Week 7- Our Community

Story of the week: Me On the Map by Joan Sweeney

Phonics: Uu /u/, Nn/n/

Math: numbers  1-5

Social Studies: Our Community

HFW: but, us, up, not, on down

Reminders:

·         Please complete U and N in our Alphabet Books.

·         Spirit Night at Stevie B’s on Tuesday..

·         Our first field trip is October 18^th to the Apple Valley Farm.  

Dear Parents,

            This week our focus is on our community. We will learn how Cleveland relates to our state and country. We will learn about the mayor, governor, and president. We will also learn about community helpers and we will discuss how they, too, are called to be good citizens. This week we will discover how to be good citizens, learn about U and N, learn about maps, and use the “Author’s Chair” for the first time.

             In Math, we will continue to learn our numbers and begin assessments for our first report card. Practice numbers at home as well at shapes. The new Common Core Standards are much more in-depth than the learning standards in years past. For assessment, students must be able to draw, create, describe, and relate information about shapes. If they can’t tell me what the shapes are, they will have a hard time doing all of the tasks they are to perform. Practice at home!

            Please be diligent to go over your child’s work from school with them. Be sure to point out what they are doing well. Have (pleasant) conversations about how they could do better. If you see that they are using capitol letters in the middle of their name, talk them through it and practice. We do all of these things at school, but they mean so much more from you at home. This will provide a time for you to show them your support and give them a little one-on-one time. It is easier to be pro-active than re-active. Thank you for your help at home.

            On Friday, I am taking a personal day as I will be in a wedding in Atlanta this weekend. Ms. Jane Dansen will be here to fill in for me. The students love Ms. Jane!

Week 6- Our Families

Story of the week: Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber

Phonics: Rr /r/, Ll /l/

Math: numbers  1-5

Social Studies: Our Families

HFW: and, are, like, likes

Reminders:

·         Please complete R and L in our Alphabet Books.

·         Fall Festival is Friday night.

·         Thursday is Stuffed Animal day. Bring a stuffed animal to school.

·         Happy Birthday to Carter and Angel who both celebrate on Thursday, the 27^th.

·         Our first field trip is October 18^th to the Apple Valley Farm.  

Dear Parents,

            This week our focus is on families. Children will discuss different kinds of families, both real and “make believe.” Through a variety of stories, they will discover ways in which family members live together peacefully and show they care for each other. This week we will introduce folk tales and story elements, learn about R and L, discover we have different voices: conversation voices and presentation voices, and practice counting words in sentences.

             In Math, we will continue to learn our numbers and begin assessments for our first report card. Practice numbers at home as well at shapes. The new Common Core Standards are much more in-depth than the learning standards in years past. For assessment, students must be able to draw, create, describe, and relate information about shapes. If they can’t tell me what the shapes are, they will have a hard time doing all of the tasks they are to perform. Practice at home!

            Thursday is Stuffed animal day! We will be using the stuffed animals to talk about presentation voices, writing about the animals and learning about animals. If you forget, do not worry, I have a bin of over 100 beanie babies for students to choose from. Everyone will be taken care of (unlike cap day).  

            Our first field trip is coming up! We will be going to the Apply Valley Farm to learn about apples! If you would like to be a chaperone, please clear your schedule for that day. Right now, the field trip will be $6 per child. If you save $2 per week starting this week, you will be able to pay for the field trip. We understand that not all families can make this accommodation, so we ask for field trip donations. If we do not receive enough donations, we will not be able to afford the trip. However, if you have $6 to spare and would like to make an additional donation, please feel free to do that as well.

            There is a parent involvement event tomorrow from 6:30-7:30.

            We will have Art and Guidance this week.  

Goldilocks and the Three Bears —Jan Brett is an author and artist who has three elephant friends named Jabu, Thembi and Morula who live in Botswana, Africa. She also has a pet mouse named Little Pearl, a horse named  Westy and a Husky dog named Perky Pumpkin. Another pet she had was Hedga, a real hedgehog, whose nicknames were Pudge and Buffalo Gal. Jan paints all the pictures in her books with watercolors using small brushes. It takes her about two days to draw and paint the picture for one page. She likes to go to museums, libraries and other countries to learn more about her stories before writing a book.

