Dear Families, November 1, 2017 Can you believe it is November already? It is unbelievable to me! A special thanks goes out to all the families that helped make our Halloween party such a success. I think the children had fun! A big “Thank You” to our room moms (Danielle Samporino & Candace Rafferty) for making this happen! A special thank you to all our military people! You are truly American heroes. Please be sure to honor your family members or friends with our school program for Veterans Day. Ask for a form and let’s acknowledge these brave men and women. It is a nice way for students to understand on a personal level what the word “Veteran” means. In addition, please send in a photo to accompany the form. If your Veteran or Active Duty hero would like to attend our program, please let us know and we will get the information to you. This is something dear to my heart. The students enjoy seeing the photographs that come into school. Your child has been working on the following letters: t,f,b,n,m,I,u,c,o,a,g,d,s,e,r,p,j. Your child should be able to identify these letters and produce the sound that each letter makes. As we move towards reading unknown words and writing down the sounds students hear in words, this skill is crucial. Students are learning to stretch out words and then write down the corresponding letter for the sounds that they hear. The sight words covered in October were: my, am, see, yes, no, can, go, to. Your child should be able to identify these sight words. Looking ahead, in November we will be introducing the following letters: l,h,k,v,w,y,x, and the following sight words: said, and, it, you, went, in, at, do. The latest sight word cards for your word rings have been sent home in the folders. Additional practice at home will strengthen your child’s confidence and help him/her to recall these letters, sounds and sight words with ease. These skills are essential for students as they are beginning to write sentences. In math, focus will be placed on quantities of 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Students will make connections between counting and cardinality. They will understand the relationship between these numbers such as “one more” or “one less”. Students will know all the ways to break apart a number into two smaller numbers (5 is 2 and 3, 4 and 1, 5 and 0, etc.). Students will solve story problems with decomposing stories, addition stories and subtraction stories within 6. Please turn this page over to see the important dates to remember. Our rotating Wednesday schedule for specials is as follows: Nov. 1-Library, Nov. 8-Gym, Nov. 15-Music, Nov. 22-Library, Nov. 29-Gym Here is a list of important dates for this month: Nov. 1st -Picture retakes-please keep the class picture-@11:00 Nov. 3rd--Beautification Day (rain date Nov. 6th) - Help us clean up the school grounds. (11:00-11:30). Nov. 7th-Election Day-No School for students Nov. 8th-Kindergarten Literacy Night (Changed from Nov. 1st -Notice the new date)-6:00-6:45 Nov. 9th-Veterans Day Assembly for students and guests (Veterans and/or active duty) Wear Red, White and Blue Nov. 10th-Veterans Day-No School Nov. 17th Feast at 9:15-10-This event is for students. Our room parents have a sign-up for the donations-thank you in advance. Usually, the two room parents come to help out. Have your child wear “pilgrim colors”-brown, gray, black, dark blue and/or white shirts Nov. 17th-School assembly sponsored by the PTO @ 2:00 Nov. 22nd –Minimum day-dismissal is at 1:05 Nov. 23rd and 24th-Thanksgiving Break Nov. 28th-PTO Meeting at 7:00 Hopefully, we won’t experience too many snow days this winter. If there is anything that we can do to help you, please contact us. Thanks! Kathy Sullivan with Ms. G and Mrs. Buzzi
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Dear Families, It is hard to believe that October is here! This is a brief newsletter to keep you informed and suggest ways to support your child at home. In language arts, your child is learning to produce and recognize corresponding sounds to letters. This skill is crucial as students move towards reading and writing words. We have gone over the following letters: t, b, f, m, n, i, u,c,o. At home, ask your child to give you the sound for these letters or name the corresponding word. They are as follows t-top-/t/ b-bat-/b/ f-fun-/f/ m-man-/m/ n-nut-/n/ i-itch/i/ u-up-/u/ c-cat-/c/ o-octopus-/o/ This month we will focus on the following letters: a-apple-/a/ g-game-/g/ d-dog-/d/ s-snake-/s/ e-Ed-/e/ r-rat-/r/ p-pan-/p/ l-lamp-/l/ h-hat-/h/ k-kite-/k/ The sight words that were introduced in September were a, I, me, the, like, is, be, we. This month we will introduce sight words my, am, see, to, can, go, yes, no (typically students confuse am with me or my).Please add these words to the word ring. Please be sure to practice these with your child each night until they can read them with accuracy and speed. In addition, sight word poems have been sent home. Please practice them regularly with your child. During readers’ workshop, your child has participated in shared reading and independent reading. Shared reading involves a large book that is read by a teacher and students can participate in different ways. One way is to highlight the sight words and have students join in as those words are read. Another way might be for students to join in when there is a repetitive pattern in a story. An example would be from The Gingerbread Man where he says “Run, run as fast as you can you can’t catch me. I am the gingerbread man”. During independent reading, children use the pictures to remember the story or locate words they recognize or actually read words. Encourage your child to point underneath each word as you/they read. Children “write” a story each day. There is a wide range of abilities in our classroom. Some children give a dictation about their drawings, others have begun to label their pictures and there are one or two students that try to form a sentence. I am very excited about the students’ accomplishments. I will be sharing their writing with you at our parent/teacher