A Little Sporadic

For those of you that have taken a look at my blog, you will see that it isn't exactly updated very often. I would like to be able to change that this year, but I'm not making any promises. I do my very best to keep everyone in the loop via our class newsletter that comes home each week, buy since I'm human, there are things that will occasionally slip through the cracks and get missed. I will be using the remind app to get reminders out the night before big events and activities as much as possible.

Here is where I will try to share pictures and fun things that we have been working on in class.

I meant to share a few links last week, but the first weeks of school tend to be a little hectic. So, I'm going to update you now.

The first week of school we spent learning our rules. We met some new friends and read some great books to help us out! One of the books was Howard B. Wigglebottom learns to listen. Go check out www.wedolisten.org and click on the books/animations tab on the right. Click on howard learns to listen and see the story for yourself!

We also read the Pout-Pout fish! Here is a super-fun puppet show that tells the story.



We talked about ways we can help people at school feel better when they are sad (no kissing-of course)! We showed how we can turn the "drearie-wearies" into "cheery-cherries" and made pout-pout fish of our own. Don't you love our awesome pouts?! We turned them around super-quick.

We have been learning our color words and have been singing a new song each day to help us learn them. Here is the link to a list of all of the songs. You can watch them and practice at home! I hope you are all doing well and I am looking forward to lots of fun learning this week!

Love,

Mrs. Newman

October

Wow! Time sure flies when you are having fun!!

We have been so busy that I have completely forgotten to post on the class blog. Oops! I will try to be better at this.

We will be starting our real centers rotations (not practice anymore) next week. I have sent out the volunteer schedule in an email. If you didn't get it, please let me know, so that I can update my email addresses.

We have lots of things going on and coming up fast. Our parent-teacher conferences are November 11th and 12th. Please mark your calendar and watch for more information to come home.

We will also be having our Thanksgiving Feast on November 24th. More information for this will follow as well.

I truly appreciate your patience as I adjust to the new climate and culture here at Hayden Peak. There have been lots of changes and I am doing my best to acclimate to them all quickly. I think we are getting into a great routine!

Please make sure you are reading with your child DAILY, and marking your minutes on the pumpkin sheet. They are due on MONDAY. Also, the sight words stars game I sent home is a great starting point to get your child reading. Many of your children already recognize several of the words on that list. Feel free to make up your own games and activities to go with the stars. We would love to hear about anything fun you come up with!!

Thank you again for all you do for your children. They truly are amazing because of you!!

Love,

Mrs. Newman

Fall is here

I can't believe I missed a week! Oh dear!

Let's see if I can get everyone caught up. :)

We learned the rest of our color songs and the songs will be at the bottom of the post.

We are halfway through learning our alphabet and moving right along. If your child is struggling with remembering the letters and sounds here are some ideas that should be helpful.

Starfall.com is a great place to go play games to help learn letters and sounds.

Leap Frog has a video called "Letter Factory" that we have watched and used in class. Each letter has a song and action to go with it. Here is a sample, have your child show you the actions for the letters in the video.

Also, there is an app called Letter School that we use in class to help teach how to write the letters and numbers. The kids love it!

I know there are a lot of other tools out there, that are fantastic, but hopefully, those will give you a good place to start. Feel free to comment and share any others that you have used or know of, there are many who could use them!


I AM looking for volunteers. I would like to have a permanent volunteer schedule up and going by next Monday. Thank you for your patience in this area, as I have been working hard to establish a routine with our class before we introduced parent helpers into our classroom.

I am looking forward to another week with your amazing children!

Love,

Mrs. Newman

Week Two

We had another fun week in Kindergarten! We learned about letters and sounds and colors and numbers. We also got to explore apples! What a fun time we had!

We have been learning songs about each of the colors, to help us remember the color words. Here are the songs we have already learned so that you can practice them at home!









This week we will be learning the colors blue, purple, black, brown, and pink. Watch for the songs in next week's blog post!

Don't forget to wear blue on Monday, purple on Tuesday, black on Wednesday, brown on Thursday and pink on Friday.

Remember that our Monday Mailers come home the first day of the week with all of the flyers and information from the school. They need to be emptied, initialed and returned to school the next day.

Friday Folders come home each Monday containing our class newsletter. The homework assignments are listed on the newsletter. Please complete the activities during the week and return the completed activities in your child's Friday Folder on Friday.

Also, go check out our new Star Student page! It will give you all of the information you need to help you complete the star student activities when your child is the star student! It also has a calendar so you can keep track of when your child's turn is coming up.

Here's to another great week in kindergarten!

Love,
Mrs. Newman :)

Hayden Peak's first week

I can't believe it! The first week has come and gone already. Wow!

I know it was a little crazy with the first day of school and picture day and a fire drill, but I want you to know that your kiddos did fantastic!

We spent the majority of our time this past week focusing on our classroom rules. We learned a lot about listening and following directions.

One of my favorite friends that helps remind us to use our listening ears is a rabbit named Howard. You can learn more about him here. We will be talking about Howard all year long. If you go to Howard's homepage, the We Do Listen Foundation, you can find some fun games and activities to work on at home. Please watch the video "Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen" with your child and have them tell you why it is important to listen both at home and at school.

We also got to rock in our school shoes with Pete the Cat.



Our Friday folders will come home tomorrow. They contain a newsletter explaining which activities your child is responsible for completing this week. Please return the folders on FRIDAY with the completed activities inside.

This week we are going to begin learning to recognize our color words. Wear RED on Tuesday, orange on Wednesday, yellow on Thursday and green on Friday.

We will also be starting to learn letters and numbers this week, as well as attending our specials rotations. It's going to be a busy week and we are excited to start digging into our curriculum.

Don't forget our AM class pick-up spot has been changed to the North side of the school building on the grass near the kindergarten and 1st grade doors.

Here's to a great week!

Love,

Mrs. Newman :)

December Information

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came out for our parent-teacher conferences a few weeks ago. I appreciate you taking the time to come in and meet with me to discuss your child's learning.

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend.

We are jumping in to December and Benchmark testing at the same time. It's going to be a busy week, and it is important that your child arrives on time after getting a good night's rest and a good breakfast. It's much easier to learn when you aren't tired and hungry!

Tomorrow, I will be sending home a Family Traditions Journal for you to complete WITH your child. Please return it by MONDAY, DECEMBER 15th at the very latest. We will be sharing them in class and your child will be responsible for explaining the information in his/her journal. We will be using these traditions to discuss differences in families and customs, as is part of our social studies curriculum this year.

We are also going to begin our holiday unit, which is going to be centered on the book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. We will be reading it in class, and completing math, writing and social studies activities that all tie together with the storybook. Watch for more information to come!

I am looking forward to another wonderful month of learning with your kiddos. Thanks for supporting your child's learning!!

Love,
Mrs. Newman

Too Fast

Wow! That break sure went fast!

Well, back to work it is.

We have parent teacher conferences coming up soon, so we are going to be busy, busy for the next week or so. I look forward to meeting with you all.

I will be sending home a newsletter with some great information on Monday, so watch for that.

I sure hope you enjoyed your break and I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Love,

Mrs. Newman