Mrs. Skognes' Kindergarten

Jan. 11-13

2012-01-09T18:17:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and spent some fun quality time with your families. I spent a lot of time “nesting” and am really excited to welcome my little guy into the world- I can’t believe he’s due in just 3 more weeks! As much as I enjoyed relaxing at home during the break, I really miss the kids and am happy that I get to spend some more time with them before my maternity leave begins. My last day will be on Friday and Mrs. Allen will begin on the 17th (since there is no school on Monday, Jan. 16th because of Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday).

This short week will be focused on review to help the kids get back into the swing of things. Our new theme is “Winter”, which will lead us into a fun unit about penguins and polar animals. In Centers, we will play Word Wall BINGO, make our January Calendars and write about our vacations. I will be assessing each student for our new leveled reading program that we’ll be calling “Just Right Readers”. Mrs. Allen will give you more information about this reading program and send the books home soon.

If your child decided to write in their Winter Journal and would like to share it with the class, please remember to bring it on Wednesday and they will get a chance to read it during the week.

Reminder: When students return to school on Wednesday, it is a non-restructured day so pick up time is at 11:25 in the front quad.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon,

Zoë Skognes

Dec. 12-16

2011-12-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

Reading: We’ve now studied each of the short vowel word families, so we’ll be reviewing these short words all together through the last couple books of the take-home mini book series. In January, we will begin a new series of books targeted at each student’s own reading level.

Word of the Week: “play”

Writing/Art: We’ll be finishing up holiday gifts, cards and art projects.

Math: Students will continue to practice addition with fun holiday manipulatives, as well as in their HM math books.

Wednesday is NOT a restructured day, so pickup will be at our regular 11:25 time in the front quad.

Friday is our fun Polar Express themed holiday party that our wonderful Room Moms, Jen and Shana, have organized. Remember to send your child to school in their cozy pajamas this day!

I hope all of you have a wonderful winter vacation. Since we will be out of school for 3 long weeks, I am giving each student a journal so they can keep their writing skills strong throughout the break. This is completely an optional assignment and if you’re too busy to do it- no worries at all! Students that choose to write about what they are doing during the vacation may read their journals to the class when we return to school on WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11th.

Happy Holidays,

Zoë Skognes

Dec. 5-9

2011-12-04T20:13:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

This week we will complete our book study of the different versions of The Gingerbread Man and we will begin our new theme of Winter Holidays. We will be discussing and reading about how many families celebrate different holidays during this time of year. I have plenty of Christmas books and projects, but if you have any books about other traditions, I’d love to borrow them for the week. Also, does anyone have a dreidel that we can borrow for Centers next week? Since most students in our class celebrate Christmas, we will be doing some Christmas themed art projects and present/card making this week. Please let me know ASAP if you do not want your child involved with Christmas or other holiday celebrations so I can make special accommodations for your child.

In Reading and Writing this week, we will review the short a (_a_) and short o (_o_) words through a new phonics program.

In Math we will begin a new HM workbook that focuses on addition.

Word of the Week: “have”

Wednesday evening is the big Choir performance at the Performing Arts Center of Aptos High School located at 7301 Freedom Blvd. The kindergarteners will perform at 5:00 and they ask that you arrive at least 15 minutes early. Remember to have your child wear a white shirt and dark colored pants/skirt.

On Friday, we will watch a performance of our school’s upper grade Rock Bands in our auditorium.

Have a great week,

Zoë Skognes

Nov. 28- Dec. 2

2011-11-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving vacation. Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

New theme- The Gingerbread Man! We will focus on, and compare, the characters, settings, problems and solutions from a variety of versions of this famous tale (ie: The Gingerbread Man, The Gingerbread Boy, The Gingerbread Baby, The Gingerbread Girl, and The Gingerbread Pirate). If you have another Gingerbread book, I’d love to borrow it to read to the class.

Math: students will use marshmallows to estimate and measure the length of different sized gingerbread men. Also, they will play a fun dice game called “Roll a Gingerbread Man”.

