North Tama Kindergarten News 2005 - 2006

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

March 31, 2006

March 31, 2006

Dear Families,

We have enjoyed working on the letter Xx this week. (Can you believe that we have only 1 letter left to learn?) The kindergartners made x-ray books and read the booklet Pug. The numbers 0 - 30 were reviewed. We learned one new word this week, he. This week we worked more on the short e sound. On Tuesday we went to Farmers Savings Bank. Centers included tangrams, a coloring activity, butterflies, working with Smarties, bingo, legos, and music on a tape.

Next week we will finish learning about the letters in the alphabet. Sharing needs to be an item that begins with the letter Zz. If you are having trouble thinking of a Zz item, think about the zoo. After Zz week, sharing will be free choice for the rest of the year.

Report cards went home this week. Conferences are not scheduled for this quarter. If you have a question or concern about your child’s report card, you are welcome to set up a conference.

Grandparent’s Day has been scheduled for Thursday, May 18th and Friday, May 19th. Grandparents or special adult friends are invited for a short program and delicious snacks. Grandparents may come either of those days. Families can schedule one set to come one day, and one set to come another day. Both sets of grandparents may come on the same day. Official invitations will go home later.

Please help your child get his/her library book here on Mondays. It is harder to get new books on Tuesdays because the teachers are busy working with the students.

Remember, it is always a good idea to have an extra shirt, pair of pants, and underwear in the backpack or in a sack that is kept in the cubby. Boys and girls dump milk on their clothes, fall in the mud, and have bathroom accidents. If your child does have a problem here at school and needs different clothes, we do have extras. These borrowed pieces of clothing need to be washed and returned as soon as possible!

Since the weather can be so inconsistent during the spring, it is hard to know how to dress children for school. It is fine to put cooler or warmer clothing in their bags and have them change if necessary. Please send jackets or sweatshirts to school. When we go out for a morning recess the temperature tends be cooler. If it is warm enough to go outside without coats, then coats are left in cubbies.

Have an exciting weekend!

Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Owens, Mrs. Herink
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May Dates to Remember
May 1st - 5th- Round Up! Kindergartners have the week off.
May 18th and 19th - Grandparent’s Day
May 25 - Last day of school (for now!)

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

March 24, 2006

March 24, 2006

Dear Families,

This week we were busy learning about the letter Bb. The kindergartners talked about what they would like to do when they get bigger. We also learned about bears and made Bb booklets. We read two more booklets: Tom is Sick and Fun in the Sun. The kindergartners learned the word for. Centers included making balloon booklets, bead bracelets, bingo, journaling, building with mega blocks and Lincoln Logs, books, and the dramatic play house.

Check with your child on the condition of his/her glue stick and crayons. Many need replacing, and we have very few borrowing glue sticks left!

Our brief spring break will be around the Easter holiday. Students will be dismissed ONE HOUR EARLY ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12TH. There will be no school for students on Thursday, April 13th. (The teachers get to have meetings that day.) Spring break continues on Friday, April 14th and Monday, April 17th. We will return together on Tuesday April 18th. While home for spring break, boys and girls could practice reading, identifying pennies, dimes, and nickels and their values, counting by tens, and counting by fives.

We now have officially scheduled Grandparents/Guest Days on the calendar. The dates are Thursday, May 18th and Friday, May 19th. Kindergartners may invite their grandparents to school during the afternoon on one of those days for a short program and refreshments. If your kindergartner does not have a grandparent that can attend, then any grown up guest will be fine. More information and official invitations will be sent home later.

Tuesday, March 21st was the end of the third quarter of school. It is hard to believe that there is only one quarter left! We continued to work on report card jobs. Report cards will come home on Tuesday, March 28th.

Next Tuesday, March 28th, the kindergartners get to go to Farmers Savings Bank. While there the boys and girls will learn about the different jobs bank workers do.

Next week we learn about the letter Xx. Not many items start with Xx so sharing is free choice.

Have an beautiful weekend!

Mrs. Herink, Mrs. Howard and Mrs. Owens

(Mrs. Howard has a new home phone number. She can be reached at 478-2844.)

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

March 16, 2006

March 16, 2006

Dear Families,

We had a great week learning about the letter Gg! (However, we are grateful it is gone!!!) We read and learned about St. Patrick’s Day. Mary McLean, one of our school’s secretaries, read the book called Mary McLean and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade to us. The kindergartners learned the word go and read the booklet Nap in a Lap. We finally officially learned the sound for Ee. The boys and girls had a great time reading and acting out the story The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The students made Gg booklets. We did not have centers this week since we don’t have school on Friday.

Don’t forget about the Fine Arts Festival tonight, March 16th! A note about this event went home earlier this week.

