Kindergarten Newsletter for May 8-12th

Here’s what’s coming up for next week…    

· Our theme for next week is Eric Carle and Time/Clocks.

· Our new word wall word is “of”.  We now know the following words:  I, like, see, a, is, the, can, my, and, have, go, to, has, am, look, are, saw, went, with, up, they, do, but, said, will, come, was, would & there.

· Spring Pictures are due.  Please complete one of the three options:

-Purchase the entire package

-Purchase the sheets that you want and return the rest

-Return the complete portrait package

© CALLING ALL MOMS!!!!!!  We will have our Annual Mother’s Day Spa on Friday, May 12^th.  PLEASE plan to be here for the first 1½ hours on Friday, at the start of your child’s day.  (8:15-9:30 a.m for AM Kinder & 11:45– 12:45 p.m for PM Kinder)  You will be pampered and loved on!!!!  Plan for your nails to be painted and your shoulders to be massaged!  If you are UNable to come, please try to send someone else in your place (ie. grandma, aunt, etc.), as we want to make sure every child has a mother or loved-one to pamper. 

  · Bandaids are needed in kindergarten. We use them up very quickly. If you can donate a box, we would appreciate it. Thank you.

   · Third Trimester Progress Reports will be sent home next week. Only students performing below grade level will receive a progress report. Please be sure to read the end of this newsletter where we have outlined what is expected of your child by the end of kindergarten.

· Writing—We are starting a new writing topic for this month.  Because it’s our last month of Kindergarten, we want everyone to think about all of the previous writing jobs we’ve had and try to incorporate DIFFERENT things to write about!  We are encouraging using number words this month!  Our goal is to have the kids choose one topic and elaborate on it, really describing it in detail with at LEAST 3 complete sentences.  Practice, practice, practice!!!!

· Important dates to remember—There are many upcoming dates to remember.  May is JAM- PACKED, full of activities and dates to remember…

·        May 12^th: Mother’s Day Spa in Kindergarten

·   May 12^th: Principal’s Movie Night 5-7pm

·   May 8-12^th: Teacher Appreciation Week

·  May 22^nd: Running Club awards

·        May 24^th: Safety Day

·        May 25^th: Jog-a-Thon

·        May 26^th & May 29^th: No School for Memorial Day Weekend

·        June 2^nd: Father’s Day in Kindergarten

·        June 7^th: Honor Roll/Perfect Attendance Assembly

·        June 7^th – HAWAIIAN DAY IN Kindergarten

• June 8^th: Kindergarten Slideshows at the beginning of class
  
  
• June 9th: Last Day of School/Minimum Day for ALL Kindergarteners (11:35a.m dismissal)

• Reading Eggs!!!  Once your child enters the First Grade, you will no longer have this program.  Please continue to log onto Reading Eggs at least 3x a week and use it to help reinforce our standards.

·        Typing FUN!  Dance Mat Typing is a very child friendly, FREE, colorful, FUN typing tutor program available online that we have used.    Here is the link to cut & paste…  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/levels/level1.shtml

End of Kindergarten Standards to be considered ON grade level:

Third Trimester PROGRESS REPORTS are going home next week. These are meant to give you a general overview of how your kindergartener is doing right now. The next formal assessment will be report cards in June.

• In order to be ON grade level in READING, your child needs to have ALL of the following: at least 49-53 letter names (upper and lower case), 20-26 letter sounds, and at least 25-30 high frequency/sight words. If s/he is performing below what is expected at this time, s/he will receive an “N” in that subject area.

• In order to be ON grade level in MATH, your child needs to be able to identify out of order all numbers to 20, count in order to 100, and write numbers in order to at least 20. If s/he is performing below what is expected at this time, s/he will receive an “N” in that area.

• In HANDWRITING, your child needs to properly hold a pencil (pinch grip near the tip) and form all letters neatly & correctly from the top down. PRACTICE! PRACTICE!

• In WRITING and CONVENTIONS, although this very important area isn’t on the progress report, it IS on the report card. Practice in this area needs to happen everyday!!! In order for your child to receive an “S” in these areas, s/he must be writing…

• from left to right with two finger spaces between each word
• uppercase letter only at the beginning of each sentence; lowercase letters throughout the rest of the sentence
• spelling ALL word wall words correctly
• stretching out the beginning, middle, and end sounds of all other words
• writing AT LEAST 3 sentences on ONE topic that make sense

***Please understand that an “N” means s/he needs growth and has not YET mastered that skill. It is an indicator of what you can be working on at home with your child.

NOW is crunch time!!! Your child needs to know: ALL 54 letter names (upper and lower case, as well as fancy “g and a”), ALL 30 letter sounds (plus ch, sh, th, and wh), ALL 50 high frequency words, count aloud to 100 (by ones & tens), and write numbers in order to 20 within the next few weeks.

PLEASE help your child get a jump on meeting all of these end of the year standards!

Thank you again for all that you do at home to support your child’s learning.  We appreciate all that you do!  Please feel free to email with any concerns or questions!  Thank you!!

The Kindergarten Team

Mrs. Barnes:  sarahba@fsusd.org

Mrs. Barron:  erinba@fsusd.org

Mrs. Ron:  kimr@fsusd.org

Ms. Davila:  theresad@fsusd.org