Friday, October 8, 2010

Mrs. Wright's Class

Thank you all for taking the time to meet for our fall conferences. The schedule was a bit hectic this week, but we had a wonderful turnout for conferences and it was a pleasure to chat with you all in regards to the kids. They are doing super and I am amazed at how well they are grasping the concepts and progressing through the kinder skills. After break many of the kids will be ready to start reading. You will see the "Book in a Bag" come home with instructions on how our reading program works. If your child is not to that point yet, please don't worry. It is important to keep working with the letter recognition and sounds in order to better prepare them for their progression to reading. This week in class we spent time reviewing the letters learned during first quarter (M,S,R,T,N,D,P,C,A,G,F) and worked on numbers 1-10. We still struggle with recognition of numbers 6-10 as well as writing them. Please practice this over break.

This next week will be a wonderful break for all. While we didn't send home activities to do during the time off, please continue to review concepts and skills we have been working on in class. We want to keep the learning and skills fresh for our return on October 19th. We will have a busy couple of weeks after our return so please mark your calendar with the following dates:
10/20- PTO Meeting 6:30 in the MPR
10/22- Picture Retakes
10/23- Fall Festival
10/25-29th- Red Ribbon Week
10/29- Harvest Party and School Parade

I have spoken with many of you in regards to our Harvest Party on the 29th. All parents are welcome to attend and the more help...the better! There will be a flier going home on Tuesday, October 19th in regards to the details and donations needed for our party so please look out for that. Thanks again for the support you continue to provide to your child and our classroom. I hope everyone enjoys the break.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

I hope everyone had a great weekend. This week is sure to be a busy one. We will be reviewing all letters, and numbers that we have learned up to this point.

We will also be continuing our writing skills. We are working on learning about beginning capital letters, finger spaces, and periods. I also tell my students that they need 2 fingers between each word. This helps them to get the proper spacing between each word.

Remember, conferences are this week. I have conferences scheduled for everday this week. I am still missing quite a few conference confirmation slips. Please return the slips to be as soon as possible so I can change conferences around if we need to.

There is no school for PM kindergarten on Thursday. If your child attends kinder express, they will only go to kinder express on Thursday from 8:15 - 11:15. All students need to be picked up at 11:15 on both Thursday and Friday. All PM kinder students will come on Friday from 8:15 - 11:15am.


Homework is due this Friday. A new homework packet will go home the Tuesday after fall break. Remember, there is no school the Monday after fall break, the 18th.

I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences to show off all the great work we have been doing in kindergarten!

If you have any questions, please email me! ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Mrs. Wright's Class

This upcoming week will be busy! Monday will start off with a substitute teacher, Mrs. Banner. The kids are familiar with her, since she has been a sub for Mrs. King, so I am sure things will go well. I told the kids I would be out so there should be no surprises. As I return on Tuesday the conference schedules will begin. This will be a busy 4 days as I meet with each of you...all 40. If there happens to be an issue with scheduling last minute and you are not able to attend the conference, please let me know ASAP. I have confirmed times with all of you so I anticipate a great turnout. I look forward to discussing your child's progress thus far.

Last week we introduced letters H & L. The more letters we add the smarter these little ones get. This week we will spend time reviewing all the letters learned during our first quarter of school. They are catching on and soaking it all in. Keep up the great work. We are still working with numbers 0-10. This week we will continue to focus on numbers 6-10, please continue to reinforce these skills at home. We have wrapped up our apple unit and will begin learning about pumpkins and bats for the month of October. We will also have a Harvest Party to celebrate our learning on Friday, October 29th. I will need some parent help so please let me know if you will be available that day and are interested in assisting. More info regarding donations and the day's activities will come home after break.

I look forward to meeting with you this week at conferences. See you soon-

Monday, September 27, 2010

Mrs. King's Class

Sorry, it's been so long since I have posted to the blog. I was out Friday at a Math Training and it was also Saturday so I had a very short weekend, but I learned some very interesting new things about teaching math to students so it was well worth it. I will be out again on Wednesday afternoon to take my husband to a Doctor's appointment. Sorry, but it is important. I don't like to miss days close together but this couldn't be helped. Bev Banner the same sub will be here so and she is very good so that will provide some continuity.

We are already to end of the first quarter. Parent/Teacher conferences have been scheduled the letters with your day and time will be coming home this week. In order to accommodate all the families I need to meet with, my conference schedule will begin on Tuesday. So if you get a conference scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday it is not a misprint, I have so many I need to do that I have to schedule almost every spare minute that week to get them all in. Please keep in mind how many I am doing as you get your schedule and try to make it at the scheduled time. I don't have anymore evening times so if you cannot make it at your scheduled time about the only thing left is before school. If you absolutely can't make the scheduled time, please send me a note and let me know which morning you would be available so I can reschedule. Again, I don't have any late afternoon or evening times available. Report Cards will not be sent home, you must come in and meet with me to receive the report card.

Please keep working at home on the letter sounds, writing first names, numbers and counting. These are all important skills that need as much practice as we can get at home. I have seen some real improvement in some students first names, but others are still really struggling to remember to write it correctly all the time.

I e-mailed the new snack list for October and November today. If you didn't get one or you had problems reading it please let me know I can send home a hard copy or e-mail you the dates your child is assigned for snack. Thanks to all of you who have been so very good about sending snack in even when I forget to send the bag home! It is working great and the children love being able to hand out snack on their day!

