Happy Break!

 

I'm thinking about my students and hope they're having a wonderful break!

See everyone on Monday!!

2 Things!

Hi, hope your weekend is going well!

1). Our Thanksgiving celebration will be next Tuesday. All 6 kindergarten classes will share a snack supplied by each class.Your child brought home a half-sheet of white paper asking for items to be sent in to share with all. Most children were asked to send in 2 cans of spiced apples. PLEASE send them asap. Any cans that we do not use will be donated to the Food Bank.

2) We will be placing an order for Scholastic books. A brochure went home on Thursday. These books are a GREAT value and many would make wonderful gifts for your child or other children for whom you buy. Orders and money are due on Friday, November 18.

Again, happy weekend. If you have any questions, please email me at mrsebaugh@yahoo.com

SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!

Just popping in to say that the field trip went EXTREMELY well. The class was BY FAR the most well-behaved of all the classes, and that is not just my comment, that is straight from one of the chaperones! They listened well, paid attention, followed the rules, were respectful, etc, etc...could not have asked for more, so please give your child a BIG hug and tell him or her to remind me that I promised them a "smelly stamp", which they love. We just ran out of time yesterday! YAY for us!!!!!!!!

FIELD TRIP TOMORROW

PUMPKIN PATCH
Rain or shine.
Dress them in layers.
Empty backpack.
BAGGED (no lunch boxes), LABELED lunch, with drink.
SEPARATELY bagged, labeled snack.
Good breakfast - lunch will be later than usual.

Weekend Update!

Just a few quick reminders:

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip is on Tuesday, RAIN OR SHINE! PLEASE send kids with EMPTY backpacks (so they can carry their pumpkins) and make sure they are wearing play clothes in layers, in case they get too cold/too warm. Also, please make sure they eat good breakfasts, because lunch will be later than usual. (Nothing is worse than having them come to class in the morning saying that they are hungry, when I know lunch is 3-4 hours away!!)

The November HW calendar is in the process of being put up on the Homework page of my blog. Sorry about last month...it has been hectic.

If you have NOT scheduled a progress conference, please contact me so we can set one up. PALs testing is winding down and I can give you those results now, as well. If you've already had your conference, I'll send home the PALs results for you to check out.

BIG NEWS: Our kindergartners will be performing at the PTA meeting during the last week of November. Just wanted to give you a heads-up, since this will be right after the Thanksgiving break.

As usual, if you have questions or concerns, please email me! Happy weekend!!

Long-Awaited Homework for October

I really need to apologize for not putting this up until almost the end of the month. It's been hectic, but I plan to do better. Several years ago, I created a program for upper-grade children that's called Achievers R Leaders (ARL). This year, I have placed 130 students in "jobs" throughout the school. Long story - it's a LOT of work and takes up a lot of free time in October, while I set everything up...(if you're really interested in learning more about ARL, look for the blurb in the upcoming PTA newsletter!)

Anyway, I'll post the HW here and then add it to the correct web page later:

Monday 24th - What is your favorite nursery rhyme? Draw a picture and write its title.

Tuesday 25th - Draw a red circle and a purple triangle.

Wednesday 26th - Draw a green rectangle and an orange square.

Thursday 27th - Use a calendar to count the days until our Pumpkin Patch field trip. Write the number.

Friday 28th - Make sure your Home Reading Calendar is ready to give to your teacher on Tuesday.

Reminder: Pumpkin Patch field trip is Tuesday, November 1.

Hope you're having a nice weekend so far!

Some Evening Conference Spots Still Open

Evening conferences are by appointment only, but if you don't get a spot, I will contact you to set up a conference either before or after school.

I still have the following times available for this Thursday, October 13:

4:45 till 5:00 PM
5:00 till 5:15 PM
5:45 till 6:00 PM

If you've already scheduled, I look forward to seeing you!
I will do my best to stay on schedule...I'm booked every 15 minutes, which works great as long as everyone is on time, LOL!

I hope to post this week's homework assignments later or tomorrow...

IMPORTANT UPDATES

Hi! I just finished updating

the IMPORTANT DATES, the HOMEWORK and the RESOURCES/SCHEDULE pages.

Click those blue links, above, for important info!

As always, email me if you have questions.

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Just In Case...

A quick post to tell you that JUST IN CASE you drop in during literacy centers,

don't think I've lost my mind if I look like this:

I have a variety of hats and boppers that I wear during literacy centers...bunny ears, St. Patrick's Day poufs, Valentine hearts, a bee hat...They do actually have a purpose, LOL! They are a visual sign to the rest of the class that I am working with a reading group and that they should see Mr. Ward (instead of me) if they need something. This works well to keep interruptions down while children are working hard at reading with me!

