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.