Ira Sleeps Over —Bernard Waber is also an author and an artist. He loves to draw animals. One of his favorite animals is the crocodile. He likes crocodiles so much that he wrote and illustrated eight books about Lyle the Crocodile. Bernard likes drawing other animals, too. If you think an animal is a little odd-looking or unusual, then you could tell him about that animal and he would probably draw it. He also wrote and

illustrated books about a variety of animals including the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, moose, anteater, octopus, porcupine, lion, and a firefly named Torchy.

Week 5- Caps for Sale

Story of the week: Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

Phonics: Oo /o/, Cc /k/

Math: Sorting, #s  1-5

Science: Primary and secondary colors

Social Studies: Georges Seurat

HFW: can, be, he, she, we

Reminders:

·         Please complete O and C in our Alphabet Books. For directions, please read the first page.

·         Open House is Tuesday night from 6-7.

·         Wednesday is Cap Day! Bring a hat to school.

·         Chick-Fil-A spirit night is Thursday from 4-8 PM.

·         Hearing screenings will be Friday.

Dear Parents,

                This week our focus is on Colors. Students will explore the world of color as they learn color words, listen to stories about color, meet Goerges Seurat and learn about his unique painting technique, pointillism, and experiment with mixing colors of their own. This week we will learn about O and C, learn about syllables and how to count them in words, discuss primary and secondary colors, and discover what happens with colors are mixed together. For more information about our literature selections, please see below. Wednesday will be cap day. Feel free to send your child to school with a hat! Please have your child’s name written in their hat.

                 In Math, we will be sorting and starting to learn numbers. We will learn to make, count, and write numbers 1-5 in the next few weeks. We will also begin our testing for our report cards. I understand that we are only half-way finished with the grading period, but our testing process is extremely time consuming. Each assessment is performed one-on-one. This will be completed during our math small group time.

                I know that I have not updated our class website consistently in the last few weeks. Please be patient with me as the start to this year has been one full of change. We have new curriculum, new standards, and a new teacher. As I get more into my routines, please expect announcements, photos of class activities, and reminders on our website. There is a complete list of our rainbow words and a few other resources as well.

                There is a very cool program that I would like to begin using called Remind101. This program allows me to text you reminders from my phone without all of us sharing personal phone numbers. While I love my students dearly, its not my first preference to receive calls on my personal cell phone. I have an email address (gavirett@clevelandschools.org) and a phone number at school (423-479-8063) where I am happy to be available to communicate. I will remind you about field trips, assignments, assessments, and more. Standard message rates apply. You can sign up with your phone by texting @mrsavi to 422-222-3801. You will then be prompted to provide your full name so I can approve you on the roster.

Sincerely,  

Mrs. Avirett      

Literature Selections

Mouse Paint —Ellen Stoll Walsh is an author who loves shapes such as circles, squares, ovals and triangles. She also likes colors and numbers, but her most favorite things are books. It all started when her mother would read to the children snuggled in bed. Before long, there were 10 children in all. Ellen was the second-oldest. She loved reading and visiting the public library. That’s when she started helping her mother by telling stories to all the younger children. Later, when she was reading to her three-year-old son Ben, she decided to invent characters of her own and write books. You will find some very clever characters in her books. She was born in Baltimore, Md., and lives near Rochester, N.Y., with her son Ben.

Caps for Sale —Esphyr Slobodkina (pronounced ess-FEER sloh-BOD-kee-nah, 1908-2002) was an author and artist who liked to “paint” with scissors and cut-out papers. She began her career by painting lamp shades and giant murals. Later, she illustrated books for other authors and eventually wrote and illustrated her own books. As a child, her favorite activities were making handmade dolls and designing dresses for herself and her sister. As an adult, she had an unusual talent for creating jewelry from tiny parts she found in old typewriters and computers. Many of her art works are more like sculptures. They are frequently collages or constructions of wood, wire, paper cutouts and paint. Her books are famous for their lighthearted verbal and

visual patterns of behavior. She was born in Siberia, Russia, and also lived with her family in Manchuria, China. At the age of 29, she moved to New York City to fulfill her dream of becoming an artist.

Announcements

I apologize for not sending the Alphabet Books home on Monday. Mrs. Howard has just returned to us from a short leave of absence and we are still working out all of the kinks in our "machine." Thank you to those who brought that to my attention. With that being said, if you find that doing all three letters by Friday is too difficult, you may keep the Alphabet books at home over the weekend to finish.

This week we went on a Shape Hunt! Each student chose a shape to find inside our school building. I took pictures of what all we found. I found some very proud Kindergarteners. I am saving the pictures for a slideshow at Open House (which is next Tuesday night from 6-7) but afterwards, I will post them for viewing on our website.