We have 2 field trips scheduled. I will try to post again tomorrow with some details!

Happy (Rainy) Weekend!

Big CHANGES!

Our lunch time has been changed! My ENTIRE class now goes to lunch from 11:10-11:40

Our resource schedule has also been changed! Mondays will now be library and Fridays will now be P.E. We will still have Mr. Riley for P.E. (not the half-time P.E. teacher, Mr. Jones). I'm not sure what will happen this week, since we've already had P.E. and have not yet had library...

Homework, Bus Tags, Agendas, Library Books

First, I wanted to say thank you - the students have almost all had their bus tags and their agendas every day! So thanks for making sure they were prepared all week!

Library books are due back on Friday. After you read together, please have them keep the books in their bookbags till Friday. The students are learning responsibility for their belongings, so I don't collect them in advance.

Also...homework starts this week! You will receive a homework calendar for the remainder of September. When the assignment is a written one, PLEASE have your child write it on that day's date IN THE AGENDA.

Please DO NOT HAVE THEM WRITE HOMEWORK ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER.
This is a NNPS policy, so that K kids get used to using the agenda for assignments.

If it's hard to squeeze the writing all in on the left side of the page, just allow them to spill over onto the right side. I will check HW daily, although sometimes it won't get checked on our shortened Wednesdays.

Thanks for all of your support. I hope you have a great weekend, despite the rain! As always, if you have questions, email me!

"Let's Find Out" Receipts

The confusion we had going with the Let's Find Out money seems to be resolved now. You should receive a receipt no later than tomorrow if we do have your child's money credited correctly. If you don't see a receipt in the agenda pocket by tomorrow after school, please let me know!

Back-to-School Night will be Thursday, October 6 from 6 PM until 7:30 PM. This will be an evening when your child can proudly show you his/her work and explain all the wonderful things we do all day. Please note that I will NOT be able to discuss your child's progress during our Back-to-School night.

Kindergarten progress conferences will be held later in the month of October. I will let you know when I find out that date - it will probably NOT be October 13, when the rest of the school does their evening conferences, since we usually wait to hold our conferences after our PALS testing is complete.

Hope to see you at our Back-to-School Night on Oct. 6!

Hello and happy Saturday! A few short notes:

• I am SO pleased that the students have ALL remembered to wear their bus tags EVERY DAY!! YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! I gave them each a little sticker each day to show my appreciation.

• We had our first Treasure Tote yesterday! (Probably not exactly like the pic above, LOL.) This is my reward system...children who have not moved their clip more than twice for the entire week are permitted to choose something from the Treasure Tote. Kids who stayed on Green all week choose first. Then kids who had ONE Stripes (one clip move) during the week. Then kids with TWO Stripes or ONE Yellow (two clip moves) choose. We all clap and are happy for them. The rest of us vow to "do better next week"!

• We currently have 4 students who can say their student number correctly. Please help your child practice both saying and "typing" the number (don't forget to hit "enter" at the end) on the pretend keypad that we sent home. Your child will need to be able to enter the number on the computers in order to log in to do computer work and enter it into the keypad in the cafeteria, as well as say the number in order to check out a library book.
  

•  Homework for next week will be 1) learn to say AND type your student number, 2) practice printing BOTH your first and last names correctly, using uppercase for the first letter only (an example of D'Nealian style letters is in your child's agenda) and 3) read/be read to for 15 minutes each day.
  

• I will be sending receipts to those families who have paid the $5 for their children's subscription to Let's Find Out magazine. If you have paid and DO NOT receive a receipt in your child's agenda pocket on Monday, please email or write me a note. We have had a mixup...someone sent money with no name attached and we do not know who to credit.

• Please check the agenda daily and remove anything that is in the front pocket. On the page for that day's date, your child will have a color dot or the word "Stripes" to let you know how the day went. I sent home a note explaining the color system, but if you didn't receive the note, let me know!

• Mrs. Cox asks that students do not wear flip flops to school, for safety reasons. We play outside daily, weather permitting, on the playground mulch, and flip flops can present a danger of injury.
  

• We have had art and library this past week. This week, we will also have P.E. and music. Please make sure your child wears closed-toe shoes on P.E. day (Monday).
  

• The new kindergarten class 'went live' yesterday, so we now have 24 students on roll, with 21 in attendance so far.
• We have learned LOTS of songs already, and read books each day. We have written in our journals both Thursday and Friday morning. We have taken a tour of the school and have met Mrs. Eggers/Mrs. Cimbron (library) and Mrs. Pait (art). We have had a fire drill (my class ROCKED!!) I have begun my assessments and will have the children grouped for literacy shortly.
  

