January 25, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have been busy preparing for our trip to the New England Aquarium!  We will be going next Thursday, January 31st.  Thank you in advance to our chaperones Mrs. Lewandowski, Mrs. Shaw, and Mr. Carlson.  Chaperones should plan to meet us in the classroom by 8:40am and will be riding on the bus with us.  If you haven’t paid the $7 to cover the cost of the trip, please do so on Monday.  More information about the trip and what students will need will go home next week but to give you a heads up...students will need a completely disposable bagged lunch and drink.  We will also eat a quick snack before leaving the school.

The students finished their “House for Hermit Crab” books this week and many of them have already read them to the class and have brought them home.  Students have also worked on labeling important parts of fish and have been working on sight words and rhyming words.  We have also been learning a little about Arctic animals and are plugging away at subtraction in math.

We are looking forward to our Fish Day on Friday, February 1st.  Students will get to visit all the Kindergarten classrooms to make different fish projects.  We could still use a couple more volunteers if anyone is free from 9-10am that day.

I will be putting the February volunteer calendar together early next week.  Please let me know which day(s) you would like to volunteer if you are able to do so and I will plug you into the calendar.  We will be working a little more on a persuasive writing project during the month of February so we won’t need volunteers every day but the regular time is from 10:10-10:55am.

We will be celebrating the 100th day of school on Wednesday, February 13th!  We will do some fun projects and will be doing a lot of counting that day!  Students are invited to bring in 100 non-edible items from home in a labeled baggie so they can practice counting them in school.  All objects will be returned afterwards.  Students are welcome to bring in their collections anytime between now and February 13th.  Some suggestions include:  beads, toothpicks, paperclips, buttons, crayons, Q-tips, etc.

We will be celebrating Valentine’s Day on Thursday, February 14th by passing out valentines.  Please don’t attach any candy or other edible items to the valentines.  If you would like to send something, pencils or stickers make great alternatives to food.  I will send home a list of students’ names next week that students may use to write out their valentines.  Students can also bring a special snack from home to eat in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day.  They will need a morning snack and an afternoon snack.  All snack items need to be nut-free.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Melanie

January 18, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

The children are certainly learning quite a bit about sea life!  Their aquariums are on the back wall and they have made octopuses and sea turtles and have learned many interesting facts about them both.  You should ask them how many legs an octopus has and about where the sea turtle lays her eggs! 

We are getting excited to go to the Aquarium on Thursday, January 31st.  More information about the trip and what the students will need will be going home the day before we go.  They will need a disposable drink and lunch.  We will eat snacks before leaving the school.  If you have not sent the $7 to cover the cost of the trip, please send it in as soon as possible.  It should be a fun trip!

We will be having our Fish Day on Friday, February 1st.  Students will get to travel to all the different Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish and other sea creature projects.  Thank you in advance to those who have offered to volunteer.  We could still use a couple more volunteers.  Volunteers should plan to be here from 9-10:00am and should check in at the office first.

We had a whole-school assembly today in the gym.  The focus was on showing Outstanding Effort and Acts of Kindness.  Ms. P. from the Burlington Science Center talked about being kind to animals and shared about how she took care of an abandoned owlet found in the middle of the road.  (She named him Eddison).  She took care of him and trained him and actually brought him to the assembly for us to watch and learn about him.  The students enjoyed watching Eddison swoop over the heads of students and teachers!

Progress reports went home today.  Our next scheduled conference isn’t until April but if you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  We could either talk over the phone or we could set up a conference in the classroom.  The blue progress report folders do need to be returned.  You can keep the actual progress report.

The students continue to write in their journals.  We continually encourage them to write on their own in their best guess spelling and not to be afraid to make a mistake.  We will be starting a unit on persuasive writing.  The students will try to convince our science center to give us a class pet!  We will be talking a lot about features of good persuasive writing. 

We have been practicing our letters and numbers but it never hurts to have them practice at home too. The more they write numbers 0-20, the easier and more natural they will become.  The teen numbers are particularly challenging so those are great numbers to practice.  We have are currently working on subtracting in math.  We spent a lot of time this week practicing our addition and subtraction fluency facts.  I would encourage you to continue working with your children on them at home.

We will start our guided reading program next week.  Guided reading enables children to practice reading strategies with the teacher's support in small groups.  This is just the beginning.  It helps your children become more and more comfortable with text.  It’s amazing how far they have already come since September!