conferences. In the first unit Launching the Writing Workshop students were asked to write about things they know about. Students were encouraged to write about true stories from their lives. The next unit is called Looking Closely: Observing, Labeling, and Listing. In this unit, students will begin to experience the link between writing and science. This unit channels them to transfer and apply their knowledge of letters and sounds to labeling items and listing observations. Students might create booklets with simple sentences that revolve around high-frequency words. (for example a book on leaves-students might write “I see red. I see yellow.”). For mathematics in September, students described objects using words like heavier, lighter, shorter, taller, smaller, larger etc. Students compared sets and determined which group has more or less. This month, students will learn how to form numbers (0-6) accurately. Often times, children at this stage of development form numbers reversed. This is developmentally appropriate and not a reason to be concerned. It takes time for students this age to correctly form numbers. Focus will be placed on writing numbers, representing numbers with objects, counting and recording objects, counting objects using one-to-one correspondence, when counting students will grab and slide objects, model addition and subtraction stories with objects, and showing different combinations for a specific number. October 6 will be First Friday Family Read. Family members can come into the school and read with their children. It runs from 9-9:30. My suggestion is to arrive five minutes early because parking can be tricky. Younger siblings can attend. If you are unable to come to school, your child will join a classmate and their guest. Not every child has a guest. If you have two children in grades K though second grade, inform me that you are taking your child to the other classroom in order to be together. Important Dates that are coming up: Oct. 4-Fire department visits-Fire prevention and safety Oct. 6-Pajama Day for Juvenile Diabetes Oct. 6-First Friday Family Read 9:00-9:30 Oct. 9-Columbus Day-No School Oct. 10-Food Drive for Helping Hands begins through Oct. 30 Oct. 13-Our class visits the book fair at 10:30-11:00 Oct 17-Our class visits the Book Fair 10-10:30 Oct. 17-Blood Drive 1:00-7:30-Lunch will be in the classrooms. Oct. 17-Book Fair Family Night & Gift Wrap Delivery-Parents/Grandparents may come buy books-enjoy family night and collect their gift wrap fundraiser. Oct. 18-Minimum Day-Dismissal at 1:05 Oct. 19_ Kindergarten Field Trip to Rose Orchard 9-11:30 Oct. 24-PTO Meeting 7:00 Oct. 25 & 26-Minimum Days-Parent Teacher Conferences- Dismissal at 1:05 Oct. 31-Halloween Parade (2-2:30) Thank you for reinforcing these skills and strengthening their handwriting ability at home. -Mrs. Sullivan with Ms. G and Mrs. Buzzi
Dear Parents and Families, September 1st 2017 We have really enjoyed getting to know your children. Our class is made up of seventeen students-ten girls and seven boys. Everyone seems to be adjusting well to our classroom and routines. September 13 th is Curriculum Night for parents with children in kindergarten through fourth grade. This is an opportunity to give parents an overview on what will be taught during the year and a chance to answer any general questions. In addition, there will be a sign up sheet for parent/teacher conferences which are held on Oct. 25th and 26th. For those families that are unable to attend, we provide a handout with the information that will be covered. Your children have made it through the first week with flying colors. The children have been very cooperative and eager to learn. Please feel free to send in a water bottle so they have water available to sip throughout the day. The students have been learning routines such as walking in a line, unpacking their belongings, buying milk and school lunch, recess and dismissal procedures etc. The children have been participating in fire drills. We have read books, sung songs, played games, and made pictures. During these first few days, my main goal was to help children feel comfortable in our classroom and throughout our building. Next week, we will begin Unit 1 in Readers Workshop. The unit is called “We are Readers” and the focus is to help young children develop their identities as readers. Most children at this age “read” by remembering the story and using the pictures. During Readers Workshop, students have the opportunity to try to retell the stories that I have read to them by looking at the pictures and remembering what happened. I will be introducing eight sight words (I, like, a, is, me, the, be, we) for students to find and recognize in books. We gradually introduce eight sight words a month. Eventually (months from now) as children become proficient at recognizing sight words, then they begin to read words. We have talked about the cover of books, the titles, and the authors. Students can answer questions about the stories read to them. When you read with your child, it would be helpful to track the print from left to right and ask your child what they think will happen next. The children will be learning to make predictions to stories. In Writers Workshop, students are learning to write their names on the top of the page and draw what their thinking. For most students, teachers write down their ideas and may write out a label on their pictures. Students will work towards writing down a letter that represents a sound they hear. We have talked about the alphabet and have explained that each letter has a corresponding sound. Students are not expected to know the corresponding sounds for each letter (this fall we will concentrate on identifying the letters and their corresponding sounds). The following letters will be covered in the next few weeks: t, b, f, n, m, i, u, c, o, a, and g. Focus will be placed on forming lower case letters. In the next week or so, we will be talking about writing names using an upper case letter and lower case letters. This takes time if your child is writing their