Parent-teacher conference week

Thank you to everyone who attended parent-teacher conferences this week.  I enjoyed showing you how much your child has grown, academically and socially, during the 1st trimester of Kindergarten.  A big thank you to everyone who volunteered to work a shift at the Scholastic Book Fair or donate items for teacher and staff dinner on Monday and Wednesday.  It is greatly appreciated!

  A look at our learning...

Fundations: over the past two short weeks we have learned THREE new letters: l, h, k.  Lowercase k can be super tricky for kids, but they are doing a great job!  We also learned about question marks, what they mean and when to use them in a sentence.

Please use the following verbal prompts when your child is forming their letters:

l-down

h-down, up, over

k-down, slant in, slant out

Writing Workshop: we have compiled a nice list of writing topics.  We can use this resource when we have finished one story and are ready to write a new piece. Students also have a small copy to keep in their writing folder as a reference.  We write stories about ourselves because that is what we are experts on!  Writing something that we know about allows students to focus on the craft of writing. What we write about doesn't have to be big, elaborate things like vacations, but rather every day things: going to Target, playing with our friends in the neighborhood, trick or treating, losing a first tooth, etc.  

Shared Reading & Spelling Words: we have been reading the books I like and What I like.  We continue to work on one to one matching (pointing to words), monitoring on the known (recognizing word wall words in texts, even if they don't know all of the words) and discussing the books we read.  

Next week's spelling word:

is

The spelling tests were a bit rough this week.  Please take a look at your child's test and help them practice any words missed over the 3 day weekend.  Regular practice is so important. 

Literacy Workstations: this week in the Friday Folder you will notice worksheets that your child completed.  These are activities they work on throughout the week during our literacy workstation time.  They focus on letters/letter sounds we are learning, our word wall words and more!  Not all workstations have worksheets to complete.  So if there aren't any in your child's folder from time to time, that just means they went to workstations that week that focused on other skills.  

Check out the pictures below to see your child hard at work during literacy workstations this week!

Math: this week we worked on addition and subtraction story problems (check out the bat math book they brought home), played a counting game called "Spin a number" and worked on putting numbers in order from 1-10 (check out the cute turkey number activity they brought home earlier this week).  

Science: over the past few weeks we have been enjoying learning about bats as part of our plants and animals science unit.  In September and October we learned about the life cycle of plants, specifically pumpkins, to prepare for our field trip to Peach Tree Farms.  This month we have been learning about animal life cycles and needs.  

Craft of the week: this week we made turkeys to decorate our classroom for Thanksgiving!  Why do we do crafts at the end of each week? While there are many reasons, here are a few: 

*helps children develop fine motor skills

*can boost cognitive skills

*creativity and imagination 

*teaches problem solving 

*helps with following multi-step directions

*encourages teamwork and social skills through conversation 

*teaches flexibility

*ties into educational aspects or holidays

Turkeys in disguise: we have had so much fun sharing our turkeys in disguise this week!  I love the creativity and hope you have enjoyed completing this project as a family!  Check out the cute turkeys we have so far!  I think it's safe to say they area all properly disguised and will be safe this Thanksgiving!  If your child hasn't turned theirs in yet, you have until next Friday, November 22nd.  The extra day off tomorrow would be a great time to work on this!  If you mis-placed yours and need a new one, please send me an email. 

Scholastic Book Fair: the students loved checking out the Scholastic Book Fair this week!  Tonight is the last night of the book fair. It is open from 3:30-7:30 in the library.  Books make great Christmas presents! 

Two of our friends won books from the book fair.  This week Mrs. Fitch gave away 10 books each morning during announcements and Ivvy, Laelah and Major each won a book of their choosing!  So exciting! 

Support Staff & Specialists Holiday Drive:  one final chance to donate a gift card to brighten the day of over 40 support staff and specialists at BEU.  These people are vital to making our school run!  There are MANY slots still available.  If every family donated just one $5 gift card, just think of how much joy that can spread!  Please help let these people know how much they are appreciated.  We do this now and give to them before Thanksgiving break, rather than Christmas, to help spread out spending.  Sign up here.

All gift cards are due to school by Monday, November 18th.  Put them in an envelope marked "BEU PTA holiday drive" and send to school with your child.  Thank you to the generous families who have already donated.  