There seems to be a virus making its way through our classroom. The great news is that its not a stomach virus! yay! But the symptoms are a high-grade fever and a sore throat. It presents itself as "strep" but tests come back negative for strep. Please do take your child to the doctor's office at your discretion, but please do not send your child to school if they are running a fever.

Have a great Thursday!
G. Avirett

Week 4 Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Story of the week: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Phonics: Ss /s/, Mm /m/

Math: 2-D and 3-D Shapes

Science: Weather and Seasons

Social Studies: Benjamin Franklin

Reminders:

·         Alphabet books are ready. Please complete P, S, and M. For directions, please read the first page.

·         We have Art with Mrs. Buffington this week.

·         Congratulations to Brett Oxford. He is our student of the month for Respect for our Character Education Program

·         Vision Screenings will be Friday.

Dear Parents,

            We are moving right along as we enter September. This week our focus is on the Weather and Seasons. Students will become familiar with different types of weather and seasonal changers through books, poems, songs and American Sign Language. We will also learn and practice the letters S and M, discuss cause and effect, learn inventive spelling (kidwriting), and get to know Benjamin Franklin.

            If you did not already know, we have a class mascot named Backpack Bear. Backpack Bear shares a message with us every morning. This week he will share his favorite book about rainbows. Backpack Bear comes from a website that pairs with the curriculum we are using this year. If you have internet access at home, your student can access the free portion of the website Starfall.com. Your child can practice letters online! The website is very child-friendly and they are free to explore it. Please practice letter formation and letter sounds with the letters P, S, and M in our Alphabet Books. It is VERY important that this be completed each week. We are introducing letters quite quickly and practice will greatly help.

             In Math, we will be reviewing our unit on shapes. Your student will be responsible to identify and describe the attributes of a square, rectangle, triangle, circle, hexagon, trapezoid, cube, cone, sphere, and cylinder. This is a huge undertaking. Your child might not be able to perform this on the first report card, but this is a skill that builds and allows for mastery as the year progresses. Please practice counting sides and corners and identifying shapes at home. The sooner this is mastered, the better. Kindergarten is more work than one might think!

            You might have noticed that I have sent home all of your students work without marks on it. As the year progresses, this work will begin to be “graded”. Typically I will correct handwriting issues first. For now, congratulate your child on their hard work at school. If you find something that is incorrect, coach your student through it to help them do a better job next time. I want each child to be proud of their work and strive to find ways to improve. With my help and yours, we can grow these Kindergarteners into magnificent students.

Please Excuse Us!

Please pardon my lack of communication so far this week. The printer at school has been "down" and I haven not been able to print a thing! Mrs. Howard has also been out of the classroom so it has been a one-woman show around here. When I pack up bags and write behavior in folders, it takes so much time. I also do not have someone to watch my class while I make copies. Keep checking in!

Week 2

Story of the week: I Am Your Flag

Phonics: Aa /a/

Math: Shapes and Geometry

High-Frequency words: is, for

Reminders:

·         Please turn in any missing paperwork

·         I am in need of some headphone splitters so that more than one student can use our computers at a time. I will need 3 of them.

·         Thank you for the wonderful snacks! Keep them coming!

·         Let your student enter and leave school INDEPENDENTLY!

Dear Parents,

            We have our fourth Kindergarten teacher! Students met her today and will be in her class full time tomorrow. Mrs. Natalie Killian is a Cleveland native. She is very excited about working with us in Kindergarten and we are so happy that she is finally here!

            This week in reading we will be covering a few topics. At this point in the school year we are still setting up routines and understanding how and why we do certain things at school. We will be matching the letter A with its sound. We will further discuss the rules and how they keep us safe through a book that we access online through Starfall.com. This story is called, Backpack Bear Learns the Rules. We will also learn about dictionaries. Each child will have and keep a dictionary to maintain as we learn our high-frequency words. Students can use these to help them with their writing. We have started learning about the parts of a computer. Each child will receive a small paper book to read and will get to keep it when we are finished with the story. In addition to all of these things, we will learn more about our American flag and what it stands for. Alphabet books are not ready and will go home whenever they are! Sorry for the delay!

            In math, we have moved on to the next topic, Shapes! Please review the paper introducing our new topic and consider completing some of the activities at home. Any time you have a chance to extend your child’s learning at home, take advantage of it!

