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Hello parents, 

Though the post is usually up on Friday, I will not be able to write it until tomorrow this week. 

One of my best friends is getting married and my husband, toddler, and myself are all standing up in the wedding. 

It is local so tomorrow I will get right to it. Sorry for any inconvenience. 

Picture Day-TOMORROW

Picture Day!
Picture day is tomorrow!  

Please note:

•  even if you are not purchasing photos, we take everyone's photo for a class composite.  
• Please send your child dressed for photos.  They go in age order so we are in the beginning of the day day so we get pictures out of the way before we have time to get messy.
• If you do not want your child to stay in their picture day clothes, you can send "play clothes" and a note in their folder that they are supposed to change and we will send them to change in the bathroom.  Please note if you want them to change, they must be able to do it themselves.
• Any questions, please feel free to ask!

Child Development Fair

Is this normal?  I know my child cant say certain letters, is that typical for the age or something I should be worried about?  I just am not sure if my child is where he/she should be right now.  My child seems to need a little more help with certain things-what tools can I use at home, What tools can my child's teacher use in the room to help them?

If you find yourself with any questions like these, please attend the FREE child development fair!  It is open to the district and it is for you as parents to meet with specialists to answer those questions. Feel free to contact me with more questions as well. 

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!

Please send in those family photos!  They love to see their family when they may be missing you as well as make them feel like we are a part of a school family!  Thanks


We started the week off by reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  It was a fun intro into letters!  We then started with a project of writing our names and stamping 4 letters onto a chicka tree.  We are going to put those together in a class book to work on reading letters as well as have something fun they made in our reading center.

We then got to watch the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Movie! It was a fun catchy tune and kids seemed to like it!

Wednesday, we read the book Chica Chicka 1,2,3.  We cut apart our name and saw if Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 our names fit up the tree!  We made our trees from ripped up paper to help with our direction following as well as our fine motor skills.  It also helped us to start one to one counting (only count for each touch you do and everything gets one touch).

We then got to watch the Chicka Chicka 1,2,3 movie.  Again, we really enjoyed the fun catchy tune!

We have been working a lot on name writing.  It is important that your child can write their name because it is the foundation of a lot of their writing skills, the beginning of their letter recognition, strengthens and refines their fine motor skills, and it is important to be on all papers so we know whose it is!  Please work on name writing at home. Sheets are in our writing center to help them at school.

We also made a thank you card for the Calument County Sheriffs Office (my neighbor is an officer there) for Thank a  Police Officer Day (Sep 19).  Student cut out a shield, glued on a label (working on one circle of the glue stick is enough), wrote/traced thank you, wrote/traced Love, and then wrote their name.  My neighbor's wife dropped them off earlier this week and they absolutely loved them! 

With all this Chicka Chicka talk it was only right we started our letter of the week!

The letter of the week was Ll. We learned the sign language for a letter, the literacy link sound symbols, the letter sound, and looking at and writing it in both capital letters and lower case letters.  Click here to view the many ways we learn the letter of the week!

Each week we watch letter videos from "Have Fun Teaching" and the students are really picking up the names of letters, formations, and the sounds of letters.  Check out these videos with you child!  Click HERE.

The Tuesday project of letter of the week is to decorate a letter with something that starts with the letter. This week we decorated the letter L with Lego's dipped in paint.  On Thursday, our letter of the week project was to read a page from our alphabet book, L is for Lion.

Students also do a maze of the letter helping get from one object to another starting with that letter, find and color all of the letter, color a page of something that starts with that letter, and make a crown at the end of the week to be the Kings and Queens of the letter!


We also do a handwriting sheet.  This is important because writing the letters correctly helps with efficency as well as learning cursive down the line.  We ALWAYS START AT THE TOP.  Please encourage students to write the letter correctly!

Important Notes:

