Happy Valentine's Day!

A look at our learning...

Fundations: all year we have known c and k make the same sound and we always just had to guess which letter we used for certain words....until now!  We learned that we have to listen to the vowel sound that follows the /c/ or /k/ sound to help us determine if we use a c or a k.  If we hear the a, o or u sound, we use the letter c.  If we hear the i or e sound, we use the letter k.  We have the poster you see below to use as a resource when tapping out and spelling words.  The kiddos have done a GREAT job of using this chart to help them know which letter to use.

Writing Workshop: our opinion writing unit is in full swing, and it is always such a fun one! We have been talking about the difference between facts and opinions and practicing how to share our thinking clearly.

This week, we read the fun book Duck! Rabbit! and shared our opinions about whether we thought the main character was a duck or a rabbit.  We also read I Wanna Iguana about a little boy who writes letters back and forth to his mom, sharing his opinion about why he needs a pet iguana.

The students also write a letter to YOU about a pet they would like to have at home and gave reasons to support their opinion. Look for them to bring this home next week.  

Spelling words: next week's spelling words will be introduced on Tuesday, due to no school on Monday.  The test will still be on Friday.  However, I encourage you to start practicing this weekend, as "said" is very tricky and I notice many words being spelled incorrectly over the past few weeks as the words become more difficult. 

Next week's new spelling words:

said

am

Math:  we are diving back into learning about 2D shapes and taking our understanding even deeper by focusing on their attributes. Students are using mathematical vocabulary such as vertices and sides to describe and compare shapes. At this point in the year, kindergarteners should be able to recognize and name the following basic shapes: square, rectangle, triangle, circle, hexagon, trapezoid, and rhombus. Beyond just naming them, we are practicing identifying how many sides and vertices each shape has and noticing what makes them the same or different. It’s been wonderful to hear them confidently using their “math words” during discussions!

We are also continuing our learning about money during our Number Corner Calendar Time. We are focusing specifically on pennies and nickels and understanding that 5 pennies are equivalent to one nickel. Each day of school in February, we add one penny to our collection. When we reach 5 pennies, we trade them in for a nickel! This not only helps students understand the value of coins, but it also connects to our calendar and the number of school days in February. We are practicing counting by 5’s as we add our nickels, building strong number sense along the way.

Library Checkout Reminder:  we are noticing that quite a few students are not bringing their library books back on our assigned checkout day, which is Thursday each week. We want all students to be able to check out new books and avoid the disappointment of not being able to get new ones because their books were not returned.

To help with this, the expectation from the library is that library books stay in your child’s backpack at all times unless they are actively reading them. When they are finished reading, the book should go right back into the backpack — not on a nightstand, bookshelf, desk, or special reading spot at home.

Keeping books in backpacks helps in several ways:

• Students are not upset on Thursdays when they can’t check out a new book.

• Parents do not have to keep track of library days.

• Most importantly, it helps keep our library books safe and protected.

Thank you for helping your child build this responsible habit and for supporting our library expectations!

Valentine Parties: We had so much fun at our final class party of the school year! The children created a picture frame craft, which they brought home today as a special gift for you. They also played Valentine Bingo and enjoyed a Valentine Cake Walk—every student earned a prize, regardless of the outcome!

A huge thank you to our wonderful Room Parent, Kayla Hagedorn, for organizing all of our class parties this year! We also deeply appreciate the many families who donated supplies or gave their time at one, or more, of the parties. Your generosity does not go unnoticed!

We also enjoyed passing out valentines to classmates. If you ever want to feel loved on Valentine’s Day, just visit a Kindergarten classroom—there was so much kindness and love to share!

Here are a few photos, but many more are posted in our class Facebook group. 

Sneaky Reading: a reminder that our February Sneaky Reading Challenge is to "read at a restaurant."   If your family goes out for a meal this weekend, take some books with you for the kids to read, rather than a device to play on, and snap a photo to share on our class Facebook page.  I'd love to see more participation in this each month to encourage reading outside of school.  

Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence- CFAE: The Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence was established during the 1979-1980 school year with the purpose of providing cash awards to educators who are selected as exemplary in certain categories. At Beulah Ralph Elementary, we firmly believe in recognizing the dedication and excellence of our educators and we are excited to announce our Beulah Ralph Elementary Columbia Fund for Academic Excellence (CFAE) nominees! Congratulations to Bailey Imler, Kasey Boyer and Meghan Canlas. 

Outstanding Elementary Educator of the Year, Grades Pre-K-2 - Mrs. Bailey Imler
Outstanding Elementary Educator of the Year, Grades 3-5 - Mrs. Kasey Boyer
Outstanding Educator in a Specialized Area -  Mrs. Meghan Canlas (speech and language pathologist)

We would love to gather as many letters of support as possible for our BEU nominees! Our staff will be submitting letters on their behalf, and we warmly invite families to do the same.

If your children have had one of these teachers and would like to write a letter supporting one of our three nominees, please be sure to include the following:

1. Name of nominee
2. State the reasons why you believe the nominee is worthy of this award. Your letter should outline specific examples of how the teacher has made a difference in your child's life and why you believe they deserve this honor.