There has been a lot of sickness going around lately.  Our school nurse wants to emphasize the importance of good hand washing and hygiene.  If your child has a fever, just a reminder that they have to be fever-free for 24-hours without medicine before returning to school.

There is no school on Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Have a great long weekend!

Enjoy all the snow and stay safe!

Melanie Duncan

PS...We will be going to the library on Wednesday.

January 11, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

We have begun our unit on sea life in preparation for our trip to the New England Aquarium on Thursday, January 31st.  Please don’t forget to send in the $7 to cover the cost of the trip.  Checks can be made payable to Burlington Public Schools.  I will try to confirm chaperones by the beginning of next week.

We will be having our Annual Fish Day on Friday, February 1st.  Students will get to visit other Kindergarten classrooms to complete various fish projects.  We will need extra help that day.  The volunteer time will be around 9-10:15am.  If you are available and interested in helping, please let me know so I can put you on the schedule.

The children made their own aquarium scenes, which look amazing hanging on our back wall. They are also working on an innovation of Eric Carle's, A House for Hermit Crab.  We have been learning many neat facts about fish too!

The students continue to write in their journals and practice writing the lowercase letters. We also just started practicing uppercase letters too. Although the children are more familiar and comfortable with these, we are spending quite a bit of time making sure they are forming the letters correctly. We encourage the children to use more lowercase letters in their names.  We just started learning how to “tap out” words to read.  The students are doing very well with this! 

We have also been working more with syllables this week and have started doing more with sight words.  The list of sight words went home before vacation in the reading packet I sent home.  Please be sure to practice these words with your child often so they become more familiar.  A memory game may work well  (only use 10-15 words at a time) and be sure to look for these words on signs, around the house, in books, etc.  The more students read and write these words, the more automatic they will become! 

I will be sending some addition fluency fact cards home with students on Monday.  Students should cut them out and practice them at home so they can answer each math fact quickly (the goal is less than 3 seconds each).  Students should not write the answers on the cards so that they can reuse them again and again.

The Francis Wyman Used Bookstore will be open this Wednesday, January 16th.  Students are welcome to bring in 25 cents to buy a book or bring in a used book from home to trade for another book.  This is completely optional.

Have a great weekend!

Melanie

January 4, 2019 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Happy 2019!  I hope you are enjoying the start of our New Year!  It didn't take the children long to get back into a routine after their vacation.  They have been busy, as usual, and have been working very hard.  Although, I have to admit, the three-day week was a nice way to transition back!

The students have made chubby little snowmen and decorated snowmen to go along with Lois Ehlert's book, Snowballs.  They have worked on two class big books about snowmen and what they wear in the snow.  These books will start circulating to students’ homes next week.  Please be sure to return all class books as soon as possible so we can send them home to different families!  The students have also written in their journals (we now encourage them to write a whole sentence) and have illustrated poetry.  We have been focusing more on sight words and have started playing a sight word memory game.  I would encourage you to work with your children on the sight words at home too for extra practice.

We have started our second unit in Fundations and have learned how to “tap out” words.  We will start practicing the uppercase letters soon.  The Fundations sheets I will send home next week and will continue to send home are for students to practice with at home.  They don’t have to come back to school, although it’s fine if they do.

We will start learning about sea life in preparation for our trip to the New England Aquarium on Thursday, January 31st.  Information about this trip will go home next week. 

A few other reminders:

There will be a Francis Wyman Used Bookstore on Wednesday, January 16th.  Students are welcome to bring either a quarter or a book from home to trade.

Please have your child bring in snow gear: boots, gloves or mittens, and hats.  When there is snow…the children will not be allowed to play in the snow without snow pants and boots.  The office informs us each day whether or not it is too cold to go outside so it is always wise to be prepared each day with warm clothes.  Boots are helpful even if it is wet outside.  It would also be very helpful if you could have your child practice zipping his/her jacket, putting on his/her snow pants and boots, and keeping all gloves or mittens tucked safely in a sleeve or pocket.  You can probably imagine the challenge that it is to get 16 Kindergarten students all suited up for outdoor recess in the wintertime!  It is also helpful to write your child’s name on each piece of clothing so they can be returned to them if they get lost.  Thank you!

We will be going to the library on Wednesday.  Please return your child’s library book by then.

Melanie