letters correctly. We encourage the children to use more lowercase letters in their names. We just started learning how to “tap out” words to read. The students are doing very well with this!
We have also been working more with syllables this week and have started doing more with sight words. The list of sight words went home before vacation in the reading packet I sent home. Please be sure to practice these words with your child often so they become more familiar. A memory game may work well (only use 10-15 words at a time) and be sure to look for these words on signs, around the house, in books, etc. The more students read and write these words, the more automatic they will become!
Students should also be practicing the addition fluency facts that went home as well. We will be taking a little break from our normal math curriculum to work more on fluency facts next week. The usual math papers won’t be going home for a few days.
We will be having our Fish Day on Wednesday, January 31st. Students will travel around to different Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish projects. Volunteers who have spoken to me about helping out that day, the time is from 9:00-10:15am. Please check in at the office first. Feel free to come a few minutes early so we can go over the project you will be helping with.
Progress reports went home yesterday. Our next scheduled conference isn’t until April but if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We could either talk over the phone or we could set up a conference in the classroom. The blue progress report folders do need to be returned. You can keep the actual progress report.
The next Scholastic Book Order form will be going home on Monday. All orders will be due on Friday. This is a great opportunity to buy books for Valentine’s Day. We are trying to get the order in early to make sure they will be here in time.
The Francis Wyman Used Bookstore will be open this Wednesday, January 24th. Students are welcome to bring in 50 cents to buy a book or bring in a used book from home to trade for another book. This is completely optional.
The nurse also wants us to remind everyone about the importance of hand-washing with warm, soapy water. There has been a lot of sickness.
Have a great weekend!
Melanie
We have begun our unit on sea life in preparation for our trip to the New England Aquarium on Thursday, February 1st. Please don’t forget to send in the $12 to cover the cost of the trip (for students and chaperones). Checks should be made payable to Francis Wyman Kindergarten. We have three chaperones joining us for the trip. Thanks in advance to Mrs. Tedesco, Mrs. Nambooze, and Mr. Boossarangsi for your willingness to come!
The children made their own aquarium scenes and sea turtles, which look amazing hanging on our back wall. They are also working on an innovation of Eric Carle's, A House for Hermit Crab. We have been learning more about fascinating sea turtles and octopuses too!
The students continue to write in their journals and practice writing the lowercase letters. We will be learning the uppercase letters very soon. Although the children are more familiar and comfortable with these, we are spending quite a bit of time making sure they are forming the letters correctly. We encourage the children to use more lowercase letters in their names. We just started learning how to “tap out” words to read. The students are doing very well with this!
We have also been working more with syllables this week and have started doing more with sight words. The list of sight words went home before vacation in the reading packet I sent home. Please be sure to practice these words with your child often so they become more familiar. A memory game may work well (only use 10-15 words at a time) and be sure to look for these words on signs, around the house, in books, etc. The more students read and write these words, the more automatic they will become!
Students should also be practicing the addition fluency facts that went home as well. We will be taking a little break from our normal math curriculum to work more on fluency facts next week. The usual math papers won’t be going home for a few days.
We will be having our Fish Day on Wednesday, January 31st. Students will travel around to different Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish projects. Volunteers who have spoken to me about helping out that day, the time is from 9:00-10:15am. Please check in at the office first. Feel free to come a few minutes early so we can go over the project you will be helping with.
Progress reports went home yesterday. Our next scheduled conference isn’t until April but if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me. We could either talk over the phone or we could set up a conference in the classroom. The blue progress report folders do need to be returned. You can keep the actual progress report.
The next Scholastic Book Order form will be going home on Monday. All orders will be due on Friday. This is a great opportunity to buy books for Valentine’s Day. We are trying to get the order in early to make sure they will be here in time.
The Francis Wyman Used Bookstore will be open this Wednesday, January 24th. Students are welcome to bring in 50 cents to buy a book or bring in a used book from home to trade for another book. This is completely optional.
The nurse also wants us to remind everyone about the importance of hand-washing with warm, soapy water. There has been a lot of sickness.
Have a great weekend!
Melanie
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