What's new in Room 302?

                                                                A look at our learning...

Fundations: this week we learned the name, sound and correct letter formation for lowercase n and m. 

Please use the following verbal prompts when practicing at home:

n: down, up and over

m: down, up and over, up and over

So far this year we have learned the following letters: t, b, f, n, m.  Now that they have learned how to form these letters, they should be forming them correctly at all times, not just during Fundations.  If your child has one of these letters in their name, please hold them accountable for forming it correctly every time they write their name. 

Writing: we are working on "3 Star Coloring."  This means we 1) stay in the lines 2) use colors that make sense 3) fill in the white space.  In Kindergarten we take our time, do our best and don't scribble.

Spelling and Shared Reading: I forgot to mention it last week, but we began learning Word Wall Words (spelling words) and will learn one new word a week.  Later this year, it may bump up to two words per week.  These are words that your child should be able to quickly read and write after learning them. Right now, we are just practicing them in the classroom, but in October we will be sending words home for you to practice as well.  More information will be sent when that time comes. 

Last week's word was to and this week's word is me. Check out our class Facebook page to see a video of one way we practice reading these words. 

Math: this week we learned that numbers can be represented in many ways, such as tallies, pictures, fingers, words, and written number.  We also learned about shapes and their various attributes, patterns and five frames.  A five frame is a visual tool that consists of a rectangular grid with five spaces, designed to help children easily visualize and understand numbers up to five by placing objects within the spaces to represent quantities.  

Social Studies: we continued our study on Citizenship this week. 

In Kindergarten this means: 

*being able to recite the Pledge of Allegiance (still working on this one)

*being able to recite the Beulah Ralph School Pledge (they are doing awesome with this)

*describing how groups need to make decisions and how those decisions are made in families and classrooms

*learning how to resolve disputes peacefully on the playground and in the classroom

*identify roles and responsibilities of people in authority in families and at school

September Reading Challenge: don't forget to post your child's "Sneaky Reading Challenge" photo on our class Facebook page.  This month's challenge was "reading on the way to or from an appointment." I know several kiddos have been in and out of school this month for various appointments, so that car ride is a great time to get out a book and read!  I'd love to see their photos!  The challenges are shared every month when I send home that month's reading log.  Don't forget that the BEU homework expectation for grades K-1 is for your child to read or be read to at least 4 times a week/15 minutes per time, record on the reading log sent home and sent back to school at the end of the month.

Circus Class Baskets: all items for our class basket for the circus are due by next Friday, September 20th.  Thank you to all who have donated so far!  There are still several spots available if you'd like to donate to our Lego themed basket. We'd love to have a full basket! Click here to sign up. 

Circus Volunteers Needed:  PTA is currently recruiting volunteers for Flash's Big Top Circus! The biggest fundraiser of the year will take place on Friday, September 27th from 6:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. If you are willing to serve during part of the event, please follow the link provided and choose the time that will work for you! The circus is...well...a circus...so we need YOUR help to make it all happen! Working a quick and easy 30-minute shift means so much! Your child can even work the shift with you and then you can have more fun when your shift is over! What a fun way to teach responsibility and serving your school! As always, email any questions to beupta@gmail.com

Click here to sign up.

Classroom Celebrations

This week we started two, end of day celebrations, The Secret Walker & Positive Notes

Secret Walker: this "award" recognizes someone who exhibited excellent hallway behavior.  Every morning, I pull a name stick out of a bucket at random.  The students don't know whose name is on the stick.  I watch that child all day to see if they are walking quietly in the hallway with "bubbles, tails and eyes forward." At the end of the day, if that child was successful, I announce who the Secret Walker was, we cheer for them and they earn a certificate to take home!  If the Secret Walker struggled with doing their job in the hallway that day, I never announce who it was, but rather put their name stick back in the bucket and let the class know we'll try for a winner the next day.  

Asher was our first Secret Walker winner of the year! 

Positive Note: this "award" recognizes someone who was a Beulah Ralph learner all day long.  They followed our BEU expectations: kind, respectful, responsible, positive and did their best.  I write a little note to the child sharing what I noticed and read it out loud to the class at the end of the day.  We all cheer for our friend, like we do with the Secret Walker award, and they get to bring it home to share with their family!  Every month I have a themed notepad and I write each child's name on a page.  This ensures I celebrate every child, at least once, every month.  When a new month arrives, I switch notepads and continue this throughout the year. 

Koda was our first Positive Note winner of the year! 