• As a part of our room decorations and to make every one feel at home, we have a "family and friends" board in our room.  Students will feel more at home and have a school family if they have their home family with them.  (The same as you putting a family picture on your desk).    Please feel free to send in a family photo that will be stapled up on our wall for the duration of the school year. Send in those family photos!
• Field Trip is quickly approaching.  If you are interested in going on the field trip, you must have all the background checks submitted as soon as possible.  We are going on Tuesday September 29 to Hofacker Orchard.
• Background checks. When it comes to these, we assume you are good unless we get a note otherwise, but we are counting on it not being processed (and will not make that assumption that it was run and you are good) until 2 WEEKS AFTER TURNING THE FORMS IN.
• Homework Some parents have asked about homework and keep home stuff.  Homework would be the only blank stuff sent home.  We have a homework stamp page in the back of you child's every day folder.  When you do homework with your child and send it back, we stamp the homework, stamp the homework page, and then send it back. Anything with a stamp on it or a project that is already done is yours to keep.  The homework page in the back of the folder explains more about homework. Homework TYPICALLY comes home on Thursdays and it is some reinforcing of letters at home (same sheet different letters so they also become independent).
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 
• Book Order due September 25th.  Please click on the link for scholastic at the top of this page.  When you buy books for your child, it helps buy books and supplies for our classrooms. 

Next Week:
Theme: Apples
Letter of the Week: Tt
AM Snack: Whitney
PM Snack : Wagner
***Thanks to a parent suggestion, here is a healthy snack list site that can help with some ideas!***
Snack List

Some pictures of our playing this week!

Week 2- Our 5 Senses

Please send in those family photos!  They love to see their family when they may be missing you as well as make them feel like we are a part of a school family!  Thanks

This week's theme was our 5 senses.  We talked a lot about how it would help us to learn about the wolrd to use our  5 senses.  


We started the week off with name writing in shaving cream.  It was a nice 5 senses project as well as name writing!

We read the story My 5 Senses and students began to predict the words on the pages based on the pattern and context.  Great job friends!  They caught on to the 5 senses pretty quick.  Some friends cut out sentences and put the picture that matched onto them.  They are making connections between the body part and verb that goes with it: nose to smell, ears to hear, tounge to taste, hands to feel, and eyes to see.

Students also got to do some science.  There were bags of mystery materials and students had to use their 5 senses to figure out what it is.  I used orange jello powder, sugar, and salt.  I started with either of the sweets (it varied by group) and then ended with the salt.  I didnt want them to chicken out on the second if they didnt like the salt.  They got drinks right away after.  We had some good describing words and some good guesses as to what they tasted.  Also saw some good faces with delight and disgust. 

Thursday, students helped sort objects into what sense we use with those objects: Skunk = smell, icecream = taste.  My main focus was actually teaching them to correctly use glue sticks and the correct amount, but the fine motor of picking up the papers, and the idea of sorting was also important.

We have been working a lot on name writing.  It is important that your child can write their name because it is the foundation of a lot of their writing skills, the beginning of their letter recognition, strengthens and refines their fine motor skills, and it is important to be on all papers so we know whose it is!  Please work on name writing at home.  A sheet will be coming home on Monday for you to practice on.  We have these same sheets laminated in our writing center that students will begin to use on Monday.

We have been working on morning work with color sheets.  This seems like a silly project--coloring page in all one color, but it really teaches them: come in the room, check in, get your morning work, where crayon supplies are held, how to bring crayons/supplies to your table, how to recognize color words, picking the right color, staying in the lines/coloring a whole shape in, time management, and where projects go when we are done.  Thats quite a bit learned with one sheet in one day....and then practicing it multiple times they will get the routine down pat.

There was no letter of the week this week.  We were busy getting into the routine of things this week. We will begin with a letter of the week next week.  We have been doing some pre-writing skills getting students to ALWAYS start on the left and go to the right as well as a variety of strokes like WWWWW and curves, and cirlces to get them ready for writing strokes.  Keep working on this at home as well.  ALWAYS go left to right.

Important Notes:

• As a part of our room decorations and to make every one feel at home, we have a "family and friends" board in our room.  Students will feel more at home and have a school family if they have their home family with them.  (The same as you putting a family picture on your desk).    Please feel free to send in a family photo that will be stapled up on our wall for the duration of the school year. Send in those family photos!
• Field Trip is quickly approaching.  If you are interested in going on the field trip, you must have all the background checks submitted as soon as possible.  We are going on Tuesday September 29 to Hofacker Orchard.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 
• Book Order due September 25th.  Please click on the link for scholastic at the top of this page.  When you buy books for your child, it helps buy books and supplies for our classrooms. 

Next Week:
Theme: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Letter of the Week: Ll
AM Snack: Bonnet
PM Snack : Taube

Week 1 All About Me! **update**

Welcome to our 4k newsletter blog!

Each week, the top portion will be a summary of the past week and the bottom will be important notes, requests, and info on next week.  I am always available by email or note in your student's folder.

