January 6, 2017 Newsletter

Dear Parents,

Happy 2017!  I hope you are enjoying the New Year and the wintery weather!  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.

The students have made chubby little snowmen and decorated snowmen to go along with Lois Ehlert's book, Snowballs.  They have finished working on two class big books about snowmen and what they wear in the snow.  These books will start circulating 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 will start 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 will be starting our second unit in Fundations next week and will begin tapping out words.  We will also 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 have also begun learning about sea life in preparation for our trip to the New England Aquarium on January 31st.  Information about this trip will go home next week.  Please let us know if you are interested in chaperoning for this field trip.  I will only be able to take a limited number of chaperones so I will pick names from a hat if necessary.  Please be sure to complete a CORI now, if you are interested.  It takes a couple of weeks to process.

We will be having our Fish Day on Friday, January 27th.  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 from 9-10:15am.  If you are available and interested in helping, please let me know so I can put you on the schedule.

Scholastic Book orders are due next Friday, January 13th.  They went home in the students’ blue folders yesterday.  The information for ordering online is at the top of the front page.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Melanie Duncan

PS… 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 twenty 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!