Notes from the School Nurse: the dental clinic is on Monday September 30th starting at 9:00 a.m. (and running all day until they are done) and the flu clinic is on Monday October 28th from 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. If you would like your child to take part in either, please fill out the forms sent home in last week's Friday Folder and return to school. If you need another form, just let us know.

Kindergarten Families Picnic: we hope to see all Kindergarten families on Thursday, September 19th from 6:00-7:30 p.m. on the back playground. The Patty Wagon Food Truck will be there with food you can purchase, or you can bring your own food! Please bring chairs or a blanket to sit on. This is a yearly Kindergarten tradition, and we hope you all can make it! A great way to interact more with your child's teacher, meet their new friends and meet other families.

More fun at school

Hello September

A look at our learning...

Fundations: we learned the name, sound and correct letter formation for lowercase b and f this week.  When making these sounds please make sure your child is not adding "uh" to the end of the sound.  It should be a quick sound rather than "fuh" or "buh."   The same goes for the letter t.  It should be a quick t sound and not "tuh."  We don't want to add the u/"uh" sound to the end of any letters, unless there is an actual u with it.  

Please use the following verbal prompts when practicing at home:

b-down, up, around

f-over, down, across

If your child has t, b or f in their name, please hold them accountable for forming it correctly at all times. 

Heggerty: you may hear your child talk about Heggerty time and think "what in the world is Heggerty?" Heggerty is a phonemic awareness program that works on rhyme, beginning/ending sounds, blending and segmenting words, adding and deleting phonemes and substituting phonemes.  Daily Heggerty lessons will help your child learn how to read, write and spell as they hear sounds in words.

Math: this week we played a fun counting game called "Count and Sit", discussed birthdays and months of the year, learned what a graph was and made a graph that shows who is 5 years old and who is 6 years old in our class, and learned that numbers can be represented in many different ways (numbers, tallies, pictures, words, etc.)

  

Does your child know when their birthday is?  Ask them! If they don't, this is an important thing for you to work on at home. 

Social Studies: our current unit of study is citizenship.  This ties in nicely with learning rules, routines and expectations of school.  We are also working on learning the Pledge of Allegiance and the Beulah Ralph School Pledge.  They are getting better every day!  

A copy of the school pledge is in your child's Friday Folder so that you can practice at home as well. 

Crafts: we will do a craft every Friday and sometimes more!  Craft activities help children develop many important life skills including: creativity and imagination, self expression, confidence and independence, fine motor skills, problem solving, hand eye coordination, social skills and critical thinking.  

This week we did a torn paper craft with our names.  Tearing paper into small pieces is a great fine motor activity that strengthens their hand muscles, therefore helping them hold a pencil and build stamina for writing.  

Counselor Lessons: this week we had our first counselor lesson with Mrs. Alls.  She will visit our classroom every other week.  The counselors teach a 30 minute lesson and focus on important skills such as feelings and how to manage them, friendship skills, social skills and safety.  We have two wonderful counselors at our school, Mrs. Alls and Ms Otto.   

Alphabet Fun: today we had a yummy treat to help us practice identifying our letters! Each child was given a bag of alphabet cookies and a "cookie sheet" with the letters printed on it.  They were instructed to take a cookie out of the bag, say it's name, color it on the "cookie sheet" and then they could eat it!  Learning is fun and yummy!

We also read the books Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 and made crowns with the letters in our names in the coconut tree. 

Food Drive: the Mizzou Homecoming Food Drive ends on Monday.  Students may bring items to school and put in the bins in the front foyer.  Thanks to all who have donated so far and shown your students a wonderful lesson of kindness, empathy and giving to others less fortunate. 

PTA: as of our first PTA meeting last week, we have 67 members of Beulah Ralph PTA.  That number is shockingly low considering we have over 600 students.  We would love for ALL of you to get involved in PTA.  Even if you can't attend meetings or be super involved, simply filling out the membership form and paying $5 will help our school in SO many ways.  You can do that and nothing else or become as involved as you want.  We love and welcome both types of members!

Need another membership form to sign up?  Email me and I will send another one home. 

Don't forget...

to send in a family picture, in a frame, for your child's cubby.  No bigger than 4x6 and the frame can't exceed 8 inches in width or it won't fit.  The picture can be vertical or horizontal.  It is so nice to see our family pictures throughout the day!

Fun with friends, in the library and classroom

"Play gives children the chance to practice what they are learning" 

-Fred Rogers