October 25, 2019

Dear Families,

We have been learning about fire safety this week and we will be joined by the Woolwich Fire Department on Monday as they share their knowledge with us about safety. We will learn about the fire truck and how to keep safe. Some students are unsure if their family has an outside meeting place if they have to evacuate their house. Do you have one? Have you practiced your escape route with your family? Have you changed the batteries in your smoke detectors lately? I care a lot about you all and want you to stay safe!!!

Books Read: Firehouse, Curious George at the Fire Station, Clifford the Firehouse Dog, My Fire Engine

During writing time they are starting to; visualize places and people to write about, add words (letters) to their pictures, rehearse what they want to say about what they wrote, take turns sharing their ideas and writing with partners and show movement in their drawings for a fun effect. We talked a lot this week about being BRAVE writers and adding more and more letters to our words and words to our sentences.

Animated Alphabet is our approach to phonemic awareness and spelling. The letters are taught through a multi sensory approach of music, dance, characters and signs which help the students hold onto that information. The characters we learned this week were Sadie Seal and Rosie Raccoon/Rhino Ralph.

In math we are getting to know numbers 0-30, sorting, using math manipulatives, identifying and describing triangles, reviewing spatial vocabulary and concepts (top, below, between, next to, around, over, under, left, right), dot cards, five frames, addition is "putting together"and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations, tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week. 

We are learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events: 

November 3- Clocks Back!
November 8- NO SCHOOL- Professional Development
November 11- No School-Veteran's Day 

October 10, 2019

Dear Families,

A huge THANK YOU for those who traveled to Rocky Ridge apple orchard with us last week. It was such a beautiful day! The children painted their pumpkins and brought them home to put out for Halloween. We also made applesauce last with the apples we got at Rocky Ridge and after lots of turning and squishing, we ate the delicious treat! I hope you found the apple core I sent home with the attached instructions for planting your own apple tree.

Our Go2Science mission to Thailand is continuing to be an exciting adventure for us. We have learned so much about tigers and other animals found in that far away place. Our 3-D printer has also been busy printing out artifacts that Beth and Curtis have been discovering in the field. All very exciting!

We are finishing our study of the life cycle of the butterfly. We currently have 1 last caterpillar in chrysalis. Hoping the weather stays mild until he can travel to Mexico!  We have learned so much about the caterpillar life cycle!

Books Read: Big, Red Apple, Mr. Brown's Magnificent Apple Tree, Wiggle's Apple Book

Animated Alphabet is our approach to phonemic awareness and spelling. The letters are taught through a multi sensory approach of music, dance, characters and signs which help the students hold onto that information. The characters we learned this week were; Felix Fox and Max the Ox.

In math we are getting to know numbers 0-10, sorting, discussing a graph, using math manipulatives, 10 frames,  finger counting, working with shapes and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations, tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week. 

We are learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events: 

October 11- No School- Professional development day for teachers
October 14- NO SCHOOL- Columbus Day

September 25, 2019

Dear Families,

I am sending this newsletter home today for a couple of reasons. I will be out on Friday and your student's pictures arrived and I didn't want to wait to send them home. 

PLEASE remember to dress your student in play clothes, layers,  and boots/sneakers on Monday for our trip to Rocky Ridge Orchard. If you signed up to chaperone I am counting on you coming with us. You can ride the bus or meet us there. We are leaving around 8:45.

In science we continue to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly. We currently have 10 caterpillars still munching and we have 4 in chrysalis as of this morning.  Hopefully they will become butterflies soon so we can release them for their flight to Mexico before the cold weather sets in! We have learned so much about the caterpillar life cycle! We also began learning about apples and their life cycle in preparation for our trip to the orchard next week. 

Books Read: Apple Trouble, Mr. Brown's Magnificent Apple Tree, Big Red Apple, The Apple Pie Tree

Animated Alphabet is our approach to phonemic awareness and spelling. The letters are taught through a multi sensory approach of music, dance, characters and signs which help the students hold onto that information. The character we learned about this week was Ollie Ostrich. We also did our first "magic draw" of a "pup". 

In math we are getting to know numbers 0-10, sorting, discussing a graph, using math manipulatives, using 5 frames, practicing with quick looks at collections of dots, finger counting, working with shapes and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations, tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week. 

We are still learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events:

September 30- Field trip Rocky Ridge~If you signed up to chaperone I am counting on you to be there~ 

October 11- NO SCHOOL-Professional Development Day 

October 14- NO SCHOOL- Columbus Day

September 20, 2019

Dear Families,

PLEASE remember to send in the $5.00 along with the permission slip for Rocky Ridge Apple Orchard if you have not already. I need the money in order to request a check before we go. If this is a hardship please let me know. If you signed up to go on the field trip I am expecting you to come! Thank you~

 Thank you for those earbuds/headphones that came in this week. We will hopefully be starting next week with some guided technology practice.

In science we continue to learn about the life cycle of the butterfly. We currently have 10 caterpillars still munching and we have 4 in chrysalis as of this morning.  Hopefully they will become butterflies soon so we can release them for their flight to Mexico before the cold weather sets in! We have learned so much about the caterpillar life cycle!

We have also started our new mission to Thailand for our Go2Science program. We are studying tigers as well as learning a lot about the culture, people, and animals of Thailand. Exciting stuff!