 As always, please email me if you have any questions. I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend!

For Tomorrow

• Name sticker (given out at Open House)
• Bus Wristband (given out at Open House)
• Agenda (bought at Open House or you can buy it in the office)
• Backpack labeled with child's name (no backpacks with wheels)
• Lunchbox for lunch or snack, labeled with child's name
• Lunch OR lunch money, if you have not deposited it via MealPayPlus
• Snack (no drink, please...water will be available)
• Hug and kiss goodbye

Also, please send the $5 for Let's Find Out magazine subscription as soon as possible.

Thanks!
We will meet in the gym for at least the first 4 days.
See you soon!

Important News - Read All the Way Through

Just a few quick thoughts. WANTED to post this on Thursday after Open House, but for some reason, we had no Internet (or TV) service with Cox Cable.

• Thanks to all who were able to come to Open House! I talked to 22 families!
• Please make sure your child wears his/her name sticker on Tuesday.
• Please make SURE your child wears his/her bus tag EVERY day.
• Please check the agenda pocket daily for info. We will be sending home so much info that needs to be signed and returned....I'm not even sure it will all fit in that agenda pocket!
• This year, Mrs. Cox would like the children to wear a bus wristband for the first 4 days. It has bus info on it. It's waterproof and the info was written with a Sharpie, so it SHOULD hang in there, LOL. They will be wearing the wristbands home on Tuesday.
• We will meet in the gym in the mornings for the first 4 days at least.
• If you want your child to eat breakfast at school and you did NOT write a note to that effect on the Info Sheet, email me, please.
• Here is our resource schedule. I will update the Resources/Schedules page on this blog sometime before school begins: Monday = PE (Mr. Riley)   Tuesday = Music (Mrs. Gibson)   Thursday = Art (Mrs. Pait)  Friday = Library (Mrs. Eggers and Mrs. Cimbron)
• Due to extremely large class sizes in kindergarten, they will be hiring an additional kindergarten teacher. The office will determine which students are pulled from each classroom to populate the new class. We have no word on when this will occur...

• MY CLASS WILL BE SPLIT FOR LUNCH - LOL, well, that sounds odd. What I mean is this: in an effort to maximize instructional time, AS OF THIS WRITING, it has been determined that half of my class will have lunch every day beginning at 11:15 and the other half will have lunch beginning at 11:20.  They will sit at adjoining tables in the cafeteria, so that Mr. Ward will be able to monitor everyone. They will ALL get their full half hour for lunch. Children will be assigned to one time or the other and will not switch times. The children will be reunited after lunch. Bear in mind that this is NOT set in stone, but as of yesterday, this was the plan. More details as I get them. I am actually excited about this, because it allows us to utilize every moment possible during our morning literacy instruction!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to seeing the students again on Tuesday! Check back before then...I will probably post again before school starts!

Supplies

NO, this is not my third post in one day!! I wrote it on August 5, but just published it today! Scroll down for my other two posts - some helpful info about BUS TAGS!

Continuing with my posts that I hope you'll find helpful, today I'll touch on kindergarten supplies.

A link to the supply list can be found on my Contact Me/School Links page.

There is no need to label consumable supplies such as tissues, crayons, markers, hand sanitizer, etc, since these supplies will be used communally. We open the containers on things such as crayons and markers and put them into baskets that are shared at the tables.

However, PLEASE label things that will be used by your child only, such as his/her backpack, lunchbox, jackets/sweaters, etc. It's common for more than one child to have identical items and that makes it hard to be sure things are going home with the correct student.

Please send in the supplies when you can. We will be able to order the Let's Find Out magazines only after the $5 subscription fee has been received, so I'd like to ask for that to be sent in as soon as possible.

Where to Find What

Wow, two posts in one day, LOL!

Just wanted to remind you to see THIS POST if you are trying to figure out which page of my blog might have the info that you're looking for. (The pages of the blog are listed across the top of the page, right under the big yellow blog title.)

As I mentioned in my earlier post, there will be a LOT of info forthcoming in the next few days!

See you soon!

SEE YOU AT OPEN HOUSE TOMORROW!

Hope to see you at Open House tomorrow (room 14) anytime between 4 PM and 7 PM!

Today's topic is BUS TAGS. Oh my gosh, bus tags can cause a lot of confusion. I will try to explain the policy:

Newport News Public Schools (NNPS) REQUIRES any student who rides a bus HOME at dismissal to be wearing a bus tag on a lanyard around his/her neck. It is extremely common for the bus drivers to allow the child to ride TO school in the morning WITHOUT the bus tag, but they will not allow the child to ride the bus HOME from school at dismissal without it. This is a rule for the entire school year, not just the first few days.

