Ms. Wood's Newsletter #2
Monday, August 17th - Friday, August 21st
💌Hello Kindergarten Families!🧸
We had such a wonderful start to Kindergarten last week! It has been so fun getting to know your children and watching new friendships form!
This week, we begin full school days from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. It will be an exciting and fun week, but be prepared for some tired kindergarteners as they adjust!
Please be sure to read each classroom newsletter completely so you don’t miss any important information or reminders!
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE FOLLOWING:
⌛Upcoming Events📆
AUGUST
Monday, August 17th - First Full Day of Kindergarten (8:00-3:30)
Tuesday, August 18th - Back to School Night (6-8pm)
SEPTEMBER
Wednesday, September 2nd - Formal Uniform
Thursday, September 3rd -Beginning of the Year - DIBELS Testing (Literacy)
Friday, September 4th - Dress of Choice
Monday, September 7th - NO SCHOOL (Labor Day)
Friday, September 19th - NO SCHOOL (Teacher Work Day)
🚨Important Classroom Reminders🚨
🎒Back to School Night🌃
Back to School Night is THIS Tuesday, August 18th from 6-8pm. Please come and hear all about how Kindergarten works this year in our classroom. The schedule for the evening is below. Kindergarten will be meeting in Mrs. Chism’s classroom, C-40.
***Please note that this is an adult-only evening.
🆘Home Volunteer Project⭐
I have a take home volunteer project to help prepare our IM Math and Skills Literacy curriculum workbooks for the school year. For each unit, volunteers will tear out workbook pages, sort matching lessons together, and staple or clip pages as needed. Detailed instructions and an example will be provided! You can take the project home and complete it on your own time!
If you are willing to help with one or more units, please use the sign up sheet below.
👪Parent Volunteer Form📎
Please fill out our Parent Volunteer google form if you are interested in volunteering at all this year!
🥪Lunch Reminder🍕
Please be sure to remind your student whether or not they are purchasing hot lunch in the cafeteria or if they have brought a cold lunch from home. This will greatly speed up the process of getting ready for lunch, and keep students from getting hot lunches that shouldn't. Thank you for your help with this! Also, you can click the link below to check the daily hot food choices.
🧥Jackets & Sweatshirts🥶
Some students mentioned feeling chilly in our classroom last week! If your child tends to get cold, it is a good idea to keep a sweater, sweatshirt, or light jacket in their backpack. Please remember that only SVA jackets or sweatshirts from the Hawk Shop or plain, solid blue, gray, black, or white sweaters with the SVA logo may be worn inside the building. Please be sure to label all sweaters, jackets, and sweatshirts with your child’s name so they can easily be returned if misplaced!
🟥Red Homework Folders📂
Your child’s red homework folder will come home every day and should be returned to school every morning. Please help your child develop the routine of checking and cleaning it out nightly.
Two Sides of the Folder: (labelled inside folder with a sticker)
- Keep at Home: Papers on this side stay at home. These may include classwork, newsletters, or practice sheets that don’t need to be returned.
- Return to School: Papers on this side are homework and should be completed and returned the next school day.
Homework Expectations:
- Homework is designed to be short and simple (5–10 minutes).
- Help guide students on things like following directions, correct pencil hold, writing their name correctly, etc.
Supplies for Homework:
Please have your child use regular pencils for writing and crayons for coloring.
Avoid pens and markers, as they bleed through the thin paper and make it harder to correct mistakes neatly.
💬Remind Messenger📧
Please make sure you have signed up for Remind Messenger so you don’t miss any important information. There will be a button to our Remind messenger class at the bottom of each newsletter.
📫Parent Contact List📱
If you’d like to share your contact information with other kindergarten families to arrange playdates, birthday parties, or other social events, please add your info to the spreadsheet linked below.
Participation is completely optional. Please note that this list is only for social purposes. It should not be used for sales, school-related issues, or anything outside of connecting with fellow parents.
Look for Ms. Wood’s class at the bottom of the spreadsheet! There will be a button to this parent contact list at the bottom of each newsletter.
🎥Google Photos Album📷
Google Photos is where I will be sharing photos of our class throughout the year! If you happen to catch some photos of our class that you'd like to share, you are welcome to add to this as well! Please keep in mind that any photos shared with other students cannot be posted. There will be a button to our classroom photo album at the bottom of each newsletter. Here is the link to the album:
🌀Classroom Donations🌈
For those of you that wish to donate to our classroom, please check out our Classroom Amazon Wishlist! Thank you for your generosity and support! There will be a button to our classroom wishlist at the bottom of each newsletter.
📝What are we learning?💡
📖Skills (Phonics)📚
This week, we are beginning Unit 1 in Skills. Students will practice identifying left and right, listening for and distinguishing different sounds, and forming basic writing strokes such as vertical lines, horizontal lines, and circles. We’ll also work on tracking print from left to right and top to bottom, as well as strengthening fine motor skills through engaging clay activities.
📙Knowledge/Science/Social Studies🔬
Our first Knowledge Unit is Nursery Rhymes and Fables. This week, we’ll learn and recite “Roses are Red,” “Ring Around the Rosie,” “Rain, Rain, Go Away,” “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring,” and “Jack Be Nimble.” Students will complete comprehension activities, explore what a character is, and practice identifying and sequencing the main events in each rhyme.
💯Math🔢
Our first math unit is called "Math in Our World." This week we will begin by establishing math routines and exploring some of the materials we will use this year. We will spend time exploring different math tools (connecting cubes, pattern blocks, 2-color counters, 5-frames, and geoblocks), and how they can be used to solve problems and understand math concepts.
📝Writing✍🏻
This week, we will focus on learning the correct way to use our classroom supplies through the “On Strike” book collection. We’ll also read “Our Class is a Family” to help us create our classroom social contract. To go along with the story, students will complete a fine motor beading activity.