More fun at school...

Heroes Day 2024

 I can't believe that November is already here and it's the end of 1st trimester!

The students have grown so much since the beginning of the year and I look forward to meeting with you next week at parent-teacher conferences to share about their progress.  Parent-teacher conferences are only 15 minutes long and we must stay on schedule or else it affects the scheduling of every teacher and every classroom.  I will use this time to chat about what I see in the classroom, their strengths and any areas they are still growing.  It is important that we meet with all families.  Please check your child's Friday Folder for their report card and the sign-up genius to remind yourself of the day/time you chose.  

A look at our learning...

Fundations: this week we learned THREE new letters: l, h, k.  Lowercase k can be super tricky for kids, but they are doing a great job! Since it was a short week, we will continue to work on the same letters next week as well.  Due to this, there will not be a Fundations parent packet or optional handwriting homework in the Friday Folder today.  These will come home next week. 

Please use the following verbal prompts when your child is forming their letters:

l-down

h-down, up, over

k-down, slant in, slant out

Spelling: due to the short week, we did not have a spelling check today.  Our new word this past week was like and we will continue to practice that word next week.  Our spelling check will be next Thursday. 

Writing: As part of our ongoing writing journey, we are focusing on helping students understand where writers get their ideas. We are encouraging them to think creatively and draw inspiration from their own experiences, observations, and imagination. By brainstorming and discussing possible ideas, students will strengthen their ability to generate unique and personal stories.

In addition, we are working on labeling with beginning and ending sounds in their writing. This practice helps students develop phonemic awareness and supports their spelling and writing skills. By focusing on these sounds, they are learning to connect letters to the sounds they make, which is an essential part of early literacy development.

Literacy Workstations: this week we learned several new workstation activities that will help us practice our spelling words.  Check them out in the pictures below. 

One of our new activities is Search & Tally.  Students search through books for specific word wall words.  When they find one, they tally on their paper.  A great way to practice words at home as well!

Another one is Roll a Sight Word. Students roll a dice and read the sight word on their paper that correlates with the number rolled.  They also write the word on the paper.  

Lunch with the principal: yay Timmy! He was chosen to have Lunch with the Principal for the month of October!   He enjoyed lunch with Mrs. Isenogle and 4 lucky winners from the other Kindergarten classes. 

**This was postponed last week due to Mrs. Isenogle having sick kiddos. 

Math: this week we discussed positional words with a fun turkey activity, learned a new math game called "spin a number" and continued to work on learning how to correctly write numbers 0-10.  If you can write those numbers, you can write any number!  

Scholastic Book Fair: the students loved checking out the Scholastic Book Fair this week!  Book Fair hours are listed in the Kindergarten Newsletter in your child's Friday Folder.  We still need volunteers to work a quick and easy one-hour shift next week.  Click here to sign up.  We appreciate you helping out! 

Heroes Day: thank you to all of the grandparents, everyday heroes and past and present members of our military for joining us for our annual BEU Heroes Day. This is such a special Beulah Ralph tradition.  We enjoyed listening to the John Warner Middle School band and choir perform, Rock Bridge cheerleaders perform and local author, businesswoman and Honor Flight volunteer Michele Spry speak. We also had a surprise appearance from Truman the Tiger! We also recognized all active and former members of the military in the audience, as well as listen to BEU students share about their hero.  We especially enjoyed our classmate, Kimball, speaking about his hero.  Way to go, Kimball! 

Did your child miss out on having a visitor this year?  No worries, this is a yearly tradition and we hope they can visit next year! Enjoy a few pictures below.  MANY more are posted on our class Facebook page. 

Disguise a turkey family project: in your child's Friday Folder is a super fun family activity that I hope all families will participate in!  Work as a family to disguise the turkey so he doesn't get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner!  Get as creative as you'd like!  This is a tradition in my classroom and we love seeing all of the projects come in.  They are due no later than Friday, November 22nd, but feel free to turn them in as soon as you complete it!  We will share them and add to our bulletin board as they come in! 

Need some inspiration? Go to Google and type in "disguise a turkey project ideas" and so many will pop up!  I just did it and saw so many cute ideas!  Please reach out if you have questions.