Words of the Week: “you” and “said”

Word Family Focus: Short o words (“_o_”, such as “hot”, “dog”, “lot”)

Have a great week,
Zoë Skognes

Nov. 21-22

2011-11-20T16:52:00.001-08:00

Hi Kindergarten Families,

Since we only have school on Monday and Tuesday this week, we’ll spend time reviewing prior concepts and finishing up some of the fun Thanksgiving projects that were started last week. Also, just a reminder- there will not be homework or Centers this week (so no need for classroom volunteers).

Word of the Week: "you"

Our school's Student Leadership has announced that Tuesday will be a school-wide Spirit Day: "Twin Day". Dressing as "triplets" or even "quadruplets" is also okay. To avoid anyone feeling left out, students can dress as my twin if they’d like- I'll be wearing a black shirt and jeans :)

Mark your calendars! Our School's Choir Performance is scheduled for the evening of Wednesday, December 7th at Aptos High School. More information will be spent home soon.

I am very happy to announce that the paperwork has been completed and Caryn Allen will officially be taking over our class in January (most likely beginning on January 17), when I go on Maternity Leave, and she will teach for the remainder of the year. Mrs. Allen did her student-teaching in my class two years ago and then taught Kindergarten at our school last year so she is very familiar with the expectations and how the rest of the year will unfold in Kindergarten. She is a very fun, loving and dedicated teacher and I’m sure you will all adore her as much as I do!

With Thanksgiving on my mind, I’d like to thank all of you who have volunteered/donated to our class in many different ways this year. Without your support we would not be able to do so many exciting activities in our class. I am very thankful for each and every one of you and your wonderful children!

I wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving filled with friends, family, and all the things you love!

Zoë Skognes

Nov. 14-18

2011-11-13T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hello Families!

Thank you to everyone who was able to drive/chaperone on our fieldtrip to Natural Bridges- it was exciting to see so many butterflies and I know it was a very memorable experience for the kids. Make sure to check out the photos that Bekki sent out- they are wonderful! Thank you, Bekki!

We will continue to study butterflies this week, however, with Thanksgiving right around the corner, we will also begin a new theme focused on the meaning of being “thankful” and practicing the acts of “giving”. Students will make Thanksgiving cards and special placemats that they can use at your holiday feast.

Word Wall Word: “for”

Writer’s Workshop: “I am thankful for _______.” And “Here is a ______. It is for _______.” Students are making amazing progress with sounding out words. We have been practicing clapping out the syllables of long words and sounding out each syllable as we write. The goal is not for their sounded out word to be spelled correctly, but for them to begin writing the sounds that they hear in each syllable.

Reading: Students are working on reading with fluency, meaning that if they are slowly decoding (sounding out) each word in a sentence, they should go back to read the sentence smoothly again. Fluency builds confidence, motivation, and is an important step for comprehension. Please help support your child with this skill at home by having them read the paper books over and over again until they are reading them fluently and with confidence.

Math: We will finish our HM Math Books that focus on skills such as “more than/less than” and graphing through using numbers 1-10. Students are also learning simple addition concepts through the use of manipulatives such as beans, blocks, dice and of course fingers!

Report Cards will be sent home on Monday. Please take this opportunity to celebrate your child’s hard work and accomplishments. They’ve all made so much progress since the beginning of the year! The report card is for you to keep at home, but the envelope must be signed and returned to school ASAP.

Since the following week is a short week (no school Nov. 23-25), we will NOT have Homework Packets or Centers, so we will not need any of you wonderful classroom volunteers on Nov. 21st or 22nd- enjoy the extra time off :)

Thanks,

Zoë Skognes

Nov. 7-11

2011-11-08T16:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

Art/Science: We will continue to study the life cycle, and facts, of butterflies. Specifically, we will be studying the symmetry of the shapes and patterns on butterfly wings. We will also finish making our sparkly paper chrysalises that will be hanging in our classroom.

Word of the Week: “is”.

Writing: Students will use the sentence frame: “Here is a ______” to write about the butterfly life cycle. They will also write about their experience on our fieldtrip.

Reading: By now students should be able to read simple 3 letter words with “short a” and “short i” middle sounds (ie: cat, ran, bit, pin). They should be able to read and write the following Word Wall Words by memory: a, and, go, here, I, is, like, my, see, to, the. They should also be able to identify and write numbers 1-10 correctly. Please help your child practice these skills at home if needed.

