Music Class with Mrs. James

Mrs. James wrote the following note for me to share with you:

This year, your child wil be participating in a music class designed to foster a lifelong apprecaition of music through active music making. The sequenced music instruction will help your child develop musical skills and understanding, using music of various styles from the United Stated and around the world. In addition to developing specific musical skills, you child's studies in other areas will be enhanced by instruction that links concepts across the curriculum.

You can reinforce your child's music learning at home. Consider listening to music together and talking aobut it. Ask your child to share songs learned in music class. Attend local concerts to help foster appropriate audience behavior. These experiences will help make music meaningful at school, at home, and in the community.

Musically,

Ruth James

Physical Education with Coach Yost

Coach Jacob Yost is our full-time gym teacher who we share part-time with another school in the system. He teaches Physical Education in elementary schools by day, while he coaches the High School wrestling team in the evenings. P.E. classes will be held with Ms. Link's. In addition, Mrs. McClintock's special education students will be joining in on the fun. Mrs. Cindy Newman will be in the gym with Coach Yost as they teach the classes together. In gym class, your student spends time:

- learning to follow procedures used to start and end class daily
- participating in fun and engaging games that keep them active
- practicing important social skills such as taking turns, good sportsmanship, and following directions

Remember to ask your Kindergartener how their day was. I am sure if you ask specific questions like "What did you do in P.E. today with Coach Yost?" they might be more inclined to say more than "nothing."

Library Class with Mrs. May

The students go to library every other day. In this class they will learn about and do:

-research skills

-oral reports

-computer skills

-letter recognition and sound (initially)

-parts of a book

-fiction/nonfiction

-author/illustrator

-use Starfall and Reading Eggs to practice letter recognition and sound

-use PBS kids to learn the research process and find facts that are then used in oral reports

-how to check out books
Mrs. Edie May is excited to integrate the library with new technologies to make reading and books relevant to our young students.

Corretion!

Our Art teacher has changed. We now have Art on Fridays with Mrs. Susan Parks. This is my first year working with her and I am so excited! Mrs. Parks does a great job of tying our curriculum into her class. On Friday, she worked with the class on patterns and sorting with animal-shaped paper clips. I am so excited to see what else Mrs. Parks has in store for our students.

School and Money

Picture this: A Kindergartner comes into the classroom, ands you a wad of change, says, "Here," and sits down at their desk as if nothing happened.

Can you imagine the headache this might cause? When this happens, we are unsure of the purpose of the money. To avoid this misunderstanding or a call to your work or home, ALWAYS send money in a labeled envelope. It doesn't even have to be a "real" envelope! Fold a paper and staple it into a pouch. I also accept sandwich baggies with a note. No matter how money gets to the classroom please be sure to include the following:

Your Child's name
Teacher's name
Amount
Purpose of money

This will save lots of time and confusion. Any time that is saved with these housekeeping items will be well spent and invested into your child!

If you are sending money for your child's lunch account, you can also do this online. Visit MealpayPlus to deposit money and monitor the balance! So easy!

Week 2, Plaidypus Lost

Story of the week: Plaidypus Lost by Janet Stevens

Poem: One Little Fish

Phonics: Identifying O-S

Math: Position words

Science: Animals

Reminders:

·         Please turn in any missing paperwork

·         Practice poems at home

·         Look at the “Home Connection” section on daily Math exercise

·         Practice writing names at home

·         Fend off lice at home by following the tips I gave last week.

Dear Parents,

            Thank you for all of your hard work at home! I can absolutely tell you are working at home! Last week, we had everyone say their poem here at school. Thank you for practicing those at home. Your diligence is sure to pay off!

            We are continuing to practice writing names. Give your child a piece of paper and have them write their name. Watch them as they form the letters. Give them any pointers that you can to help them with their neatness. Watch out for capital letters in the middle of a name. It is also important to help them understand that some letters go below the line they are writing on (like j,p,g etc.).I re-write names on papers as I check over them to help your student see the proper way to write their name. We talk about these things all day long at school. Any reinforcement at home is always beneficial.

            In Math we have started our second topic. We are learning to describe objects (and we are learning what an object is too J ) and their position in relation to other things. This is the meaty, academic part of Kindergarten that I have warned you about. Your student will need extra help with “left” and “right.”  I believe that the rest of the words (over, under, on, above, below, inside, outside, etc) will come naturally with practice. It should be very easy to incorporate our new Math words at home. Math is proving to be a very challenging part of the day given our schedule. In math especially, we have to work very hard to help the students grasp everything that is talked about in class.

            On Friday, I sent home a notice that there had been a case of lice in our classroom. Luckily, the lice have not spread to any other students. We can keep the pests contained and managed by following those tried and true tips.