The third quarter will end on Tuesday, March 21st. We have been working on evaluations for the report cards. Report cards are scheduled to go home on Tuesday, March 28th.

Next week we will begin learning about the letter Bb. Sharing for next week should be an item that starts with the letter Bb.

Many families are wondering if snowpants and boots are still needed. We do need snowpants and boots when there is snow on the ground. We need boots if there is mud on the ground. If unsure, send the boots. We will have the students wear the boots if needed. If they do not need to wear the boots, then the boots just stay on the red rug. That is not a problem.

Families may still send in stuffed animals to be donated to children that have to stay in the hospital. Many stuffed animals have already been donated!

We hope you have a good weekend!!!

Mrs. Herink
Mrs. Howard
Mrs. Owens

Monday, March 06, 2006

March 10, 2006

March 10, 2006

Dear Families,

We learned about the letter Kk. Two animals that we read about were kangaroos and koalas. The kindergartners learned that the letter combination ck is found at the end of words, and it has the same sound as k. It was fun reading stories with kings in them, pretending we were kings, and writing in our journals. Centers included letter evaluation, kites, a kite color word worksheet, word Bingo, blocks, journaling, and books.

Next week we will be learning about the letter Gg. For sharing children need to bring something that begins with a Gg. (Grandparents are welcome to be sharing. If the grandparent cannot be at school at 11:30 during our regular sharing time, please call one of the teachers and set up a time that is good for everyone. Later on, usually in May, we will be having a Grandparent’s Day so if the grandparent isn’t available next week, don’t worry!) The Friday sharing students may bring their sharing any day next week since we do not have school on Friday, March 17th.

The Fine Arts Festival is a wonderful event that features special projects produced by students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The Fine Arts Festival will be held on Thursday, March 16th from 6:30 - 9:00. The Fine Arts Festival is held in the multi-purpose room, the lunchroom, and the gym. There’s more information about the Fine Art’s Festival in the Elementary Newsletter that was sent home earlier.

Soon this 3rd nine weeks will be over. We have been working hard on evaluating the students for their report cards. Some of the skills that you can practice at home are counting to 75, identifying numbers through 25, counting items to a specific number up to 25 correctly, identifying left and right, the days of the week, the months of the year, addresses and phone numbers, recognizing the letters learned so far, recognizing rhyming words, identifying pennies, nickels, and dimes and their values, counting to 100 by tens and fives, and associating the sounds to the consonants learned so far.

The Iowa winter weather is so unpredictable! Boots are still a good idea because our kindergartners are known to find the mud. Their shoes and our room’s floor stay cleaner when the kindergartners wear their boots. The boys and girls that do not bring boots are required to stay off the grass and out of the snow and mud.

Do you have an abundance of stuffed animals at your house? The 4th Annual Melissa Babinat Memorial Stuffed Animal Drive is happening during the month of March. Families may donate stuffed animals by bringing them to school. The stuffed animals are then donated to a children’s hospital. The North Tama National Honor Society is sponsoring this event.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Owens, and Mrs. Herink

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

March 3, 2006

March 3, 2006

Dear Families,

During Pp week we acted out the story The Three Little Pigs. They liked hearing Mr. Foster read The Principal’s New Clothes and The Principal from the Black Lagoon. We learned about the Presidents. Thursday was Dr. Suess’s 101st birthday, and we celebrated by working on a Cat in the Hat activity with the fourth graders. Centers included painting, counting and patterning, the Pizza Palace, giant floor puzzles, a pet paper, pattern blocks, and legos.

This week we did not learn a new word. We did review the words we already learned. We did work in the workbooks at sounding out easy short vowel words. The booklet Mud Fun was read and sent home. Do not panic if your child seems to take longer to learn the words. Each child learns at a different pace, and some children need to practice more than others. We will keep working here at school. It does help if you keep practicing at home. There is homework this week. Check it out!

Next week we will be studying the letter Kk. For sharing boys and girls need to bring something that begins with the letter Kk.

Remember that Kindergarten Roundup is scheduled for the week of May 1st. The current kindergartners will not be coming to school at all that week so that we can get to know the future kindergartners and their families. Students will not have school on Friday, March 17th so that the teachers can attend many important meetings. Please mark your calendars!

We have several children with summer birthdays that would like to celebrate their birthday during this school year. If you have one of those children, we can arrange a day for them to celebrate. It is a big deal to them because they get to be the leader that day and have the birthday song sung to them. Let us know in a note if your family would like to pick a day. We like to arrange these ahead of time so that we don’t put two on the same day!

We hope that your weekend is perfect!

Mrs. Howard
Mrs. Owens
Mrs. Herink