Tuesday: Fieldtrip to Natural Bridges! Don’t forget to bring your child’s car seat to school.

Friday: Veterans’ Day- No School

We will be starting a new round of Star of the Day this week. I sent home a paper last week with directions about this and found that a few of the papers had fallen out of homework folders as the kids were packing up, so if you did not receive this paper, please let me know.

Hope you have a fun three day weekend with your families!

Zoë Skognes

Oct. 31- Nov. 4

2011-10-30T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

First off, a few important reminders and dates:
Monday: Halloween Parade/Party!
Thursday (Nov. 3): Picture Re-take Day
Tuesday (Nov. 8): Fieldtrip to Natural Bridges (more information will be sent home this week)
Friday (Nov. 11): Veterans’ Day- No School
Monday (Nov. 14): Report Cards will be sent home

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

New theme: Butterflies! I’ve just ordered half a dozen caterpillars that we will be observing in our classroom. In about a week, they will begin forming chrysalises, at which point I will put them into a large netted cage so we can watch them emerge into butterflies! It’s a very exciting process- make sure to ask your child all about it throughout the next few weeks!

Word of the week: “here”

Word Family focus: short i words, specifically words that end with “_it” (ex. hit, bit,fit).

Math focus: estimation, measurement and correct number writing of numbers 1-10.

Science/Art/Writing: Students will learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. They will make their own caterpillars out of clay. And later in the week they will make chrysalises that we will hang in our classroom. We will also be charting and writing facts about butterflies.

Have a great week,
Zoë Skognes

Oct. 24-28

2011-10-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

New Theme: “Monsters and Wild Things”! After reading “Where the Wild Things Are”, students will create their own Wild Thing that will be displayed in the classroom throughout Halloween. For math, they will create Shape Monsters as well as practice adding with Halloween inspired manipulatives. This theme is also a great way to introduce the concepts of “Fiction” and “Non-Fiction” which we will be comparing through various Halloween books this week and charting the differences between each genre.

Reading Focus: Students will continue to study short “-a-” words through this week’s reader, “Nat, Pat and Nan”, and specifically focus on the “_an” word family. They will also practice phonemic awareness through a monster themed “Draw a Rhyme” activity.

Word of the Week: and

On Friday, students will visit our school’s “Kinder Pumpkin Patch” and will each get to choose a pumpkin to take home with them that day.

Next Monday is our school-wide Halloween parade and class party! Students may wear their costumes to school, however, no pretend weapons will be allowed. The parade will begin at 8:15 and our class party will begin after recess at 9:30. Thank you Jen and Shana for organizing this fun event and for everyone else who is able to contribute/volunteer to help!

Please remember to turn in your Natural Bridges fieldtrip permission slip and $4 by Friday. Many parents have offered to drive (thank you!), but to cut down on the number of vehicles, I’ve chosen the first seven cars that can accommodate the largest number of students. So our list of drivers will be the parents of Adam, Andrew, Bella, Carter, Kesha, Cole and Jack. The back-up parent drivers will include Madi, Elliot and Isabella. Everyone else that signed up to drive are still very welcome to come along and chaperone, but I’ll have you and your child carpool along in one of the other driver’s cars.

Lastly, as you all were notified, there have been two cases of lice reported in our class. All students were screened on Friday by our school’s health clerk, but you might want to check them regularly this week to stay on the safe side. Also, I hear that there is a great preventative spray called “Quit Nits” that can be found at CVS. Hopefully this does not spread around to everyone!

Have a wonderful week,
Zoë Skognes

Oct. 17-21

2011-10-16T08:39:00.001-07:00

Hi Kindergarten Families,

Thank you for taking the time to attend our parent-teacher conferences. I really enjoyed meeting with each of you and discussing how far each child has grown since the beginning of the year!

Students will begin a new series of take-home readers this week which focuses on reading simple 3-letter words. The first book teaches the "-at" word family which includes words such as cat, hat, bat, and sat. Have your child read these books each night until they can read them fluently. If you feel that your child needs additional practice, ask them to write a list of as many words as they can that rhyme with "cat" (or whatever the “word family” focus is).

