Thursday Letter Home

Dear Parents, September 9,2010

The weeks are already beginning to fly by! The students have been doing very well adjusting to routines and procedures. Both Mrs. Clapper and myself are very proud of them. Please read the blog, http://learninginkindergarten.blogspot.com , if you are wondering what some of our daily activities are. Also, be sure to read the important letter from Mr. Croff all about the new Kindergarten class that will be here at Meadowlark.

Some of the things that we’ve been working on as a class this past week are the letters A, B, C, D, E . We have been practicing talking about upper and lower case letters, their sounds, finding them in words and even reading our two amazing words: I, AM. To finish off Unit 1 week 1, we will be sending home their “ReaderWriterNotebook Packets” We forgot to talk about these at Open House. Each week we work in this 4-6 page packet of workbook like pages. Some weeks we get to almost everything, other times very little. We will send them home each week so you can see what your child is learning to do. And to watch their progress through out the year! If your child has been absent, his/her name will be at the top. It would be wonderful if you would help your child complete it but it is not necessary to send it back. The pages we did not get to are fun extensions for those children who are ready for more challenging concepts. The directions are at the bottom of each page. We hope your child enjoys showing you what they did each week! Many times they have to stop coloring the pages to go on to another activity, so we always say “you can finish that when you get to take it home.”

Wednesday was Bear day and the students were able to bring a bear into class with them. They enjoyed reading to their bear. In Math we will be finishing up chapter 1. The students have been practicing, over, under, left, right, above, below, same and different. They have been doing very well. Science has been fun and the students have been exploring their five senses. We have been talking about what a scientist does and how they use their senses to discover new things.

Please take the time to stop by the lost and found. There are already many jackets, sweatshirts and lunch boxes there. Please see if anything may be your child’s.

Thank you so much for all the love and support you show your child everyday! You are the backbone of meaningful learning in your child. If you are excited about school they will be too! Thank you parents!

Sincerely, Mrs. Abigail Hansen and Mrs. Carol Clapper

First Day of School Letter Home

Dear Parents,

Starting a new school year in Kindergarten is an exciting time and we are thrilled to be teaching together at Meadowlark this year. We have so much fun learning and exploring the wonderful world of school with this new group of students! We are looking forward to a great year and are excited to have your child in our class. We are sure many of you have some questions and I will try to answer the beginning of the year ones in this first letter.

The first bell will ring 8:25 and all Kindergartens will line up outside the Commons on the east side of the school. Please do not bring your child to school before 8:15 because we are not outside until that time. To ensure the safety of every child, students need to stay in the walking. For the first week or two all of the Kindergarten teachers will be helping the children learn our routine. Then the teachers take turns doing morning duty while others prepare for the day. The other teachers that your child will be supervised by are Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. Rappaport, and Mrs. Cook.

Class dismisses at 2:30. We will bring the students out the north door by the playground. If your child is not picked up in a timely manner, we take them to the office to wait for their ride home. For awhile each child will be holding a small bear. He/she is expected to give us the bear and show us who is picking them up before we say good-bye for the day.

Your child needs to bring a back pack every day so papers and notes home won’t get lost. Thursday folders are a school wide communication tool. Please read the contents and return the folder on Friday so that we know you have received your mail and their papers. We will have library on Wednesdays so once they start checking out books, please help your child remember his/her book because they can only check out a new one if they return their checked out one! P.E. will be on Mondays and the children need to have tennis shoes for safety.

After the children and teachers get used to each other and we get into a routine, we would love to have Parent Volunteers to help with art projects or educational games. This is a large class with 24 students so far. We love having volunteers to provide more one on one attention for each child. A note will be sent home later in September to coordinate volunteers and set up times that work with our class schedule and parent availability.

The principal asks that we share our class discipline policy with you. We have two main rules: Be Nice and Be Safe. The children will explore how all other rules such as: Keep your hands and feet to yourself or Raise your hand when you want to speak fit into these two rules. Later we will make an “I Can” book. They illustrate “I can be nice.” And “ I can be safe.” We are firm believers in praising their positive behavior. As a class we will earn compliments and special treats throughout the year. We will start counting compliments toward the end of September. If a child is having trouble being nice or safe, we limit their center time, or recess time or give them some time away from the group to help them want to follow our rules and get back to having fun learning with their friends.

If we did not cover an immediate concern of yours, please feel free to call the direct number to our room ( 281-6864) between 7:30 and 8:15 or 2:45 – 3:45. Or leave a message at the office 281-6213. For those of you who prefer email, our school emails are clapperc@billingsschools.org and hansena@billingsschools.org. . Remember when the children are there from 8:25-2:30, We devote all our attention to them. This year we are starting a Blog to keep you informed of our classroom news. The address is:

http://learninginkindergarten.blogspot.com/

Mrs. Hansen has laminated some cards with the address on it so you can connect often and share in our classroom news!

During the next couple days, we will be recording who can pick up each child. We keep a list for guest teachers, also. If the pick up person changes after you have dropped your child off for the day, please call the school and specify that we need the message before 2:15 so we get it before the children leave for the day..

Sincerely,

Mrs. Hansen and Mrs. Clapper

p.s. We forgot to ask you to fill out the following paper with your child and paste a picture at the top. Then on the mostly blank page have them draw themselves and write their name in the blank. (You may do this if they need some help) These two papers help us get to know each child and we post them around the room next week so they feel more at home in their new classroom! Please return these ASAP, but by September 1^st so we can have them up in time for our Open House. It is from 6:30 – 7:30 on Thursday, September 2^nd. Thanks again for reading all this and helping us get your child off to a great start!