Please submit your nomination letter to our secretary, Barb Lambert, by February 27th.  Thank you for your support in recognizing the incredible efforts of our teachers!

I had the honor and privilege to receive this award in 2019.  I was nominated by my colleagues, like the teachers above, and then won the Outstanding Elementary Educator of the Year award for grades PreK-2 for all of CPS.  The letters are what mean the most.  I hope you will take the time to write one for at least one of our nominees.  I promise you, your words will mean more than you know. 

Shakespeare's Pizza Fundraiser: a reminder that our Shakespeare’s Pizza Fundraiser ends this Friday, January 20th! 🍕

Whether you sell one pizza to your own family or 30 pizzas to friends and neighbors, every order directly supports our students and our school. We truly appreciate any participation, big or small, as it all makes a difference!

Information and order forms came home in Friday Folders a couple of weeks ago. If you need another form, please contact the PTA at beupta@gmail.com and they will be happy to help.  Thank you for supporting our school!

Request: Flu and illnesses are at an all-time high right now in our school and community. Over half of our class has had something since returning from winter break.

I strongly encourage you to wash backpacks, coats (and gloves and hats) and lunchboxes over this long weekend. Even if you did over winter break, that was almost two months ago. I also encourage you to wash their water bottles daily for a while if you don't already.

Thank you for taking a little extra time to hopefully get these germs out of our school, your household, and our community! P.S. reinforcing proper handwashing and hands out of mouth, nose, etc. is always appreciated.

More fun at school

100 days of learning

                                            A look at our learning...

100th day of school:  we had a full day of fun learning on Tuesday with all things 100!  Math problems, writing activities, crafts and more!  My class understood the assignment when it came to dressing up as 100-year-olds!  They all looked great and I love that so many participated!  Below are a few pictures but check the class Facebook page for more! 

Fundations:  we continue to work on tapping out and reading/writing 3-letter words. This helps students hear each sound and connect it to the letters they write. As a reminder, the pictures on the optional handwriting homework in the Friday Folder are all 3-letter CVC words (consonant-vowel-consonant) to support this same learning. I review the pictures with the students every Friday, so they feel confident and ready to practice at home.

Next week's new spelling words

of

we

Writing Workshop: we have begun our opinion writing unit, and it is always a fun one! We talked about the difference between a fact and an opinion and read a cute story called Not Norman: A Goldfish Story. The students shared their opinions about what pet they think is the best and why.

During library check-out on Thursday, Mrs. Fitch read Seals are jerks!, which also ties into our learning about facts vs. opinions.  Ask your child about this fun book!

Math: we are becoming money experts! Right now, we are learning about pennies and nickels; how a penny is worth 1 cent and a nickel is worth 5 cents. The students are practicing trading five pennies for one nickel and learning that they are equal in value. We are learning through fun whole-group lessons, games, and songs. Click here for one of the songs we have learned this week!  

Parent Tip: If you have spare pennies or nickels at home, letting your child practice counting and trading them is a great way to support this learning!

School Counselor's Week:  we had so much fun celebrating National School Counselors Week with our special theme days! I loved seeing how many students participated and showed their school spirit. Today, we also had our twice-a-month counselor lesson with Mrs. Bernier, and the students showered her with love by making handmade cards and coloring sheets just for her. We are so lucky to have Mrs. Bernier and Mrs. Eagle as our school counselors here at Beulah Ralph Elementary!

World Read Aloud Day: we celebrated this special day on Wednesday by reading with our 4th grade buddies in Ms. Cohen's class.  Here are a few photos, but photos of all students are on our class Facebook page. 

Global School Play Day: as Mr. Rogers said "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning, but for children play IS serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood."  We had such a fun day learning through play and I love that Beulah Ralph values this day every school year. Even more pictures on the class Facebook page. 

Valentine's Day: if your child hasn't started working on their valentines, start this weekend!  It is important that the student is the one who writes their name and their friends name on their valentine.  This is good practice for them!  However, sitting down to do all of them at once will be overwhelming and tough.  I recommend doing a few each day.  Information about this was sent home a few weeks ago in Friday Folders, as well as a class list of names. I am also sending home the same note as a reminder in this week's folder. 

We still have a few slots left on the party sign-up. Thank you for helping to make our final class party a success.  

PJ's and Pancakes: we hope to see many BEU families enjoying this free event tomorrow!  They are also still looking for more volunteers- an easy way to help your child's school!  Check the signup here to see how you can help.

Friday Craft: this month, our schoolwide character trait focus is kindness. To tie this in with Valentine’s Day, we read the story Love Monster and created our very own Love Monsters! As we crafted, we brainstormed what it means to be a good friend and wrote our ideas right on our Love Monsters. These sweet reminders of kindness and friendship are now hanging in the hallway on proud display for all to see. What a wonderful world it would be if we all showed just a little more kindness each day!

More fun at school