Art/Music/Science: Students will learn songs and create art that is focused on classic Halloween animals such as black cats, bats and spiders! They will be making glittery spider webs and study the different body parts of a spider. They will also learn and write about bats!

Math: Students will continue practicing correct number writing of #1-10 and learn some beginning concepts of addition with Halloween manipulatives.

Word of the Week: “the”.

Writer’s Workshop: Students will be writing stories that combine Word Wall Words with words from the “-at” Word Family (ie: I see the cat in a hat on a mat.).

The students were so excited to receive their first homework packet on Friday. The packet contains practice of 5 letters (A-E) so I suggest that you have your child focus on one letter each night.

There were three new cases of Fifth’s Disease reported in our class last week so to avoid taking any risks, Mrs. Allen will be teaching for the first few days next week. I’m so happy that the students are having such an easy transition between the two of us! I’ll still be around school campus and may be back at the end of the week- we’ll see how it goes. Thank you all for being so understanding and supportive of this.

Have a great week,

Zoë Skognes

Oct. 10-14

2011-10-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hi Kindergarten Families!

Great news- there haven’t been any more cases of Fifth’s Disease in our class so I’m okay to return to the classroom! I can’t wait to see all those cute smiling faces on Monday!!

This week is Parent/Teacher conference week. The whole school (including Kindergarten) Will dismiss at 12:20 EACH day and our pick-up location will be at the park all week- please arrive on time so I won’t be late for my first conference. It is also very important that you arrive on time for your conference due to my very packed schedule. If you are early, you can check out the Book Fair that is happening in the library next door, or you can visit it with your child after school any day this week. On Friday, your child previewed the Book Fair with their 4th grade Reading Buddy who helped your child create a Wish List of their favorite books. I have also created a Wish List in case anyone is interested in contributing to our classroom collection of books!

Word of the Week: “go”

Writer’s Workshop: “I like to go to _____.”

Last letters for Handwriting!: H,h, U,u, R,r

Reading: This week's paper reader will review the following Word Wall Words: I, see, like, my, a, to.

Math/Science: Students will do a fun science experiment to see if/why pumpkins sink or float and estimate/count how many seeds can be in a pumpkin. They will also usE pumpkin seeds and Halloween manipulatives to work on patterning (the focus being: A,A,B, A,A,B)

Art: This art project is based on our new favorite song: “The 5 Little Pumpkins”. Ask your child to sing it to you!

Keep an eye out for your child’s first homework packet that will be sent home on Friday and needs to be returned by the following Friday. Directions will be included.

I just scheduled our first fieldtrip of the year! We will be going to Natural Bridges to see and learn about the Monarch butterflies on Tuesday, November 8th from 8:00-11:00. I will send home more information (including parent driver sign-ups) soon, but for now, I am asking that everyone send in $4.00 to cover the cost of this fieldtrip as well as the cost of a pumpkin that each child will recieve from our "Kinder Pumpkin Patch" later this month.

Lastly, I have just been notified by the Halstead family that Madi from our class has developed a severe tree nut allergy and we ask that you do not send anything containing walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, cashews and almonds (peanuts are ok) that will be shared with our class. Thank you!

Looking forward to seeing each of you at conferences,
Zoë Skognes

Oct. 3-7

2011-10-03T08:59:00.001-07:00

Hi Families!

As many of you know, I was out of the classroom on Thursday and Friday because of the Fifth Disease that is going around. Since it can be extremely dangerous for pregnant women, my doctor has instructed me to avoid being around exposed people until my blood work comes back which will determine if I’ve already had it and therefore am immune to it. Since I haven’t gotten the results back yet, I have to stay home again tomorrow. Luckily the kids are in VERY trusted hands while I’m gone with Caryn Allen (Carter’s mom) subbing for the class! Thank you Caryn!!

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten next week:

New Theme: Pumpkins! Students will learn about pumpkins through a study of the pumpkin life cycle as we compare it to the apple life cycle that we studied last week. They will explore color combinations by mixing primary colors (red, yellow and blue) to make “pumpkin colors” (orange and green). They will also learn a fun new song called “Five Little Pumpkins”.