            On a different note, it has been brought to my attention that some of our students are taking part in the Free/Reduced Lunch program. Please understand that this program is highly confidential. I do not know who is part of this program and who is not. If I send home notes requesting money and you are a part of this program, please do not be offended. I must ask EVERYONE for money. If I only asked those who did not qualify for the program, it would be reverse discrimination. To avoid this, I treat everyone equally. If you are unable to pay for something, please send me a note or email letting me know. My intention is never to “hound” you for money. On the same note, our snack system is NOT a part of the Nutrition Program. If you want your child to participate in snack, you must send in a snack for the class and do your part.

Story of the week: Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.

Phonics: Bb /b/

Math: Position words

High-Frequency words: see, me

Reminders:

·         Please turn in any missing paperwork

·         I am in need of some headphone splitters so that more than one student can use our computers at a time. I will need 3 of them.

·         Alphabet books will start next week, so keep an eye out for those.

·         Thank you for the wonderful snacks! Keep them coming!

Dear Parents,

            We have been off to a full start this year. These newsletters usually go home on MONDAYS! Let’s just say, I have had my hands full! We will be hiring our 4^th teacher on Monday if all goes as planned. Mr. Stephens will be conducting interviews tomorrow! We will do our best to be sure that it is a smooth transition when it does happen. As I have said before, we work as a team in Kindergarten so our new teacher will not be left in the dark to fend for herself!

            In the mean time, we have started learning how to read! We have read the Kissing Hand and  Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? many times since we have started school. We have also started discussing the alphabet, Bb, and high-frequency words. HFW are words that students should be able to “read” as soon as they see them, or sight words.

            In math, we have been talking about our position words. We are learning to use words to describe where an object is. So far, we have learned: inside, outside, under, over, on, top, middle, and bottom. Try to use these words at home to help them continue learning at home in a real-life context.

            There are a few housekeeping items I would like to address. Please avoid interrupting our class time by coming into the classroom during the last few minutes of school. It is quite a challenge to juggle all of the students and sending them to the correct places. On that note, please talk about your child’s dismissal procedures at home. We have had many car riders attempt to try out the busses. I have explained this many times to the class, but they may need some outside encouragement on this.

            I know that Kindergarten is a huge milestone both for you and your student. Please let your student walk into class alone. They know where the classroom is and it is important for them to walk in by themselves. Please encourage older siblings to meet Kindergarten students at their appropriate places for dismissal as well.

            Please note the schedule change on the back of this letter. We are still trying to figure out what will make our day move smoothly and still participate in everything Mr. Stephens has scheduled us for.

Have a great rest of the week!

Need Reminders?

There is an incredible program that we can use to communicate without trading cell phone numbers. While I love my students dearly, its not my first preference to receive calls on my personal cell phone. I have an email address (gavirett@clevelandschools.org) and a phone number at school (423-479-8063) where I am happy to be available to communicate. You can receive reminders from me on your cell phone!!!! This is so exciting. All you have to do is follow the steps below:

Text @mrsavi to 422-222-3801

You will then be prompted to provide your full name so I can approve you.

I have already tried it and it works! I will remind you about field trips, assignments, assessments, and more. I promise not to bombard you, but if you are at all like me, you need reminders sometimes to keep everything together. Standard message rates apply.

Thanks for your cooperation!

The Mitten, Valentine's Day, and a 3 Day Week! Yipee!

Story of the week: The Mitten

Poem: Oh No!

Phonics: Ww

Math: Addition

Rainbow words:  did, five, four

Report Card Corner

            Report card testing starts soon! PLEASE keep working at home on our addition unit. We had 10 students pass our first test. This means that 12 still have some catching up to do!

We have started learning our orange words! Please practice sight words at home. A complete list of the words is located on our blog (which I have been updating!)

Dear Parents,         

            This is a short week of school and a long weekend! We will not be having school on Thursday, Friday, or Monday! Yipee! This newsletter will be short and sweet.

            The aquarium was a blast! I think everyone had a great time. Thank you so much to the chaperones that were able to come with us. Because of you and your patience, the students in my class are still talking about what a great time they had on Friday. Thanks again!

            This week we are reading The Mitten by Jan Brett. This is a classic children’s story that I have pulled off the shelf for these three days. We will be working on sequencing and creative writing as we read. Our letter of the week is W.

            Tomorrow is our Valentine’s Day party. We will be making bags today (Monday) to be sure that everyone easily gets home with their love loot. The party will start at 2:15. Please send in your Valentines tomorrow!

