Thursday, April 22, 2010

Puppy Tales - The last week of April, 2010!

The Wild Wild (and getting Wilder) West! We will have many fun activities this week that will get us ready for our Western Day on Thursday 4/29! On Western Day, the kids may wear jeans or a jeans skirt if they would like. If he/she has cowboy boots, they may wear those. Hats and bandannas are also fine. We will be having a fun time that day on the tennis courts rotating to different stations for a variety of western activities!

Friday will be our day to go on the ZOO field trip! More information will go home about that. Parents will meet us there and can follow the bus if they would like. Kids have to ride the bus to the zoo but as soon as we get there I will give them to you and you can "do the zoo" on your own or with some friends. All of my kids have a sweet mom, dad or grandparent meeting us there so I know they will all have a special time there. You will take your own child with you when you leave the zoo. I will not count on seeing any of you again unless we happen to run into each other.

Our play is really shaping up! Keep working on those lines! We have a big group practice on Wednesday so they really need to know them by then. The play is May 6th at 9:00. It will be in the lower gym where the Thanksgiving play was.

Field Day (my own personal favorite day of the year at GWA!!) is the next day May 7th. Be thinking about sun screen - which you will apply before school that day - and water-type shoes. NO SOCKS will be worn that day. Each child will need a towel! Try to come down to the football field to watch. It will make you glad you have your child at GWA!! School is over after field day ends - around 11:30! ALL PARENTS NEED TO PICK UP THEIR CHILD AT THE FOOTBALL FIELD BY 11:00. Mrs. Baker and I will have your child so let us know before you take him/her. THERE IS NO CARPOOL THAT DAY! You will see why. There will however be cars everywhere so you may want to just come and stay with us for the day. Little sibblings are welcome to watch but can not participate in any of the games. The senior class at GWA runs all fo the games and everythings runs like clockwork. There is no extra time for little sibblings to "have a turn". We would love to have them come cheer though.

22 Days left with the Puppy Pals!

Friday, April 16, 2010

April 19th - 23rd Puppy Tales

We had a great time this week watching caterpillars, learning about butterflies, and eating dirt. Well the yummy kind of dirt we made at our cooking center with Will's mom. The kids made dirt and added worms and a fun flower that we can play with at home. We have been practicing using the numbers and letters we have learned this year. We also learned about sentences, questions and exclamations as well as punctuation marks.

Next week we will learn about plants but continue to do many other "spring" activities. We will keep reviewing and working with letters and sounds to sound out words and sentences when reading and writing. Let's put all of this hard work to use!! Have your child write every day even if it is just one sentence.

After we do plants next week, we will do a wild west unit and have a fun Western day on 4/29 with many outside activities. The kids can wear jeans, jean shorts, or a jean skirt if they want to. They can also wear a cowboy hat or boots. Bandannas can be used as belts, on hats or around their necks as well.

4/30 zoo field trip, 5/7 field day

One thing we have been doing that the kids love is taking turns pointing to the sight words to make sentences. To be sure you have them all, so far we have:

We are adding "not" and "play"
and the number words

all color words
A
a
I
look
go
at
is
it
in
we
he
me
see
the
you
to
name
and
little
am
have
for
like
was

Monday, April 12, 2010

Ponds, Spring and Insects

I hope y'all had a wonderful Spring Break. We are jumping right back into the swing of things here. This week we will talk about Spring, Ponds and Insects. We will spend the rest of the year reviewing letters and letter sounds and working on sight words. We will keep practicing our reading and writing as well as using sight words to make sentences. Can you believe there are only 6 weeks left of school!! We'll keep working away here and we will send you some summer homework to practice for next year as soon as the K5 teachers give it to us. Plan on getting a composition book and having your child write at least 1 sentence EACH AND EVERY DAY. Even if they only write down what they want for lunch or what their favorite thing was that they did that day! This will help keep them on their toes all summer for next year!

Play parts went home yesterday!! Please help you child learn his/her lines for our play. We will work hard on them here but we need extra help on this at home as well. As soon as we know what the kids will wear for the play we will let you know. The play is May 6th in the morning probably around 9.

Our ZOO field trip is on April 30th. All of you are welcome to come to this. Meet us there and bring young siblings too if you want to. You will just be responsible for your own child.

There is a football registration meeting for K5 boys Tuesday 4/13 and Wednesday 4/14 from 2:30-4:00 in the school cafeteria.

GWA Spirit night at Chick-Fil-A is Wednesday 4/14. Dine in or drive thru - just give them the receipt and tell them you are there to support GWA!!