Math: Number Order of #1-10. Keep your eye out for your child’s Pumpkin Number Line and use this at home to help your child practice Number Recognition and Number Sense (ie: “Can you point to the number ___ on your number line?” or “What number comes before/after ___?”)

Handwriting Focus: Q, q, B, b, D, d, U, u

Word of the Week: to

Writer’s Workshop: “I like to ________.”

Remember that the following week, October 10- 14, is Parent/Teacher Conference Week and kindergarten will dismiss at 12:20 EACH day that week.

Thanks,

Zoë Skognes

Sept. 26-30

2011-09-25T20:27:00.000-07:00

Hi Families!

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

Art/Science: Students are learning about the changes that an apple tree goes through during a year’s four seasons through a fun art project. Ask your child to sing our “4 Seasons” song to you! Last week we learned about our new season: Fall, and went for a walk around the school looking for signs of Fall. Ask your child to point out any signs of Fall in your neighborhood too!

Handwriting: P, p, G, g, J, j

Reading: Last week I sent home a paper book called “I see ‘ants’ ” that focused on the words “I” and “see”. The students were SO proud of themselves after reading their first kindergarten book! I will send a new book home each week after reading it with the kids in class. Please have your child read these books to you each time I send them home. If I highlight any words, it means that they need more practice learning those words.

New Word for the week: “my”.

Writer’s Workshop: “I see my _______.” “I like my ______.”

Math: Don’t forget to send in 3 apples by Tuesday! Students will be tasting several apple varieties and graphing their results. We will also use the apples to sort by color and size as well as use them in a patterning lesson. Finally, we will dissect an apple to estimate and count the seeds in an apple.

To finish our fun apple theme, we will have a Favorite Apple Recipe Potluck on Thursday! If your family has a favorite apple treat (ie: Apple Cake, Apple Muffins, Apple Sauce, ect) that you would like to share with our class, please bring it in on Thursday morning and the students will enjoy these treats at the end of the day.

Thanks!
Zoë Skognes

Sept. 19-23

2011-09-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

This week we will begin our theme of Apples. Throughout this theme, students will learn about graphing, measuring, sorting/patterning, colors, and the life cycle of an apple. On Monday I will be sending home an apple for each student to decorate with apple colored materials from home and cut out. Help them have fun and get creative with this since they will be sharing their apples in front of the class. Please finish and turn in the apple by Friday.

Handwriting Focus Letters: S,s, M,m, P,p

Word of the Week: “see”. Students will be writing “I see a ______.” We will also read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See” and then we will write our own class book version using an “I see a ______” sentence frame.

Thursday is Picture Day! Don't forget to send the picture order form with your child on Thursday if you want to order any prints. If you need another form you can pick one up in our school’s office.

Friday night is our school’s fun Harvest Festival! Hope to see you there!

Also, please remember that the conference schedule is still posted on the window near our front door- please sign up if you haven’t already done so.

Have a great week,
Zoë Skognes

Sept. 12-16

2011-09-12T16:12:00.001-07:00

Hi Kindergarten Families!

It was great to see so many of you at Back to School Night! If you did not get a chance to sign up for a conference that night, I will post the chart on the window next to our front door. If you are unable to come sign up at school, let me know and I will e-mail you the available dates. After everyone has signed up, I will send out reminders for your time slot/day. Also, if you didn’t get a chance to sign up for volunteering in the classroom, there is an “every other Monday” slot that is still open. Let me know if you’re interested!

As I discussed at Back-to-School night, I will begin to introduce the first Word Wall Word, “like”, this week. Remember, Word Wall Words are words that must be memorized and cannot be sounded out, like "here", "the" and "is". The 33 Word Wall Words that your child will be expected to spell/read by the end of the year are located in the packet that I gave you. This week, students will choose a classmate’s name and write “I like _______ (name of that classmate). They will also write another “I like _____” sentence with their own ending word. Whatever word they decide to write at the end of these sentences, I want them to sound out to the best of their ability. It's normal at this stage of writing for students to write only 2 or 3 sounds in each word and that's all that I want them to write for now. For example if they want to write the word "school" and they only hear the sounds "scl" that's totally fine- I just want them to feel successful in hearing and writing the main sounds of each word. Also, when they're writing at home, remind them to use "bunny ear finger spaces" between words, a capital first letter and a period at the end of the sentence.