name in all capital letters. In September, the following math concepts will be covered. Lessons will include counting to 100, positional words (above, under, below, beside, in front of, behind, next to). We will also introduce the concept of measurement so that students can determine which object is smaller, larger, heavier, lighter, longer, shorter, taller and so on. We provide many opportunities for students to count orally during calendar time and while taking attendance. On white boards, students have been practicing writing numbers. In the next few weeks, I will be meeting with students individually and giving assessments. I will be asking students to identify upper and lower case letters and checking to see if they can give the corresponding letter sound. This takes some time to meet with each child separately. This information will help guide my instruction to meet individual students’ needs. I will be sharing this information with you during our October parent/teacher conferences. I look forward to seeing everyone on Curriculum Night. Have you completed the PTO directory information form ? This form includes your contact information that will be published for all KES families. This is how families contact other families for play dates and birthday party invitations, etc. See you soon! Kathy Sullivan with Ms. G. & Mrs. Buzzi Important Dates to remember: Sept. 4th –Labor Day-No School Sept. 5th –PTO Gift Wrap fundraiser begins today. Sept. 12th-Voting in the School-Lunch in the classroom. Sept. 13th-Curriculum Night-Grades K-2 at 6:45-8:00, Grades 3 & 4 at 6:00-7:15 Sept. 20st-School Picture Day-information will be sent home separately to families Sept. 22nd -Minimum Day for students-dismissal at 1:05 Sept. 22nd –PTO Gift Wrap Fundraiser ends today-please turn in ALL orders Sept. 26th-PTO Meeting at 7:00 in library Oct. 6th-First Friday Family Read at 9:00-9:30-Come read with your child Oct. 9th-No School-Columbus Day Oct. 18th-Minimum Day-dismissal at 1:05 Oct. 25th -Minimum Day-dismissal at 1:05-Parent Teacher Conferences Oct. 26th –Minimum Day-dismissal at 1:05-Parent Teacher Conferences August 30 2017
Dear Families, Happy first day of kindergarten! Today we had a great day. We made a special project for you, did some drawing, read a story, and got to know all of our classmates. I look forward to seeing you again at our Curriculum Night, September 13th. Below you will find some important information concerning our classroom. Dismissal Procedure-If your child is not following their regular dismissal routine, it is your responsibility to inform us (send in a note in your child’s folder) with that day’s dismissal instructions. There is a dismissal form that can be downloaded from our website (www.rsd17.org click on schools then Killingworth Elementary, look under School Publication & Important Information to locate the KES dismissal form). Bags or Backpacks-Please have your child bring a full size backpack to school every day. Backpacks should be labeled with your child’s name in a very visible location. Please check your child’s backpack daily. Important information will be in your child’s folder. The folder that came home today should be checked and returned to school daily. If you need to send in a note, please place it in the folder. Please send notes that are no smaller than a half size sheet of paper. Smaller notices are easily lost or overlooked accidentally. Extra Clothes-Please send a change of clothes to school in a labeled Ziploc bag. Spare clothes need to be updated as the seasons change and as your child grows. Labels-Please put your child’s name in coats, sweaters, boots, mittens, lunch boxes, and other personal belongings. Yellow rain slickers, jean jackets, and Red Sox sweatshirts all look alike! Milk-Kindergarten students may purchase milk for sixty cents during our lunch time. Please place the money in a change purse, envelope or bag inside your child’s lunch box. Lunch-Kindergarten students may purchase lunch for $3.00. There is a calendar provided for each month. This calendar describes what is offered. Breakfast-There is a breakfast snack available for $2.00. Please see the corresponding calendar. Money-Any time your child brings money to school please send it in a labeled and sealed envelope or Ziploc bag. Loose change is easily lost. Milk money should be placed in the lunch boxes. It is easier this way. Recess-We will go out for recess as long as the weather is good. As the weather becomes cooler, please be certain your child dresses appropriately. Party Treats-Birthdays are a very exciting time in the life of a kindergartner. You are welcome to send in treats to school for your child to pass out. It is important to avoid nuts due to allergies. Please do not send invitations to school to be distributed unless all are invited. This will ease hurt feelings. Snacks-Please send in two small, separate snacks (simple, not messy) in labeled Ziploc bags (label one bag AM and the other PM with your child’s name). Reusable cloth bags are fine too. We will have two snack times. We do not have a refrigerator. Please do not pack snacks in your child’s lunch box. Special Schedule I have included a list of the days in which we have specials. Please be reminded to send your child to school on gym day with sneakers. I hope this letter has answered a few of your questions. If you have any questions or concerns please get in touch with me at school at 860-663-1121 between 8:20-8:30 or leave a message in my voicemail. I will return your call at my first available moment. My email address is ksullivan@rsd17.org and I usually check it every morning around nine. Kindergarten is an exciting time in your child’s life. I am really looking forward to our year together. Sincerely, Mrs. Sullivan with Ms. G. Mrs. Sullivan’s Kindergarten Special Schedule Monday-Music Tuesday- Gym Wednesday- Rotates (library, gym, music) Thursday-Library Friday-Art Your child should wear sneakers every Tuesday & Wednesday
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October 2019
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