Thank you to everyone who signed and returned the report card in your child’s Report of Learning folder.  If you did not send it in the folder today, please send it tomorrow. Thank you for remembering to send the green Practice Folders today! I hope you are continuing to enjoy listening to your child develop as a reader each day using the included sentences and passages. Remember your child becomes a better reader by reading. The time you spend each evening with your child reading will make a meaningful difference!

Columbia’s FCA club is collecting items for the Clearview Cancer Center for new patients. The items are chapstick, small bottles of hand lotion and hand sanitizer, wrapped snacks, hard wrapped candy, puzzle books, and small notebooks.  Small gift bags will be made for the new patients to help them as they begin their new journey with treatment. If you are able to help by donating items for these bags, please send these items along with your child in his/her  backpack. Donations are due by April 4th. 

Thank you to all of you who have donated kleenex, hand sanitizer, and wipes to our classroom! During this allergy and cold season, these items are greatly appreciated!

Here is next week's newsletter: March 27-31. Please take time to read the newsletter. Thank you!

The 4th Nine Weeks reading log was placed in your child's green Practice Folder on Monday. The goal is to read 35 books by Tuesday, May 16th. Students should have at least five books written on their reading log by Monday. The students who have at least five books on the reading log will earn one Good Time Ticket. Each week thereafter, students should have five additional books written on the log and will earn another Good Time Ticket. This will help us stay on track to earn our extra recess goal! 

Report of Learning Folders are coming home today with your child’s 3rd Nine weeks Report Card. Comments about a few of the report card power standards: 

• If your child has a 1 on "Read Kindergarten high frequency words accurately and automatically, fluently add within 5, and fluently subtract within 5," there is a great way to help your child master the skill...daily use of flashcards. :)

• Spell simple words phonetically by writing a letter for consonants and short vowels - Students are expected to apply our Kindergarten phonics rules when writing words. This includes the correct use of short vowels in words like pin, pen, ham, yam. It also includes writing -ck when final /k/ is after a short vowel. For example, duck, stick, tack, lock, etc. Next week, we will be reading and writing words with qu. After that instruction, the students will be expected to remember that q and u together make the beginning sound with the following words: quiz, quit, quack, quilt, quick, quest. To practice writing simple words at home, give your child a piece of paper and say any of the above words and ask your child to write them.

• Read and reread grade appropriate decodable texts smoothly, accurately, and with expression to support comprehension - Please listen to your child read the passages in the Practice Folder. When finished, ask questions about what they have read.

After taking notes about which standards to practice at home, please sign in the address box on the first page and return it in the Report of Learning Folder by March 27th. Thank you!

Thank you for sending Practice Folders today. You will see new passages and Practice Sheet #20. These folders are to be returned to school every Monday. If you forgot to send your child’s practice folder today, please send it tomorrow. Thank you! 

The 4th Nine Weeks reading log is also in your child's green Practice Folder. The goal is to read 35 books by Tuesday, May 16th. There are 58 days between now and May 16th. There are seven days in a week, if you read 5 books per week, your child will meet this goal.  Please make every effort to read 35 books to your child and record the titles on the reading log. Our class has yet to earn the extra recess this year. They have been excited about the possibility of the extra recess, so please help them earn the extra recess. 

Cold and flu season is here and we have gone through almost all of our tissues and pump hand sanitizer. If you could donate any boxes of tissues or pump bottles of hand sanitizer it would be greatly appreciated!

I would like your help. Please talk with your child about classroom behavior. Prior to Spring Break, and even today, the class has been very talkative, loud, and interruptive. In class, we've discussed being conscious of their speaking volume and having self-control, but it hasn't transferred to application yet. Thank you for helping me with this at home too. During recess the kindergarten teachers are observing some aggressive and inappropriate games being played. We request your help with talking to your child about this. Please encourage your child to keep their hands, feet, and all other objects to themselves when playing with others. 

3/21 World Down Syndrome Day: wear BLUE and YELLOW tomorrow!

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Spring Break and are ready to start the last nine weeks refreshed. 

Here is this week's newsletter: March 20-24 Thank you for taking a few minutes to read it. 

Please send both the blue Daily Folder and the green Practice Folder to school tomorrow. Thank you!

We'll share the March 20-24th newsletter when we return from Spring Break. 

If you forgot to send the 3rd Nine Weeks reading log today, please send it in your child's blue Daily Folder tomorrow. Thank you!

Mark your calendars: Our Spring Field Trip to Early Works Children's Museum will be Tuesday, May 2nd.

I hope all of your families have a wonderful and safe Spring Break. I hope it is filled with rest and relaxation. Then, be ready to come back on March 20th ready for a busy 4th Nine Weeks of School!

We started a new literacy station last week. It is called Magnet Center. At this station, the students build words in a word family using magnets. Then, they write the words. Their last step is to use the words in a sentence on the back of the paper. Last week our word family was -at, this week our word family is -it. I am expecting the students to begin their sentence with a capital letter, put a space between the words, and end the sentence with punctuation. The students are enjoying this new station.

I only received work for the virtual day from a handful of students. Please make sure you send the written work from the phonics video and the word problems to me in the Daily Folder tomorrow. If you forgot to send the Practice Folder and/or Practice #18, please send them tomorrow as well. 