            I am still holding off on play centers. The children did a better job of following directions, but they still aren’t where they need to be. I am teaching them to start acting like first graders. At this point in the year, they know how they are expected to act. Until they choose to act this way, we will not play. As a whole we are still having problems staying in our seats, raising hands to speak, and keeping our hands to ourselves! I hope to get them whipped into shape so they can enjoy centers next week.

Have a great long weekend!

Book Fair!

We love the book fair! Thanks for all you do for us, PTO!

Addition and Subtraction Sundae Fun

Here is the beginning of our Sundae Math board to help us track our progress learning our addtion and subtraction facts.

Here is our key:

Bowl = mastery of +0 and +1 facts

Vanilla Ice Cream = mastery of +2 facts

Strawberry Ice Cream = mastery of +3 facts

Chocolate Ice Cream = mastery of +4 and +5 facts

Whipped Cream = mastery of -0 and -1 facts

Chocolate Syrup = mastery of -2 facts

Cherry = mastery of -3 facts

Spoon = mastery of -4 and -5 facts

I can't wait until our Ice Cream Sundae party!

Fun at Center Time!

I spotted some unusually creative play during our center time this week.

Home-Living went on an indoor picnic. Parker was too busy to fully pose. :)

Juan started making his OWN pictures with our geometric shapes and his friends added to it!

Week 22: If I Could Go to Antarctica

Story of the week: If You Could Go to Antarctica

Poem: The Jolly Snowman

Phonics: Ee /e/

Math: Measurement

Rainbow words:  do, go, good

Report Card Corner

We practiced writing the alphabet in order this morning. OUCH! This skill needs lots of work. For the upcoming report card, your child will have to write the alphabet in both capital and lowercase letters in order without the use of a model! I encourage you to practice this at home.

Does your child recognize that a calendar measures time? They should. BUT it might be a good idea to talk about calendars at home. Ask them what they know about the calendar. Talk about the calendar every day. This reinforces counting!

Dear Parents, 

            This is the second week of Miss Norris’s student teaching. I will be attending a writing conference in Nashville on Thursday, our 100^th day. I am sad to miss it, but I know the students will be left in good hands to celebrate the day.

            Please forgive my mistake in the behavior chart. It said that there would not be any school today! Oops. I’m not exactly sure how that one happened, but even after double checking I still got that one wrong. If there is ever any doubt about the calendar, please refer to the school calendar that is posted both online and in the calendar that your family received from the school system at the beginning of the year.  

            This week, the PTO is collecting spare change for the book fair. My class highly benefitted from this fundraiser last year because I was crowned the PENNY QUEEN. My class raised the most money and each child was able to go home with a book of their own on that Friday! I would love for that to happen again so please send in your money, I am NOT ready to relinquish my crown!

            If there is an extra field trip permission form or School Books Press permission form, it means that I do not have one from you! Please be reminded that I must have these forms soon! The field trip form is due on Friday and the School Books form is due ASAP. Please take the time to fill these forms out tonight.

            It is one of the requirements of my job that I reach the needs of each student. This means that I need to meet them at their own level to help them excel in skills that they already know, and help them to reach skills they have not mastered. Your student already receives reading instruction at their level in our small reading groups. Our reading program is fabulous and this is built into our schedule. The math program does not have this feature built in (yet). I am starting small math groups during our math time to meet the needs of each student. We might have to move many cards during this process as I train our Kindergarteners to follow procedures and expectations. Each child will spend time with the whole group learning and 10-15 minutes in four stations. The stations include, small group math instruction at their level, independent work completed at their desk, playing a math game on the carpet/computer, and working with Ms. Pat on other math skills that might need extra practice and reinforcement. I am very excited to start this next week!

Blooming Readers

Because Miss Norris is here, I have some time to sneak around and see more things that I don't usually get to catch. I spotted something wonderful in the Library Center today. Julia was reading Sleeping Beauty to Alayna and Hannah. While she did not read every word (or even one), she was doing what she knows good readers do! She told the story to her friends with excitement as she turned the pages and showed them pictures. They were so enthralled with the story that they had no idea I was watching!

Week 21: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Story of the week: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Poem:

Phonics: Gg /g/

Math: Measurement

Rainbow words:  we, was, with

Report Card Corner

Can your child spell their last name both orally and written? With proper capitalization?

Can your child recognize words with the same ending sounds? This is an important skill especially when it comes to recognizing rhyme. These two skills go hand in hand.

