Happy 2025

I hope everyone had a wonderful, extended winter break!  I enjoyed the extra snow days, but it has been great to be back at school and in a routine with the students!

The students did a nice job transitioning back to school and, for most, it was like we hadn't even been gone!  They didn't miss a beat!  I'm so proud of them!  

Fundations: we reviewed how to correctly form uppercase letters A-H.  We jumped right back into learning how to "tap out" 3 letter words when reading and writing.  Check your child's Friday Folder for the Fundations family packet for ways to extend their learning at home. I strongly encourage you to do the daily "tapping out words" activities with them.  This is going to make them stronger readers and writers and keep them on track for the end of kindergarten expectations. 

You will notice that your child's optional handwriting homework in the Friday Folder is different.  It is practice for uppercase and lowercase letters and is 2 sided.  To earn their prize, they must complete all parts of both sides.  The coloring portion must be neat, 3 star coloring, and not scribbles. 

Shared Reading:  this week we read the Big Book Look at me.  This book had many word wall words in the text and we are really discovering that we are becoming real readers!  So exciting!  

Next weeks new spelling words:

mom

love

When writing the word "mom" we will be reinforcing that the letter "m" should be lowercase.  Mom is what we call our mothers, but it is not their official name, so the "m's" should not be uppercase.  Please practice this at home as well. 

Writing Workshop: this week we worked on a special writing activity to share about what we did over winter break and the snow days.  Each day we had a share time where we shared about our winter break and recorded our sharing on this paper.  Check your child's folder to see their writing! 

Math: we worked on teen numbers, combining pattern blocks in different ways to make a hexagon and multiple way to make a number (example: 3 and 2 and 4 and 1 are both ways to make 5). Check your child's Friday Folder for ways to extend math learning at home. 

Social Studies: we learned about Martin Luther King Jr, why he is important and his special holiday on Monday. So many great lessons about kindness, equality, friendship and love and how WE, no matter how small, can make a difference in our world. Your child has a poem coming home in their Take Home Folder and check out this cute craft we made to display in our classroom!

Spirit Wear Monday's: a reminder that every Monday is Spirit Wear Monday at Beulah Ralph. This has been a tradition since Beulah Ralph opened 9 years ago. We would love it if all students and teachers/staff wear their spirit wear every single Monday.  If we aren't at school on a Monday, like next week, we wear it on Tuesday.  Basically, send your kiddos to school in their spirit wear the first day of every week!  It shows such great community and team spirit!

Being responsible for school things:  Before and after break, many students have been coming to school regularly without things they need.  Please help set up a routine to help your child remember that they need the following items every single day: Daily Take Home Folder (grownups please clean this out every night), healthy snack (no chips, cakes, cookies, candies), water bottle.  Library books should be in their backpack daily, but our day to check out it Tuesday.  It is very important they have books on this day.  While ultimately it is the students responsibility, they need a little guidance from you.  If you need a visual to hang up at home, email me.  I have one that I'm happy to share.  It's great to hang in their room or on the fridge as a checklist for them. I always tell them it's their job to take care of their things because mom and dad have to take care of their work and home things, but as their grownups, we do have to help set up the routine.  Thanks for your help and support! 

PJ's and Pancakes: we have a fun PTA event coming up that is a sweet Beulah tradition.  It is free to all BEU families. We'd love for you to attend and to help out if you can.  Even if you can't volunteer your time, we need griddles and spatulas donated as well.  Check the signup here to see how you can help and mark your calendars to attend!

Lunch with the Principal:  Yay Ramsey!  He was chosen to have Lunch with the Principal for the month of January! 

Counselor: this week the students discussed empathy and kindness vs unkind.  What an important kindergarten lesson!  

More fun from our week

Happy Holidays

A look at our learning...

Fundations: now that we have finished learning all 26 lowercase letters, we are moving onto reading and writing 3-4 letter words by "tapping them out."  Ask your child to show you how to tap out a word.  More information on tapping will be sent home when we return from winter break. 

Heggerty: this is a time where we work on phonological and phonemic awareness.  The last few weeks we have been learning about word families.  We have learned that word families are the same at the end of the word and this is why they rhyme.  We also learned that if you know one word in a word family, you can make many new words.  For example: since we know the spelilng word can, it also helps us know how to read and write man, tan, fan, ran, etc.  

Check out the word families we have worked on below.  The students came up with the words in each family on their own! 

Spelling: I highly encourage you to spend time practicing their spelling words, reading and writing them, over the winter holiday.  While we want you to enjoy your break, students who do not participate in learning activities during these times show regression upon the return to school.  This includes reading books to your child or having them read to you a minimum of 4 times a week/15 minutes per time and recording on their December Reading Log.  I'm sure their grandparents or other family members would love to read with them during the holidays!  Be sure to snap a picture and post it on our class Facebook page since our December sneaky reading challenge is to catch your child reading over winter break.  Bonus points if it's by the Christmas tree!

As usual, they are bringing home the most recent list of spelling words in their take home folder for you to have as a reference.

When we return from winter break, we will introduce two new words a week, rather than one.  This is another reason to really practice their current words and help them have a strong start in 2025.  If you want to get a head start, I've listed the two new words below.  They will be introduced on January 6th. 

look

up

Writing Workshop: we continue to work on sounding out, or now tapping out, words to help us spell when writing our stories.  This is a continuous theme in Kindergarten writing.  Their words should be more decodable and easier to read now that they know all of their letter sounds.

Math: this week we worked on teen numbers, recognizing numbers on a ten frame (including a ten frame game that came home earlier this week for you keep and play),and combining pattern blocks (shapes) in different ways to make a hexagon.  

Packmate of the Month: yay Laelah!  She was chosen, by her peers, as our December Packmate of the Month!  We are so proud of her!

Family Traditions: we have thoroughly enjoyed hearing about each child's family traditions this week.  The students were so excited to share special things about their family and did an amazing job! Thank you so much to the families who participated in this sweet project. 

Kindergarten Cozy Day:  what a fun day we had today!  We were comfy, cozy while we watched The Polar Express in our pj's and cuddled up under blankets.  We also enjoyed fresh popcorn and hot chocolate.  Special thanks to Starbucks for donating cups for the hot chocolate.  The kids were so excited and I think they felt pretty special!  

We also had fun exchanging books during the class book exchange.  Every child is coming home with a brand new book from a classmate, as well as a book and bookmark from me as a Christmas gift! 

A special thanks to Heidi Clements and all of the families who donated to or assisted with our winter class party today.  We decorated Christmas cookies and ate lots of yummy food!  I have so many pictures from today and will post them on the class Facebook page. 

I want to wish each and everyone of you a very, Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!  Enjoy the next few weeks with your families and I will see you in 2025! Thank you so much for all the sweet cards, gift cards, gifts, etc.!  You spoil me! 

A few more pictures from the week