The 3rd Nine Weeks Reading Log is due on Thursday, March 9th. After recording the books read each day this week on the reading log, please send it in your child's blue Daily Folder on Thursday. Thank you! We're hoping we earn the extra recess for the class meeting the reading goal. 

Today I heard lots of talk about children leaving for Spring Break trips this week. Time with family is super exciting and I hope everyone enjoys the vacations you have planned. Please make sure to email me if you know your child is going to miss any days this week, so I can adjust my assessment plan accordingly. Thank you!

Tomorrow is astronaut or alien day for Space Week. 

Expectations for Daily Practice at Home:

Spend 10 minutes each day on the Practice Folder activities. These activities include Practice #19, the reading sheet, Fry sight word flashcards, math fact flashcards. 

Read a book to your child and record it on the reading log.  The library is open this week! Remember to send the reading log to me on Thursday. Thank you!

Here is next week’ s newsletter:

March 6-10

Tomorrow, Friday March 3rd will be a virtual learning day. Please complete all the assignments listed in Schoology. You will need to turn in the written work on Monday March 6th. This long weekend is a great opportunity for listening to your child read passages from the green folder. As a challenge you can read a sentence from the green folder for your child to write independently. The chromebooks, headphones, and QR codes must be returned on Monday with your child. 

While assessing for Report Cards this week, I have noticed that many students are really struggling with automatically and accurately producing the answers to the addition and subtraction facts.  Flashcards  are a great way to practice math facts. Fluency with addition and subtraction facts is a power standard in Kindergarten; so please begin working on these facts at home, if not already. Another helpful trick is to write the more challenging facts on a sticky note. Then put that sticky note in a common place like on the bathroom mirror or on the refrigerator. Then as your child passes that sticky note you can have your child read the facts aloud. Thank you for your support! This same trick works great for sight words as well. 

Assessment Reminders: The third nine weeks assessments have started. Please use these flashcards to help your child practice at home.  Sight Word Flashcards   Addition Flashcards   Subtraction Flashcards   Subtraction Video

Reminder: Space Day is next week. Here’s the flyer for the dress up days. 

Read Across America is this week!  Our Spring Book Fair is this week in our media center. Our class will go to the book fair tomorrow at 8:45. If you would like to send money in for your child to purchase a book please send the money in a labeled envelope or bag with your child’s name, my name and the amount. Remember that you may shop online at scholastic.com/fair as well.   

You may also shop at the book fair tonight during our Camp Read S’More family night from 5-7. There will be guest readers and special family activities.

As a reminder, here are the special days for the rest of this  week.  

Tuesday-Camp Cozy: Wear cozy clothes and bring a flashlight for reading

Wednesday- Camp Care-a-lot: Wear a shirt with positive message

Thursday- Camp Read Aloud: Book Character Day- PTA Spirit Day Bring $1

Friday- Wear a CES: Wear a CES shirt or red/black

Please remember to keep the 3rd 9 Weeks Reading Log in your child's green practice folder so that I can check their progress each week.

If your child completed February’s challenge please send in the Dental Health Log on Wednesday, March 1st. 

Assessment Reminders: The third nine weeks assessments have started. Please use these flashcards to help your child practice at home.  Sight Word Flashcards   Addition Flashcards   Subtraction Flashcards   Subtraction Video

Here is the list of sight words that have been taught thus far in Kindergarten. This also gives the breakdown of the scoring for the report card. I will also be sending this paper home for you to keep and use with your child. 

Here is next week’s newsletter: February 28-March 3. Thank you for taking the time to read the newsletter each week.

Next week, Columbia will be celebrating Read Across America with Camp Read S’More. Click here for information about the family night events, and the fun dress up days we will have.

Next Friday, March 3rd, our PTA is holding the Out of this World Dance. Click here to purchase family tickets.

We will begin assessments for the 3rd 9 Weeks Report Cards next week. Please make sure your child gets a good night’s sleep each night, eats breakfast each morning, and arrives at school on time each day. This is important for your child’s success!

I hope you enjoyed a restful long weekend!

The Book Fair will be open this coming Monday, February 27th. It will be open from 7:40-8:15 daily and will close on Friday, March 3rd at 10:45 a.m.  In addition, if you wish to come and shop with your child the Book Fair will be open during the Camp Read S’more event on Monday night. The Book Fair will be open from 5:00 to 7:00 pm and the family activities will be from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. Our class is scheduled to visit the Book Fair on Tuesday from 8:45-9:15.  If you would like for your child to purchase books you can send money  in a marked envelope or Ziplock bag inside your child’s daily folder. 

Spring Pictures have been rescheduled for April 11th. I will hold onto the forms that were signed and returned to me last week. 

I will begin assessing the addition and subtraction facts for the 3rd Nine Weeks Report Card next week. If you haven't made the addition and subtraction flashcards yet, you might find these helpful. Helpful Links: Addition Facts    Subtraction Facts

Thank you for remembering to send the green Practice Folders today! I hope you are enjoying listening to your child read the sentences and passages each day. We become better readers by reading. The time you spend each evening with your child reading will make a meaningful difference!

Expectations for Daily Practice at Home:

Spend 10 minutes each day on the Practice Folder activities. These activities include Practice #17, the reading sheet, Fry sight word flashcards, math fact flashcards. 

Read a book to your child and record it on the reading log. If your child completes the reading log by March 7th, he/she will earn FIVE Good Time Tickets. If all of the class meets this goal, the class will earn an extra recess.