Books Read: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider, 10 Little Rubber Ducks, "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly", Said the Sloth, Mister Seahorse and other Eric Carle favorites!

Animated Alphabet is our approach to phonemic awareness and spelling. The letters are taught through a multi sensory approach of music, dance, characters and signs which help the students hold onto that information. The characters we have learned this week were; Polly Panda and Uncle Upton.

In math we are getting to know numbers 0-10, sorting, discussing a graph, using math manipulatives, working with shapes and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations, tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week. 

We are still learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events:

September 30- Field trip Rocky Ridge~If you signed up to chaperone I am counting on you to be there~ 

October 11- NO SCHOOL-Professional Day for Teachers

October 14- NO SCHOOL- Columbus Day

September 13, 2019

Dear Families,

Books Read: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, A Caterpillar's Wish, Butterfly Suits, Fill a Bucket. We ate a snack of all the fruits the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate as well as some spinach that represented the leaves. Ask your child what their favorite fruit was!

In math we are getting to know numbers, introducing attributes and sorting, multisensory counting, patterns and continuing our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observations, tracking the number of days we have been in school and days of the week. 

We are learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard).

ITEM NEEDED: We will begin using our Chromebooks next week and each student is asked to provide either earphones or earbuds for use with or Chromebook time. If you haven't sent them in yet, please do.  I will place them  in an individual bag with your student's name on it. They will be kept at school for daily work.

We are headed to Rocky Ridge Orchard in the near future! Keep an eye out for the date and time!

Upcoming Events: 

October 11- NO SCHOOL- Teacher Inservice

October 14- NO SCHOOL- Columbus Day

September 6, 2019

Dear Families,

It has been a very busy week. We are continuing our procedures and community building. We have enjoyed going to the different specials classes and meeting many new faces and doing fun activities. Today we traveled to library and will be checking out a book next week to bring home! Please see the attached letter from Mrs. Luchies concerning library procedures. Please make sure all paperwork that came home this week is returned as soon as possible. One other detail I forgot to mention in my opening letter is that folders come home on Fridays with student's work from the week, this newsletter and other pieces of information.

Books Read: A variety of Pete the Cat stories, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, Franklin's First Day of School, Timothy Goes to School

In math we are getting to know numbers, introducing attributes of shapes, sorting, graphing birthdays, and our calendar routines. Our routines at calendar time include; counting to the calendar number of the day, weather observation, tracking the number of days we have been in school and the days  of the week.

 Many reading and writing assessments have taken place these first few days of school. We will begin a more structured approach to reading and writing beginning next week. 

Next week we will begin to be scientists and use our observation skills to watch caterpillars grow-and grow-and grow! 

We are learning about the Woolwich Way! The Woolwich Way is made up of 6 qualities that will help us to be the best we can be! (Courtesy- I can use good manners, Compassion-I can help others, Respect- I can treat others kindly, Honesty-I can tell the truth, Responsibility- I can take care of myself and my stuff, Quality- I can do my best even when things are hard)

Upcoming Events!

September 12~ Picture Day~ WCS Open House at 5:30
October 11-Professional Day- No School
October 14- Columbus Day- No School

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN!

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer up to this point with lots more fun and adventure to come! I
just went white water rafting for my birthday and it was AMAZING! I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
I thought you might like to have an overview of what our school day is going to look like and what supplies
you will need as you enter kindergarten. 

School begins at 8:40am every day except Wednesday. All schools in RSU1 have a late start on
Wednesdays and we begin that school day at 9:40am. The end of our day is 2:50pm. 

The bus schedule is usually in the newspaper in August. If you have any questions about busing please
contact the front office. 

We have a snack in the morning and again at the end of the day. Please send in healthy snacks and
drinks in a lunchbox labeled with your child’s name. Breakfast and lunch are available every day and the menu is
always posted on the Woolwich Central School website. 

PLEASE make sure I know where to send your child at the end of every day. If there is a change of plans for
after school PLEASE send in a note, send me an email, or call the front office before the end of the day.
My main goal is the safety of your child. PLEASE help me do that!

Supplies:

***Backpack (labeled with name)

***Lunchbox (labeled with name)

***Pencil box or pouch (labeled with name)

***Thick markers

***A 2-pocket folder for home/school communications (labeled with name)

***Headphones for use with Chromebooks. We find that headphones work better than earbuds but that is up to
your family to decide. (labeled with name)

***A pair of sneakers that will live at school and be used for P.E. 

***I ask that parents send in an extra set of clothes to stay at school for unexpected mishaps. A large ziplock
bag with their name on it works well to store them in.

As the year goes on we will need other supplies like; Lysol Wipes, Kleenex, Paper Products,
Hand Sanitizer and I will ask for them in our weekly newsletters. If you would like to send in any of these
items at the start I would not be sad!

We will be having a bus run and get together on August 27th @ 10:00 am. We will all meet at
school and the children will take a short bus ride, go to their classrooms, and have a snack.
They might want to bring their supplies that day to make their first day of school backpack a little lighter!
Hope to see you there~

If you need to contact me:

ssample@rsu1.org

Or

(207)443-9739 ext. 3102

Or

mrssampleskindergarten.blogspot.com