Don't forget that the week of Parent/Teacher Conferences we will have a schedule change-on Thursday AM students will come as usual and go home at 11:05-regular school gets out at 11:15. I would suggest being here by 11:05 and beat the crowd because it will be crazy and you will not be allowed to leave your car in the drop-off area. If you are going to leave your car you will have to park and then use the crosswalk to come and get your child. This is a little different for the AM parents, so please be prepared.

There is no school for the PM Kindergarten Students on Thursday.

Friday, there is NO SCHOOL for the AM students, the PM students will come from 8:15-11:15 If you send your AM student to school on Friday, you will be called and expected to come and get your child!!

Have a great week and I look forward to meeting with all of you for Conference next week!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Fall is finally here! Now lets all hope the weather starts feeling like fall.

Homework went home on Friday. Please let me know if you don't have a packet for this week. This week we are learning about the letters L and H. Please practice at home by having your student find as many things in the house that start with these letters.

In math we are continuing our numbers through 10 as well as AB patterns and ABB patterns. An example of an AB pattern would be red, blue, red, blue. An example of an ABB pattern would be red, blue, blue, red, blue, blue. Practice at home by seeing if your family can make a pattern using objects from around the house such as forks and spoons!

Conferences are coming up next week. Everyone will be getting conference slips sent home shortly. Every one's conferences will be scheduled for either Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Friday afternoon. Please try your hardest to keep your scheduled appointment since there is no wiggle room. If there is no way for you to make your assigned time, please let me know ASAP so we can try to reschedule you for another time. Thank you in advance for your understanding while I try to fit everyone in next week.

Thursday, October 7th, there is no school for PM kindergarten. Kinder express students will come to school from 8:15am - 11:15am. Friday, October 8th all PM students need to come to school from 8:15am to 11:15am.


On Friday October 29th we will be having our Harvest Party. Students will be allowed to dress up on this day. Ashley, Johnathan's mom, is this year's room mom. She sent home information about herself on Thursday. She will be the one heading up the harvest party as well. We will be sending out information on how you can help shortly. Please make sure you are returning the survey that Ashley sent home on Thursday as soon as you can. I will make sure Ashley gets all that are given to me.

I hope everyone has a great week! If you have any questions, please email me!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Mrs. Wright's Class

Happy Fall! Yesterday we had a great time welcoming our new season. The day consisted of apple painting, apple tasting (green apple was the most popular flavor) and an apple investigation. The kids had fun and I hope they shared some stories with you. Now that fall is here we hope to see some cooler weather soon! I have promised each of the classes that there will be more time for outdoor fun when the fall weather decides to arrive.

We were busy learning our letters G & F this week. We will be learning H & L next week so please continue to practice the letters at home too. We are working with numbers 0-10 and pretty much have 0-5 down (writing and recognizing). This coming week we will spend more time on numbers 6-10. Homework was due today. If your child did not get their packet in, please turn it in on Monday. They also received a new packet that will be due before our break on October 7th and 8th. Those days will be a 1/2 day (dismissal at 11:15 am) so I will have the AM CLASS on Thursday, October 7th and will have the PM CLASS on Friday, October 8th. Whatever day your child comes to school, either Thursday or Friday, please turn in the packet then. We will have conferences scheduled that entire week. Your date and time will be coming home soon. If you are unable to attend, please contact me ASAP so we can work something out. I have 40 families to meet with so scheduling is tight.

I have challenged the kids to the Scholastic "Read 10 Books and Give" Campaign. A book marker went home a few weeks ago with space for 10 book titles that you and your child have read together. If you have misplaced the book marker...do not fret. Please write the titles of 10 books on a slip of paper and bring it in to school when complete. We have a poster in our classroom for each child to sign when they complete their part. When our poster is filled, we will mail it back to Scholastic who will then donate books to a classroom in need. Thanks to those of you who have already turned your book marks in. WAY TO GO!!!

I hope a relaxing weekend is in store for all of you. See you Monday-

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Mrs. Wright's Class

Wow...the weeks are flying by! I apologize for my lack of posts last week. I don't know where the week went?! This week we are off to a great start. The kids are learning about letters G & F. We will practice writing these letters in upper and lower case form as well as work on recognizing them and brainstorming words that begin with these letters. Quiz your child at home to see if they can tell you 3 words that start with each of our new letters. Last week we focused on letters D & N so it would be great to review those as well. In math we are still working with numbers 0-10. It is important for us to master writing and recognizing them before we move on to other math concepts. The kids are doing great, but I ask that you continue to practice these skills at home too.

On Thursday we will be celebrating our first day of fall. In class we will be doing apple prints, some taste testing and an apple dissection. All month we have been learning about the famous fruit so it should be a fun time for all! On Friday, September 24th the Scholastic Book Order will be due. You can go online to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs to see the latest and greatest books for sale. Our class activation code to order online is: GLG4W. You can also send in the paper order form with a check. Each time you order books, our class earns free books...so order today! Homework will also be due on Friday. Each time your child brings in a completed packet they earn a treasure box. This is a reward for all of their hard work. Don't forget your packets!

First quarter is coming to a close and conferences will be here before we know it. If you have a work schedule to accommodate or a conflict with the dates (October 6-8)please let me know in advance and we can schedule a time to meet beforehand. I look forward to meeting with each of you to discuss your child's progress. Well, I think that is all for our latest and greatest classroom news. Your kids are doing super. Thanks for your continued support!