We have been in school for three weeks and have completed our first 5-day week of school! I have seen glimpses of what I think a “typical” day of Kindergarten will be when we’re all settled in and, let me tell you, I see a class that is going to move mountains this year! We enjoyed going to the library, art, Mandarin, PE, and music together! We are getting used to doing school all in Spanish and will be raising the expectation for student Spanish output soon. We also enjoyed making some apple-scented playdough together! Thank you for sending your children in ready to learn. You are a vital part of our success at school! Children know if they are getting hot lunch and how they are going home. Thank you!

Announcements:

• We continue to get updated information on the new field trip driver policy.  Here is the latest: Every driver must turn in a copy of their driver’s license and valid proof of insurance to the ZCS Main Office. These will be kept on file for the duration of the school year. Parents are responsible for checking to make sure the copies on file are valid and not expired. Each time a parent drives, he or she will need to sign the “Driver Guidelines” agreement indicating they will abide by the safety standards laid out in the agreement. They will also confirm that the license and proof of insurance on file in the office is up to date.We are grateful for all of our parent drivers. So, we want to make these new requirements as easy to meet as possible. Please feel free to send copies of your license and proof of insurance to school with your student and the teacher will turn it in the office. Or, stop by with the documents and we will gladly make copies for you.** I would suggest that if you think you are going to drive on a field trip this year, to send in a copy of your license and insurance ASAP.
• Library books went home for the 1st time this week. Please turn them in tomorrow so that your child may choose a new book to bring home!
• Our first field trip is Wednesday, September 28 at DeGraaf Nature Center.  Please have children dressed and ready for any weather.
• Picture Day is October 4 for our class. Please look for a form in the red alert on Monday.
• Book It, a reading incentive program begins in October.  Look for a reading calendar to fill out and turn back in each month to receive a coupon for free pizza! 🙂

Look what we learned!

Bible: This week we completed our Creation lessons and learned that God rested on the 7th day. Each time that we learned about what God created on each new day, I pulled a surprise from a special bag. The surprise inside Day 7’s bag was tricky… there was nothing in the bag! We learned that God created people in His image. That makes us set apart and is why we must treat each other as we want to be treated. As we moved the lesson into talking about loving one another, (love is the Fruit of the Spirit we’ll be focusing on in September) we noticed that the fruit representing love in our classroom is an apple. We made apple-scented playdough to help us remember that God gives us a spirit of love!

Literacy: We continue to build our stamina in the first of the Daily 5, read to self. Last week I shared that the kids read for 36 seconds. After a week more of practicing we are now at 5 minutes! Our grammar focus this week was nouns. We learned that a noun is a person, place, or thing. We learned a song to remember the different kinds of nouns and practiced classifying nouns. We also met 2 new friends, Ana, a girl we helped look for words with Aa. and a squirrel (ardilla) whom we met through a poem.

• Reading strategy: Determining importance of text
• Read aloud: No te comas a la maestra (Don’t Eat the Teacher! :))
• Vocabulary Words:
  • el bacalao (cod)
  • el torbellino (tornado)
  • el pincel (paintbrush)
  • avergonzado (embarrassed)
  • se zambulló (dove)
• Phrase of the week: Buenos días (good morning) Buenas tardes (good afternoon)
• Letter of the week: Aa

Handwriting: We learned how to write letters F and E this week. Our handwriting curriculum (Handwriting Without Tears) has a specific step-by-step procedure for learning how to draw the strokes that make up each of our letters. We used a personal chalkboard and practiced the strokes all together.  We traced over the letter with a paper towel and a wet sponge. The sponge is always a hit! Each child then practiced the letters with a pencil in their own handwriting booklet. One thing I am careful to check during these lessons is correct pencil grip. As you draw or write with your child at home, please encourage them to use a pinch grip.

My Book of Friends: This week we met 2 new friends, Gabe and Elliana! We practiced putting the letters of their names in the correct order and drew pictures of our friends. When we are finished your child will have a book filled with all their Kindergarten friends’ names!

Thank you for the many ways your support our class and me as your child’s teacher! I am truly blessed to partner with you! Praying you have an amazing week!

We have completed 7 days of Kindergarten! God is good! Thank you for all that you are doing to help us start this school year off well! I am speaking almost 100% Spanish with the only exceptions being to explain new routines or give important reminders about routines. I am thrilled with the amount of Spanish your children are comprehending and many of them are bravely speaking Spanish to me already! Watching your children as they form beautiful friendships and learn more each day about how to do school together brings me so much joy! At the end of the day on Friday every Kindergartener at school met together in the music room to praise Jesus in 3 different languages. Beautiful! We are looking forward to worshipping together this way each Friday afternoon.

What’s inside the backpack? A graphing activity.

Back to school roll and color

Thank you, God, for friends!