Friday, March 26, 2010

Easter and Spring Report Cards

Today the report cards are in the kids' folders. Take a little time to see which skills we are working on and notice the ones they need a little extra help on between now and next fall.

The kids are enjoying the sight word games we have been playing. They can practice putting their sight words in sentences at home too by writing them on note cards and spreading them on the floor or table. Take turns pointing to different words or arranging them to make a sentence and then let them make a sentence for you. We talked about the letter Yy. Many of the kids still want to say that Y says ("w") and they do that for all of the letters that have letters names that start with a different sound. Some will tell me that S says ("e") -(short e sound). We talked about "s" on the end of many words meaning more than one and did a spring book that showed examples of this.

We have been practicing w/ all of the letters and sounds we have learned including both vowel sounds. I will say..."if you have a long e in your first name (Reese), line up" and then go through all of the vowel sounds. They are tricky but I want them to be familiar with them. Our letter will be Zz and we will talk about 26 letters in the alphabet.

Next week we will continue to do spring activities and do some Easter activities as well.
There is NO SCHOOL on Friday 4/2. We will have Spring Break and then return to school on 4/12.

We will be working on our spring play and more information will go home about this soon. The play will be Thursday 5/6. Time is not known yet but usually they are around 9:00.

Have a great weekend. ONLY 32 days left of school after next week!!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Spring

Wednesday 3/24 is picture day for K4. Individual pictures will be made for those who prepay. Envelopes went home last week. If you need another one, let us know. Kids can wear a nice outfit that day rather than a uniform if they are getting their picture made and have prepaid.

Class pictures are Thursday 3/25. We all need to be in uniform on this day. These are for everyone - not just those who order a class picture.

We will be talking about Spring this week. We will also work with the letter Yy and the number 25. We will continue to test for our report card skills. Our new sight words this week are "little" and "am".

Spring Break will be 4/2-4/11. There will be no school on Friday 4/2. We will be working on our spring play and more information will go home about this soon. The play will be Thursday 5/6.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Important Dates for March

3/17 - kids can wear a green shirt w/ a collar if they want to and GWA bottoms.

3/19 - Grandparent's day - all parents are welcome to come. All kids need to wear a white GWA shirt and khaki bottoms that day. Keep working on our song as you can at home!! Dismissal is immediately following the program and class/school visit. Pick you child up from Mrs. Baker on the playground by our room. Be sure to let her know you have your child then drop by our room for some special things the kids have made for their grands. I am sending a paper for you to fill out to let us know who is picking up your child that day.

3/24 - individual pictures for the kids in K4. These are pre-pay and envelopes are going home soon. The kids having a picture made can wear nice clothes rather than a uniform that day.

3/25 - class picture for everyone and everyone has to be in uniform for this.

Next week we will do many fun St. Patrick's activities, work with the letter Xx and number 24. I still have many kids who have trouble identifying the numbers and we need to know them 1-25 this year. Report cards go home soon so I am still working on testing these skills. When the report cards go home, take some time to see what we are looking for so you will know where the kids need to be for next year.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Celebrate Grandparents and Review for report cards

Next week we will celebrate our grandparents and work on our songs for Grandparent's Day. We will also review all of our report card skills as report cards go out on March 3/26. I am sending home "flashcards" for the numbers through 20. Many of our kids still struggle w/ identifying the numbers. Please help you child cut out the flashcards and paste them to note cards or construction paper. Have your child practice these for the rest of the year and over the summer as review for next year.

Some other important dates are:
3/12 early dismissal and Lucky Dog Auction-come bid on our wonderful class project and the other great silent auction items or spin the wheel.
3/14 time change
3/17 St. Patrick's day. In the past we have been able to wear a green shirt with a collar but it is not mandatory. I'll find out as soon as I can if we will be allowed to do that this year as well and I will let you know.
3/19 Grandparent's Day - all parents are welcome as well!! GWA has early dismissal this day also. After the performance, pick your child up from Mrs. Baker on the playground - be sure and tell Mrs. Baker that you have him/her. Visit your children's classroom(s) then you or your child's grandparents take your child at that time. Our day is over at that time.

3/23 & 3/24 - lower school pictures. One day the kids will have their picture made as a class and they will wear their uniform that day. The other day the kids having a picture taken will be able to wear nice dress clothes (non-uniform if you would prefer). I think these pictures are pre-pay. More information will be come home about pictures as soon as I get it.
3/26 report cards go home

I am adding the sight words: you, the, and. The other sight words are on the blog. Just scroll down to the earlier post.

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