This week's theme was all about me.  Students worked on finding
their name, working with their name, describing themselves, and talking about what it is like to be a bucket filler in our school.  Students are also working on getting to know the school rules, walking in a line, and how to stay in our centers and play for the duration of a play time.  

On Tuesday, students posed for pictures with the first day of school board. So cute.  Students also worked on their vocabulary and speaking skills by describing what they want to be when they grow up, how old they are, and sometimes even spelling their name for me.  You can view these photos by clicking on the "photo links" tab at the top of this page.  They click on the link for "first day of school" If you would like  digital copy and you cannot download from the site, let us know and we can email that to you.  

On Wednesday, worked on coloring the crayon with their name on it in completely.  This works on endurance in their fine motor skills as well as the concept of filling a shape when coloring.  These are proudly displayed on our door.  Students also read the bucket filler book. This book talks about how we all have an imaginary bucket.  When someone is kind to us it fills our bucket, and when we are kind to others that fills our bucket as well.  Students all pledged to be a bucket filler in our classroom.  We have a classroom bucket we will work on filling through out the year, and students decorated their own imaginary bucket. Decorating the bucket worked their fine motor skills again with coloring and cutting.

We also looked at how many letters were in our name and worked on counting and even started graphing!  6&7 letter names were the same and the biggest!

On Thursday, students found their name and worked on sticking
stickers onto their name.  This worked their fine motor skills, peeling the stickers, and placing them strategically, as well as helped them with the formation of the letters in their name.  They also traced their name and had to cut it out and put it back in order.  We are introducing the letters to them that are relevant in their name as well as working on those fine motor skills of writing and cutting.  We also talked about one little circle with the glue stick to make the letters stick. 


There was no letter of the week this week.  We were busy getting into the routine of things this week. We will begin with a letter of the week next week.

Important Notes:

• As a part of our room decorations and to make every one feel at home, we have a "family and friends" board in our room.  Students will feel more at home and have a school family if they have their home family with them.  (The same as you putting a family picture on your desk).    Please feel free to send in a family photo that will be stapled up on our wall for the duration of the school year. Send in those family photos!
• Field Trip is quickly approaching.  If you are interested in going on the field trip, you must have all the background checks submitted as soon as possible.
• Folders. Please be checking your child's daily folder each night.  We put notes on the notebook pages in their folders as well as any notes we may have for you.  Artwork is also sent home this way. As we start letter of the week, we will also start sending home homework to help reinforce the letter concept and identification.  Please work on this with you child to help the students make the connection between home and school. 
• Also, Please check the student's Wednesday Folders.  Please try to take info out and return the folder and any forms/info/payments in those folders a day or two after receiving. 
• Literacy Bags come home every three weeks.  Students will have a week to complete the project inside and can then return the bag with completed sheets in it on TUESDAYS.
• Library Books come every week.  We go to library on Monday and student have the opportunity to check out a book and keep it for a week. It can be kept in their back packs or at home, but please remember to bring it on Mondays. 
• Book Order due September 25th.  Please click on the link for scholastic at the top of this page.  When you buy books for your child, it helps buy books and supplies for our classrooms. 

Next Week:
Theme: 5 Senses
Letter of the Week: **CHANGE** We will be starting letters the following week with having to short weeks.  We will be doing prewriting skills and our names this week.
AM Snack: Amador
PM Snack : Springstroh

Scholastic Book Order

A paper copy of the letter and the fliers is coming home tomorrow.  It is highly encouraged that you order books for your child--it really encourages the love of learning and reading!

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub OR the Scholastic tab above contains a direct link
One-Time Class Activation Code: L6YJG

Dear Families, Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help your child succeed. It can be tough finding the right books to keep them interested, which is why I am so excited that our class will be participating in Scholastic Reading Club this school year. OUR FIRST ORDER IS DUE SEPTEMBER 25 (electronically-Sep 24 in paper).

With Scholastic Reading Club: Every book you buy earns FREE Books for our classroom library You can choose from handpicked, grade- and reading-level-specific books for your child You'll find the best values on a variety of formats Each month, your child will bring home Reading Club flyers.

Together you can choose from books hand-selected by teachers and experts, and then order online or send your order form and payment to me. I'd also love some help growing our classroom Reading Club. If you'd like to help out, please let me know! I'm excited to get our class reading! Thank you for your support,

VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub OR CLICK ON THE TAB ON THE TOP OF THE BLOG ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (top of this letter)
SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books and value packs
SUBMIT your order and earn
FREE Books for our classroom All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!