In addition, the drivers will not allow a kindergartner to get off of the bus at the bus stop in the afternoon unless he/she is met by an ADULT who has a MATCHING BUS TAG. When you come to school tomorrow (Thursday), we will have a set of 3 bus tags for you to use when picking up your child at the bus stop. If you have more than one person who will be picking your child up, please make sure that each person has one of the matching tags. If you need more tags, put a note in your child's agenda and we will send more home.

As far as the bus tag he/she needs to wear around his/her neck, I will put those on the children at dismissal next Tuesday. PLEASE be sure he/she wears the bus tag to school each day. If you lose the bus tag and lanyard, a replacement can be purchased in the school office...if I'm not mistaken, it's $2 for a replacement bus tag.

I'll probably be posting important info fairly often during the next few days, so keep checking back...or, you can get updates automatically by "Following" my blog. If you'd like to do that, just click the Join This Site link, to the right.

See you tomorrow!!

Good Morning!!!

Hello to all and I hope everyone made it through Hurricane Irene safe and sound! We were without power from Saturday morning until this morning (Monday) at 3 AM. Thankfully, we have had no damage at all!!

I look forward to meeting everyone on Thursday (Sept. 1), between 4 PM and 7 PM. Hopefully, my classroom will be all pretty, LOL. School closed at noon last Friday (because of Irene) and is closed again today. Tomorrow, we teachers will be out of the building for meetings, so we are coming down to the wire on decorating.

However, decorations are...well...just decorations. Rest assured that lesson plans have already been written and I'm "good to go" as far as the actual teaching part goes!!

Agendas

I'll be doing a series of posts with information about different aspects of your child's kindergarten year. I will label these posts so that you will have an easier time finding the info - you can click the label (in the left-hand column), scroll down in the right-hand column and look at the titles of archived posts, or type the word into the Search My Blog box.

NNPS requires each student to have an agenda and to bring the agenda to school daily. Agendas cost $2.25 and will be available for purchase in the gym during Open House and at the school office thereafter.

In kindergarten, we use the agenda as a valuable tool to carry important info home to you, the families. You can use it for correspondence and be relatively sure that the note you write will not be lost in transit to school. Hopefully, this year the agendas will have a front pocket to hold papers and notes...it was missing last year.

Once written homework begins, we ask that your child use the agenda as the place to write the homework (by HIMSELF/HERSELF...see the Frequently Asked Questions page for more details about how you can help with homework). PLEASE do not send in the homework on separate pieces of paper...write it in the agenda itself.

I know that it is sometimes hard to fit it in the space for that day's date, so feel free to let him or her spill over onto the facing page, if needed. The agenda also has a page with a model of D'Nealian handwriting, so your child can practice the handwriting style he/she will use.

We will have a special place to store the agendas each day while your child is at school. Learning the routine of how to "unpack" and get ready for the school day is an important part of your child's adjustment to school.

As always, if you have questions, please email me (see the Contact Me page for my email addresses) or comment here. Thanks!

My Pages!

PLEASE NOTE THE TABS ABOVE, WHICH ARE WRITTEN IN BLUE. THESE TABS WILL TAKE YOU TO DIFFERENT PAGES ON MY BLOG!
I hope you have fun exploring my pages!
If you find a broken link, please let me know.

Here are the page titles and what type of info is on each page:

HOME PAGE-
*updates and happenings

RESOURCES/SCHEDULE PAGE-
*daily class schedule - this will give you a GENERAL idea of when things happen
*resource schedule - days and names of teachers for art, library, P.E., music

CONTACT ME/SCHOOL LINKS PAGE-
*my home and school email addresses
*Richneck website link
*NNPS 2011-2012 calendar link
*lunch menu link
*MealPayPlus link

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS PAGE-
*breakfast / lunch / milk prices
*how to help with homework
*snack
*lyrics to the Phonics Song
*birthday treat policy

IMPORTANT DATES PAGE-
*dates to note on your calendar, most recent on top

HOMEWORK PAGE-
*current homework assignments (first homework calendar will be sent home in October)

WELCOME, NEW FAMILIES!!

Hello, Families!! This year, I've decided to communicate with parents via a brand-new blog, rather than a website. Comments are welcomed and will be moderated to keep out spammers. I'll check often for comments and will respond via another comment. Plus, you can always email me at home. My home and school email addresses are listed on the CONTACT ME page.

I strive to keep my parents updated, so I will try to post at least weekly.

WELCOME!!!