April Newsletter

I can't believe April is here already & what's even more surprising.........there are only 37 days of school left until summer vacation!! We have a very busy end of school coming up with lots of activities & field trips scheduled. Many of the field trips involve walking to local community places, so please be sure your child wears comfortable walking shoes & dresses for the weather of the day. If the weather is cold, please send a jacket!! So far, the Erie Zoo trip is the only one scheduled so be watching for updates on the other trips.
- Farm Field trip - not yet scheduled - bring an old pair of shoes
- Erie Zoo trip - May 27
- Knox Post Office - not yet scheduled - permission slips coming soon
- Knox Public Library - not yet scheduled - permission slips coming soon
- Knox Fire Company - not yet scheduled
Academically, please practice & reinforce the following skills at home. These are the areas I will be checking during the final grading period:
- listens to directions & then follows them promptly
- works independently
- recites the alphabet in sequence (say the letters not sing them)
- knows all 26 uppercase & lowercase letters & their beginning sounds
- knows all sight words (practice these every night!!)
- writes & recognizes numbers 0 - 20 & counts to 100
- names penny, nickel, dime, & quarter
- knows phone number starting with area code
- knows 911 address
- tells time to the hour
- large motor skills include walking on the balance beam - bounce/catch ball - gallop - skip - hop - fine motor skills include zipping - button - tie my shoe - improved cutting & coloring
Another area to focus on when helping your child is "KidWriting". Ask your child to illustrate a picture & write a sentence or 2 about their picture. When they finish, go over the sentence(s) & print adult words directly below their "kid" word. Finally, make sure their sentence(s) begin with a capital letter & end with the correct punctuation. KidWriting is a very important skill - please continue to practice this skill throughout the summer vacation!!!

March Newsletter

The school year is moving along rapidly & I find it hard to believe your children have completed over 114 days of school! Recently, you may have heard that Mrs. Finotti was gone for "lots" of days. My husband & I traveled to southwest FL last week to spend time visiting with family & soaking up the 70 degree weather. It was a heavenly change from our cold PA weather!!! While at the beach, we collected all kinds of shells to make surprise bags for my kiddos - ask your child to show you their shell bag.

This week we are celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement & creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated & spend more time reading do better in school. On Tuesday, we had special Kindergarten readers - thanks to Mr. Dan Williams for stopping by to read some pretty cool stories to our class as well as the other 4 Kindergarten classrooms! On Thursday, we visited the SMILES Center for a "Seuss-irific" Celebration. The children participated in some great science experiments, listened to a story read to them by the Cat in the Hat, spent time in the Seussville Sports Arena & had some quiet time for reading on their own. Thank you SMILES, for a super morning filled with loads of fun activities!!! A great time was had by all!

In a few weeks, we'll have a new student teacher joining our class. Ms. Dawn Reddinger from Clarion University will be spending the next 8 weeks learning all about Kindergarten.

The 3rd grading period ends March 31st. Please continue practicing sight word cards attached to your child's folder every night. 4 new word cards will be added to the folder rings next week. Other skills to practice at home: saying first, middle, & last name - recognizing/writing numbers through 20 - counting to 50 - identify ordinal numbers first to fifth place - know your phone number - make sure your child can zip, button, & snap, & finally... please start practicing how to tie shoes.

We'll be celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Wednesday, March 17th. We'll center our day around some "green" activities. I plan on providing a green drink to go along with our snack. Also, on that day, the children may:

• wear the color green
• bring something "green" for Show & Tell
• bring a green treat (green grapes, celery, peppers, broccoli, green sugar-free Jello Jigglers, etc). If you plan to provide a treat, please keep in mind the school's nutrition policy. Also, please send a note to let me know if your child is bringing a Snack treat. (If any type of candy, pop, or baked goods are sent to school, they will be returned with your child.) Treats may be dropped off in the Office on the 17th or may be sent in with your child on that day.

Other dates to keep in mind for this month.......

1. March 10 - parents w/a child entering Kindergarten next Fall will meet at 7PM in the gym
2. March 11 - Gym Show
3. March 14 - Daylight Savings time begins
4. March 16 - Good Touch Bad Touch Program - afternoon
5. March 17 - High School Musical Assembly - time TBA
6. March 23, 24 & 25 - new Kindergarten student registration appointments
7. March 30 - grading period #3 ends
8. March 31 - Make-up Day - yes, school is in session

If you would like to schedule a conference, please contact me. And as always... thanks for all your help & support, everything you do at home helps your child do & be their best in school!

January

We are off to a great start since coming back from the long, long Christmas vacation! Our second grading period ends on the 20th with report cards following on the 27st. We are almost halfway through our Kindergarten school year!!! The K1 Kids "lost" their yellow cards last week - be sure to ask your child what this means.

We will also be starting a new incentive program soon at the begnning of the 2nd semester. Each day, your child will earn a "ticket" if he/she doesn't flip any cards. At the end of the day (or the next morning -time permitting), we'll draw 1 ticket & the winner picks something special to do for the next day. I won't be telling them about this program until 1/22, but anytime after that you can ask your child to tell you about the special "things"!!

Also, coming up in February, we'll be starting a 10 week program titled "2 Good 4 Drugs" presented by the Clarion County Drug & Alcohol Administration. Additionally, in early February, we'll celebrate our 100th Day of School ............. more info about these activities will follow.