Announcements:

• Please feel free to send a water bottle to school with your child. Hydrated brains help us learn and a shorter line at the drinking fountain means we get to head back to learning that much sooner.
• Thank you for continuing to check the red alert folders. Sometimes they will be empty. This doesn’t mean your child wasn’t learning that day. 🙂 Often we spend our learning time in centers focused around hands-on learning that doesn’t include worksheets.
• If you would like to order hot lunch for your child, please go to sendmoneytoschool.com to make sure there is money in your account and http://www.zps.org/files/2012/11/September-2016-Christian-Menu.pdf to look at the menu.  Please talk to your child about their hot lunch choice before school.
• I will be sending out our classroom directory as a Google doc that can be accessed with a link I will email you. If you do not want your information in our directory, please let me know.
• Our first field trip is Wednesday, September 28 to DeGraaf Nature Center. Please mark your calendars and help your child dress for whatever weather God sends us that day! I am planning on Christina Vizithum, Stacey Nagelkirk, Doreen Vanderveen, Livie Van Appledorn, Lori Boeve and Melissa Stob to drive.
  

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Look what we learned!

Bible: God’s creation is amazing! We have learned about the good things God created on days 1-4. Each time we learn about a day I pull out a surprise that represents what God created on that day from the mystery bag.  After the lesson, the kids create a new page for their creation book.

Literacy: Our literacy block is taught through The Daily 5. Right now we are building stamina in the 1st of the Daily 5, Read to Self. Friday we completed our first round and read for 36 seconds! For more information on The Daily 5, please see the document under the “More Resources” tab.

• Reading strategy: Determining importance of text
• Read aloud: Bienvenidos a Kindergarten
• Vocabulary Words:
  • la oficina (office)
  • divertido (fun)
  • la enfermería (nurse)
  • especial (special)
  • el patio de recreo (playground)
• Phrase of the week: ¿Cómo estás?
• Letter of the week: What is a letter? What is a vowel? a, e, i, o, u

Math: We are working on counting 1-10 in Spanish. We read Anno’s Counting Book and looked for the groups of numbers represented on each page. The 1st page showed groups of 1, the 2nd page showed groups of 2, etc. We made an interesting connection between the page representing the number 0 and what the world might have looked like before God created light and dark on the 1st day.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can help you or your child with! I am looking forward to our 1st full week of school! Thank you for reading!

It has been such a joy to get to know your children more this week! Thank you for entrusting them to me during the school day. I am so blessed to be partnering with amazing families like yours! Your kids are doing a great job of learning the routines, procedures, and expectations for our classroom. The way this group works together to solve problems amazes me. They are so intuitive to the needs of people around them and work as a team to help. In the morning this week we practiced many of our classroom procedures and routines. We talked about carefully choosing kind and loving words, because, much like toothpaste once it’s squeezed out of the tube, we can’t put the words we say back in our mouths. We also read The Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School and discussed that our classroom is a place for EVERYONE. In the afternoon we completed our September calendar art project and have started venturing into purposeful play. I have really enjoyed seeing the children’s imaginations at work! They play wonderfully together!

Here are the announcements for next week:

• Please turn in any remaining paperwork or let me know if you need another copy. The things I should have are: Kindergarten Interest Inventory (Google form) permission slip and $32, driver guidelines if you plan on coming on a field trip, Hopes and Dreams page, (optional… went home in red alert folder on bus night,) and emergency/photography release form.
• Please make sure to take home and check the alerta roja (red alert) every day.
• Please feel free to send a water bottle to school with your child. Busy learning brains need lots of water! (Plus, it makes our drinking fountain line shorter and helps keep us cooler! I hear the heat is coming back!)
• Hot lunch begins Tuesday. Please review the lunch options with your child the night before. I will read through them again and help your child decide in the morning.
• Notes about dismissal:
  • Bussing begins Tuesday. I will do my very best to make sure each child gets where he/she needs to be on time!
  • At 3:30 dismissal, I will say goodbye to the kids waiting for their parents before I walk the bus riders outside. If you’re picking up at school and would like to leave with your child before I get back from the busses, you may.
  • At 11:50 dismissal, please do not leave unless I see you. As you may have noticed, this dismissal is a bit more chaotic. 🙂
  • Should you need to make a transportation change in the middle of the day, please call the office if it’s after noon. I will try my best to check emails throughout the day, but I don’t want to accidentally miss something! Calling the office ensures I’ll get the message.
• I am creating a classroom directory based on the contact information you gave me when you filled out the Kindergarten Interest Inventory, (Google form.) If you do not want your information to be given to the families in our class, please let me know. If I don’t hear from you, I will add your information.
• This afternoon I sent a SignUp Genius form with opportunities to volunteer during the month of September. I’ll be honest, there aren’t that many. As we get used to doing school together, I’ll have a better idea of what I need help with and what will work better for me to do on my own. This week I’m hoping someone is available to take individual pictures of each child as well as a group shot of the kids who share a birthday month. Any morning this week would be great please!

I will be thinking about you all and praying that you have a fun and relaxing long weekend! The first day after a long weekend can be a little tough, so I’ll be praying that the transition back in goes smoothly for everyone! As always, please let me know if you have any questions and I will be happy to get back to you as soon as possible! Thank you! I’m excited to partner with you all this year!