October 16, 2009

October 16, 2009

Dear Families,

During Nn week we practiced our numbers and made Number Booklets. Phone numbers were practiced. (Boys and girls will need to know their phone numbers for the second report card.) Some North Tama football players came in and talked about football. They brought in some of their cool equipment for the kindergartners to see and touch. We worked really hard on evaluations for the first quarter report card. Report cards go home next Friday, October 23rd.

Attached to the newsletter are 3 new flashcards! Cut them apart and add them to last week’s report cards. Reviewing the flashcards with the kindergartners is very beneficial! The more practice, the better readers they become!

Next week we will be studying the letter Mm. Kindergartners need to bring something that begins with the letter Mm. The Monday students may bring their sharing items any other day next week.

Please remember that our Halloween party is on Friday, October 30th. The kindergartners may BRING their costumes to school that day. After the big recess we get dressed up and then travel to the nursing home by bus. When we return we will do some Halloween activities in the room, parade through the classrooms, and enjoy Halloween snacks.

The weather is getting cooler outside, and we try to go outside at LEAST 1 time a day for recess if it is not raining. Please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for the weather because he/she will go outside whether or not they have the necessary clothing. Remember that if there is measurable snow on the ground, the boys and girls need boots.

We are now warning our families that the school is keeping our thermostats at 68 degrees this winter. Some students may find this temperature a little chilly. We recommend that you send a sweatshirt or sweater to school with your child everyday. They can keep it in their backpacks or cubbies and wear it when they feel cold. Because of the construction, the students may be feeling more drafts, causing them to become cold.

Please make sure that your child has an extra set of clothing in their school bag. Kindergartners have bathroom accidents, lunch tray spills, illnesses that soil clothing, and dirty recess catastrophes every now and then, and they feel more comfortable in their own clothing, especially underwear. We do have some extra clothing here, but it is a lot easier to get extra clothing out of school bags than it is to dig out clothing they will wear out of our supply.

Some children are beginning to arrive to school before 8:10. If the children are not eating breakfast, then they need to wait on the playground for the 8:10 bell unless your family has talked to the teachers. Teachers are not always in the classrooms because we are making final arrangements for the day, and we do not like to leave the kindergartners unsupervised. We realize that clocks at home are set at different times, and that occasionally children get here early. If you bring your kindergartner and you discover that you are a couple of minutes early, you can wait in our little entryway for the 8:10 bell.

Please remember that the students do not have school on Monday, October 19th. The teachers get to spend the day in important meetings.

We hope you have an absolutely great weekend!

Mrs. Daugherty and Mrs. Owens