Does your child use words to describe time? We will be testing words like morning, afternoon, night, evening, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Initiate conversations with your child to help them use these words appropriately.

Dear Parents, 

            This week marks the first of two weeks that Miss Norris will be doing her “solo” teaching weeks that she is required to complete for her program at Lee University. She will be teaching every lesson for the next two weeks as I stand on the sidelines and watch. She has done a phenomenal job so far and I am excited to see what all she has up her sleeves for the next two weeks. I will be having a substitute in and out of the classroom as I take a personal day this week and attend a writing conference in Nashville next week. I am excited about learning how to implement more writing into my classroom!

            There are two permission forms floating around in our take home folders. One is for the Tennessee Aquarium field trip and the other is for the School Books Press book form. Please return those as soon as you can. Please be aware that the chaperone spots are limited and will be available only on a first come, first served basis at the reduced price. We already have four adults coming along with our class. Any additional chaperones will have to pay the full, regular price of $25. I will be sending extra copies of each permission form this week as a gentle reminder to get them returned in a timely fashion.

            The Measurement Unit is almost over and we will  be starting a new one next week. Buckle your seat belts, we have a huge undertaking coming up in math. We will be starting ADDITION. This skill either comes very naturally to students or requires extra attention and practice. I will be sending home more information about this unit of learning to help you guide your student at home.

            Cold and flu season is in our midst. We have four students absent today due to illness. We are doing our best at school to keep the germs from spreading. If your child is ill, please keep them at home to have a day of rest. Sending a sick child to school not only worsens their condition, it puts other students (AND THEIR FAMILIES, AND ME J ) at risk of getting sick too. Attendance is important, however wellness is more important. If your child does stay home, please remember to send in an excuse note from yourself or the doctor.

           

I can tie my shoes!

We have some very motivated students in our class. I have seen shoe-lace-tying practice happen all over my room. We have several shoes on our wall to honor the students who have shown the ability to tie shoes. This has been a great motivator! Up next, saying the Pledge of Allegiance...

Week 20: LOTS OF IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Story of the week: One Little Mouse

Poem: Snowflakes

Phonics: Consonant blends ch, sh, th, etc.

Math: Measurement

Rainbow words:  as, be, can

Report Card Corner

We are working on skip counting. We have songs for counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. This skill will be tested on our next report card. Ask your child to sing the songs for you. I will send home a 100 chart for practice.

Rainbow words are EXTREMELY important. Together they are a list of the 100 most common words in reading. As your child begins to read more and more, these familiar words will help them soar through the reading levels. Who wouldn’t want that for their child. I beg of you to practice these words at home.

Dear Parents, 

            For the first six weeks of this semester we have a student teacher from Lee University. Lee’s program is stellar and produces quality teachers, many of whom teach in our school. (Except for me, GO VOLS!) Our student teacher is Miss Whitney Norris. She has already started teaching a few lessons such as morning board and handwriting. Next week, she will begin teaching all day while I stand on the sidelines and guide her along. It has been fun to get to know her so far and I know she will do a great job. She is fantastic! The kids already love her. I know we will all hate to say goodbye in February.   

            Speaking of February, we have quite a few events coming up. Our closest event is our field trip to the Tennessee Aquarium! We will be reading Life in an Ocean, and If I Could Go to Antarctica. We will create quite a bit of buzz about aquatic life to be sure we are ready to take it all in. We will be going on Friday, February 10^th.  Because we receive Federal funding due to our Title I status, we are able to set aside some money to aid in the payment for field trips. The Kindergarten team saved our money to go on this field trip. The donation is only $5.50 per child! The usual admission charge is over $20! Chaperones will pay $9.85 (another excellent deal!). Chaperone spots are limited. We will only be accepting 6 spots for our class. These spots will be available on a first come, first served basis.  

            Stuart School has excellent resources within its community. Stuart has been given the chance to participate in a pilot program with School Books Press with our very own Tullock family. Our class will be participating in the project to write a story together and then have it PUBLISHED. (If you haven’t already thought about college, this is an incredible resume builder J). The books will be published and given to each student for free! If parents or loved ones are interested in purchasing the book, they will be available for purchase via Ingram Books, Amazon, and other ebook formats. (You could put it on a Kindle or iPad!) I am very excited about this opportunity to encourage writing in our class. I will send home more information and release forms later this week.

            Shoe lace club has five members so far! Keep practicing at home!

Sincerely,

Grace Avirett