Math Focus: continued introduction of number writing 1-10, patterns, and shapes.

Handwriting Focus Letters: C,c, E,e, A,a, O,o

Last week we had our first “Fun Friday” (20 minutes of free choice) in our classroom. One of the favorite activities was our play kitchen where the students enjoyed creating menus and “buying” food with fake money. If anyone has any plastic food, a small cash register, or anything else that would be fun for the kids to use during this creative exploration time, we’d love any donations or loans!

Thanks,

Zoë Skognes

Sept. 6-9

2011-09-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I am excited to have parent volunteers help out in the classroom this week. We will begin this Wednesday. If it is your day to come in, please arrive at 9:15, sign-in at the office and get a visitor sticker, then come to our classroom to organize homework folders while the class is at recess. Students will arrive back in the classroom at 9:30 and Centers will run from approximately 9:35- 10:30. If you are ever unable to attend, it is very important that you find a replacement or let me know in advance because the lessons that I plan rely on adult leadership/supervision. Please let me know if you need the contact information for the person rotating weeks with you so the two of you can plan accordingly for who will come each week. Here is the schedule:

Mondays: Caryn A., Debra W., Jen S./Amy R.

Tuesdays: Amee S., Jennifer E., Irene M./Catherine B.

Wednesdays: Becky C., Nan L., Jen Allen

Thursdays: Brett H./Shana D., Erin H./Jane H., Katie C./Kristin S.

Fridays: Kristin S.

In class we will continue our phonemic awareness lessons of rhyming and identifying letter names/sounds. We will also begin to practice correct number handwriting of numbers 1-10. For letter handwriting, we will focus on “straight line letters”: W, w, K, k, Y, y. Many students can use some extra support at home with cutting and writing their name. I will be sending home personalized name handwriting worksheets this week for extra practice. If students complete them at home, they can bring them back to school for kudos and stickers!

We have a few new activities to add to our weekly routines. Each Thursday from 8:00- 8:45, all kindergarten classes will participate in a new Choir class that our school’s SPECTRA program is supporting. Each Friday, our students will be visiting our school’s computer lab. Right now we are working on Starfall.com to practice letter names/sounds through fun interactive games. Check it out with your child on your computer at home! Also on Fridays, we will be meeting with our Big Buddies from Mrs. Davis’ 4th grade class to read and do fun projects with them throughout the year.

Thursday Night: Back-to-School Night! We will be meeting in our classroom and I will be discussing how this year will unfold and what you can expect.
6:30-7:10 pm: Kinder-3rd grade classroom presentations
7:15-7:30: Principal’s message
7:30-8:15: 4th-6th grade presentations

*Back-to-School Night is really an adult event and we ask that you make child care arrangements for your children so you will be able to fully attend without distractions.

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend with your families!

Zoë Skognes

August 28- Sept 2

2011-08-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Kindergarten Families!

In order to give everyone the most up-to-date information about our Kindergarten class, I will begin sending you a weekly update via e-mail. The same information will still be posted to the blog so if anyone does not want to be on this weekly e-mail list just let me know and I’ll take you off the list. Also please let me know if you’d like alternative/additional (ie: your spouse’s) e-mail addresses added to the list.

I have LOTS to tell you about this week so I apologize for this lengthy email.

Here’s what’s going on in class:

Handwriting: We will continue to focus on “straight line letters”: T,t and X,x (we did letters L,l and I,i last week). When helping your child write letters at home, remind them that when forming letters, they always start at the top and go down. And when forming words you always start on the left and go towards the right. Students are also practicing how to write their name correctly- beginning with a capital letter and following with all lower case letters. I always tell them to think of a “Big Momma Duck (capital letter) with a line of Little Baby Ducks (lowercase letters) following”. Please reinforce these skills at home with DAILY handwriting practice if needed.

Math: We will continue the concept of Patterning, Shapes and Colors.