Finally, academic skill areas to focus attention on at home for the upcoming 3rd grading period include: reciting the full names (first, middle, & last), saying the alphabet in sequence as well as their phone number, counting outloud to 50, identifing ordinal numbers first to fifth place, & visually recognizing numbers 0 - 20, naming ABC letters & sounds taught to date (Aa, Nn, Dd, Ss, Mm, Ii, Tt, Cc, Oo, Ff, Rr, Pp, Ll, & Uu upper/lower case) as well as all the colored sight word cards (the - a - my - that - and - I - is - said - & the following words not yet on their rings..... we - are - you - have) attached to your child's folder. Please continue reading the take-home books over & over & over!! I ask the children to read them 3 times to someone at home, but it shouldn't end there. If they struggle with reading, they need more practice & should read their book more than just 3 times. I strongly suggest you save the books & read over a couple of them each evening to help your child review what they know. Be sure to "track" each word with a finger & remember.......... practice makes perfect!!!

Motor skills (Large & Small) to practice include: walking on a balance beam, hopping, galloping, & bounce/catch a ball 5 times. zipping, buttoning & more improved coloring & cutting skills.

Lastly, remember the upcoming Book Fair from 1/20 - 27 & the scheduled Act 80 Day on 1/18 - NO SCHOOL for kids on that day.

December

It is hard to believe we've been in school a little over 3 months or as the children will tell you - 61 days!!! Time has just flown by & I hope you are seeing the fruits of our labor!!
We have been working very hard visually recognizing/writing numbers to 10, counting to 30, learning ordinal terms to 10 (first, second, third, up thru tenth), recognizing/learning sight word flash cards on our folders (the - a - my - that - and - I - is - said ....& soon we'll be adding 4 new words: we - are - you - have), recognizing/learning the sounds of letters taught ( Aa - Nn - Dd - Ss - Mm & Ii), & reciting the alphabet in sequence. These skills are all critical areas to focus on at home.
The second grading period midterm is Dec. 9th, so that means we are about 5 weeks away from our next report card.
I am sending home 3 letters today - look for information about the Christmas party/gift exchange, Polar Express Day, & a note about boots in your child's folder. Just in case they don't reach you, I will post each letter on this web page under the heading "Classroom News".
Important December dates to keep in mind:
- 10th is K1's Santa's Workshop Day
- 16th is Ms. Stegich's last day
- 18th is the Kindergarten Polar Express Pajama Day
- 22nd is our classroom Christmas Party
- 23rd is the last day of school before Christmas vacation - on that day, we'll be having a 2 hour early dismissal so please plan accordingly.

November

This month we are doing lots (and lots) of things with numbers. We have been practicing reading, writing, & ordering numbers 0 - 5 and will soon add numbers 6 - 10. This grading period we will be counting out loud to 30 as well as practicing visual recognition & writing numbers to 10. You can help at home by practicing/reviewing these skill areas.
Other skills to practice are: reciting the ABC's in sequence, identifying right & left, visually recognizing the upper & lower case letters covered so far this year, & practicing the word cards attached to your child's folder. These word cards should be practiced daily!!
Please continue to sign & return the little Reading take-home books each week. We read the book together several times in class. As a homework assignment, everyone is to read to "3" at home & get signatures of everyone they read to. An important part of the assignment is remembering to bring the signed take-home book back to school the next day. Please remind your child to put their "signed" book back into their folder. When the book returns home again (w/a sticker to show I've seen it), please continue to practice reading it throughout the weeks. It is very helpful to have your child place their pointer finger on each word as they read it.
Now that colder weather is heading our way, please practice with your child so they are able to zip, button, or snap their own coat. Practice makes perfect, so work at this until they are successful. One other reminder, please label all boots, hats, & mittens/gloves; often when I hold up lost items..................no one wants to claim them!!
Finally, I've been really busy helping the children understand how it is not Mom or Dad's fault when they forget to bring Library books, take-home Reading books, or etc. to school on the designated day........ maybe you've been hearing this story at home. You would be surprised how parents get blamed when their child forgets something!! I kindly remind them it is their folder, their backpack, or their Library book (not Mom or Dad's), so it is also their responsibility to put needed books & papers inside to be returned to school. Yes, they are only 5 or 6, but teaching responsibility is a necessary lesson & ultimately will help you!! Please support this important concept & reinforce it at home.

September in K1

We are working very hard learning how to be good listeners & follow directions. To help the children learn about acceptable behavior, the Kindergarten teachers use a flip card Behavior Chart. I explained the details about the Behavior/Citizenship Chart at our Back-2-School Nite & plan to do a blog entry about the Behavior Chart in a week or so when I am ready to start using it in our classroom.
We are also practicing how to write our names. At this point, I am not concerned as to whether the children are using all caps or a combination of caps & small letters to write their names. One academic goal for the first grading period is to print your first name. By December & after we've had time to cover some of the lowercase alphabet letters, I will expect the children to start writing their names with a capital at the beginning and small letters for the rest of their name. If your child is unable to write his/her first name, please begin practicing with them at home for 5 - 10 minutes each evening. You may teach them either way - all capital letters or first letter capital & the rest of the letters in lower case letters.
A 2nd academic goal for the first grading period is to count to 20. It would be helpful if you & your child practice counting things at home. Possible ideas for things to count: number of doors, windows, stairs, or chairs in your house, bites it takes to eat an apple, a cookie, or a bowl of cereal, or counting the number of shoes in your closet. There are so many things a child can count - the ideas are endless.
Finally, some other academic goals your child we be working to accomplish this first grading period are: reciting the alphabet, recognizing upper & lower case letters that have been taught as well as their sounds, recognizing & naming 8 colors, holding & using scissors correctly to cut on a line, and coloring inside the lines as well as filling in all white "ghosty" spaces.
To help your child progess & gain self-confidence about their school work, you can help at home by practicing these skill areas.