·         Use a hot hair dryer on hair at least once a week

·         Maybe wash hair every other day since they like CLEAN hair

·         Wear hair up and away from the face and shoulders

·         Spray any “fly-aways” with hairspray

·         Put essential oils of lavender and eucalyptus on nape of neck and behind ears.

Thank you again for all of the snacks and wish list items that you have sent in! You have been such a great help so far. I am so lucky to have a group of parents who are so willing to help. Have a great week!

Art with Mrs. Buffington

Every other Monday, Mrs. Buffington will visit our classroom to have art class. This year the students will learn basic principles of :

• line
• shape
• texture
• color

They will also see images of work by important artists, and talk about their work.
They will learn how to use crayons to make different effects, and textures. They will also do some cutting and gluing. This year, a focus will be placed on the art of Peru as it is our country of study for the system. Look for wonderful art work to come home every other Monday!

School and Medication

Did you know that it is unlawful for students of ANY age to bring drugs of ANY kind to school? We have a ZERO tolerance policy, meaning ANY drugs are illegal drugs. Medication may only go from one adult's hands to another adult's hands.

At the Kindergarten age, we don't usually have problems with this. However, it is important that if your child takes medication, you bring the medication to school with a permission note. It might be a good idea to have some pain reliever or allergy medication handy at school if you know that your student gets the occasional headache or allergy flare up. I would love to be able to care for your little one if the need arises.

Just so we are clear: All medications are kept out of the reach of children and are confidential. Any time that medication is administered it is documented and a note will be sent home if the medications are not taken regularly. If you have any questions or need the permission form, please let me know via email or by calling the school. You can also access them by clicking the links below:

Prescription medication form
Non-prescription medication form

Being okay with "Okay Orange"

The first few weeks in Kindergarten might go one of two ways.

1. Smooth Sailing: not having to move a card (or even getting close) and your little one LOVES school.

2. Tough Transistion: a few mistakes as your little one learns the rules and how to behave in Kindergarten. It might even consist of a few tears.

Regardless, of their response, everyone must follow the rules. Why have rules? Rules provide boundaries. Kids crave boundaries! Boundaries make the classroom a safe place that nurtures a luscious learning environment.

Raise your hand to speak or stand.

Keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself.

Follow directions the FIRST time given.

Walk.

Be kind and considerate.

Some children have never been told "No" or disciplined by an adult they have just met. That extra part of transitioning into school can be difficult. I hold no reservations of helping kindergarteners to be responsible for their actions. When/If your child moves a card I will be sure to remind them of the class rules and ask them if they think they were doing the right thing. I will then ask them what happens if a rule is broken, and they will be able to answer me and understand why they had to move a card. If your child has to move a card they might tell you why they had to move a card; they might not. Either way, an orange card IS afterall, okay. Usually, there is nothing to be concerned about unless I send a note home which means their behavior was "yucky" or "rowdy". If you are concerned, email, call or write a short note and send it to school in your child's folder.

What's that? Lice, you say?!

Take a deep breath. This might gross you out, but the more you know, the less likely you are to become victim to this ancient plague. I know, it sounds super scary, but lice can actually be managed with the right precautions. Last year, I had only one case of head lice in the first week of school. I gave some suggestions to the parents of my class and we never had lice again. How do I know? We checked!!!

You might be wondering how I know so much about lice. Well, as I child I fell victim to lice...NINE TIMES! Yes, my mother had a routine down pat to treat me, my room, the house, and the car. My nice little private school had to be bug-bombed and we weren't aloud to return to school for three days. My mother was determined not to battle it for the tenth time so she did her research. This is what she found:

• Essential oils of lavender and eucalyptus keep the little devils away. The ancient Egyptians used this and it worked!
• Lice actually love CLEAN hair. Dirty, oily hair is too hard for them to walk on and it isn't ideal for them to lay their sticky eggs on (called nits). I'm not saying that your child shouldn't bathe (ewww!), but maybe alternate days that you wash hair. It's actually better for your hair NOT to wash it every day.
• It takes two weeks for eggs to hatch after they have been laid. IF your child does have lice, they will get checked two weeks later in my class to catch the buggers before they infest your child.
• If you use a hot hair dryer to blow the hair dry, neither eggs nor bugs can survive the heat and will die. You don't have to do this every day either, once a week will suffice.
• A layer of hairspray to keep hair tucked in and close to the head will also help keep them away. The hairspray is another thing besides natural oils of the scalp that creates a hostile environment for lice. 
• Hair should be worn up and away from the face and shoulders to keep hair out of reach of the unwanted visitors.
• Simply not sharing hairbrushes or hair accessories can also do the trick. 

I hope that this left you more educated than grossed out. Just be vigilant and check your child if there has been a case in the classroom. If (and hopefully never) there is a case of head lice in the class, every child will be checked and you will be informed. If you should ever have any questions about how to treat lice effectively, please feel free to ask! If anyone can relate, its me! If you are curious about what lice and their nits look like, there's always google!