Phonemic Awareness/Art: We will continue daily practice of our Zoophonics program which focuses on letter names/sounds, as well as begin a short unit of familiar Nursery Rhymes to practice rhyming and segmenting of simple words. We will do some fun Nursery Rhyme art projects and practice that tricky skill of cutting with scissors. :)

The students are quickly learning the routines of Centers and we will begin to have Parent/Teacher Led Centers on Wednesday, September 7th. Due to a change in our recess schedule this year, our Centers will now run between 9:30- 10:30, Monday through Thursday (however I’d love it if parents could come at 9:15, while we are at recess, to help with Homework Folders). I will also need one parent on Fridays between 8:00- 8:15 just to do the folders. I will post a sign-up sheet outside of our front door tomorrow morning for anyone that is able to volunteer in our classroom during these times. If you are unable to come sign up, you can e-mail me with your top 3 choices and I will happily add you to the list. I’m really looking forward to working with you in the classroom!

Beginning on Wednesday, the morning drop-off routine will be changing. All Kindergartners will go directly to the upper playground before school begins instead of to their classrooms. We have been practicing this routine with the students so they understand the playground safety rules and know where to line up, so they are ready for this transition. Our yard duty, Erin, and one of the kindergarten teachers will be up there supervising every morning beginning at 7:40. If you arrive before 7:40, please walk your child to the lower playground where Erin will be, and she will walk all students to our playground at 7:40. Also, Wednesday is our first re-structured day, so remember that the whole school dismisses at 12:20. If you pick your child up, please wait in the park and I will walk them to you.

I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend,
Zoë Skognes

August 22-26

2011-08-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

The first week of Kindergarten was a huge success! I am SO impressed with the easy transition that your children made. They all kept a caring and excited attitude throughout the week. As parents, you have all done an amazing job at raising confident, independent, and respectful children and you should all be very proud of them!

Last week, we worked on building a caring classroom community by learning each other's names, singing songs, playing games, doing fun art projects and most importantly learning and reviewing our classroom rules and procedures.

Here is what’s going on in Kindergarten this week:

Monday: Our school will begin its bi-monthly “Monday Morning Assembly”. If you arrive later than 7:55, please walk your child to the lower playground where the whole school joins together for announcements, songs and the Pledge of Alliance. Also, each Monday from 10:45-11:15, we will visit our school library where Mrs. Deering, our school librarian, will read stories to us. Kindergarten is a year to become familiar with the library and students are not allowed to check out books until they are in First Grade.

Tuesday: All students will have their vision and hearing tested by our district nurses. You can call our school office if you have any questions or concerns about this.

Wednesday: It is another non-restructured day so Kindergarten dismisses at 11:25.

In class, students will learn how center rotations work with activities that focus on handwriting (specifically letters Ll and Ii), shape/color patterning, number recognition and phonemic awareness. We will begin daily practice of "Zoophonics"- a wonderful program that teaches students the letter names and sounds of the alphabet. And lastly we will begin our "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" theme which focuses on the letters and sounds of the alphabet through themed books and art activities.

Thank you for all of the wonderful supplies that were donated last week! I’m thrilled to have such a supportive group of families this year!

See you tomorrow,
Zoë Skognes

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN!

2011-08-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Kindergarten Families!

I’m so excited to meet all of you and begin this VERY exciting year of fun and learning!

The first day of school is on Wednesday, August 17th. A few days prior to that, you will receive a letter in the mail with information about who your child’s teacher is, the room number, and an invitation to a “Meet your Teacher” event which will occur during the morning of Tuesday, August 16th (the specific time will be stated in your letter). Besides meeting the teacher, this is a great way to familiarize your child with the classroom, set up a bus schedule/going home routine, and most importantly, comfort any nerves that may be building up for the big first day!

If you've already started school shopping, please buy your child a REGULAR size backpack that can fit their lunchbox, a (provided 9x12) homework folder and a sweatshirt inside. Make sure to label ALL of these items (especially clothing). And for safety reasons, please NO rolling backpacks.

I've already purchased homework folders and most classroom supplies (crayons, pencils, journals, etc) for the students, however I do need cleaning supplies- which you will learn that I ask for numerous times throughout the year in order to keep everything clean and everyone healthy! So please check out my Wish List, located to the right of this posting and, if you can, bring at least one of the items to school. Thank you!

Looking forward to a wonderful year together,

Zoë Skognes