Week of November 7-11, 2016

Hello families,

We had a fantastic week! 

Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates

Friday, 11/11: NO SCHOOL; Veterans' Day

Friday, 11/18, Room 4 to work in the school garden, 8:15-8:45. We would love to have some parent helpers for this! Please let me know if you'd like to stop in and help.
This is also our first minimum day (see below)

11/21-25: NO SCHOOL: THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week of November 28-December 2: minimum days for parent/teacher conferences. Kindergarteners will be dismissed at 11:40am. I will bring them to the cafeteria where they can eat lunch until 12. You can pick them up there. You are also welcome to pick them up at 11:40.
Thank you to everyone who responded to my email about conferences. I am waiting to hear back from a couple of families, and then I will send out the final schedule.

Friday, 12/2: Room 4 to work in the school garden, 10:00-10:30. Again, if you'd like to help, please contact me.

Language Arts
This week the kids are invited to bring in small items from home that begin with their special letter (they know what these are). They can bring them any day next week beginning on Monday and I will send them home on Thursday.
We are working on researching animals. each child chose an animal last week and then wrote something they know and one thing they wonder about their animal. They will work on finding three facts about their animals this week.

Math
This week we are working in chapter 5 on numbers to 20. You will see lots of counting and writing practice in the homework.

Thank yo for reading, everyone!
Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.
carrie.relles@gmail.com

Week of October 31-November 4, 2016

Hello families,
Today was so much fun! I hope those of you who braved the weather to watch had as much fun as we did running in the jog-a-thon today. Thank you, families, for all of your support and generous donations. We have a wonderful arts program because of family and community fundraising. Our class had 100% participation, so we have earned a special free dress day. I will let the kids decide when they want to redeem this. More information to follow!

Now that we are at the end of October (!), we will turn our focus to giving thanks, becoming better readers, learning about and writing informational text, and parent/teacher conferences.
Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates:

Monday, 10/31: HALLOWEEN! This is a spirit day--kids are encouraged to come to school in orange and black and crazy socks. If you'd like to help at our small class celebration from 11:40-12:40, please let me know.

Friday, 11/11: NO SCHOOL; Veterans' Day

Friday, 11/18, Room 4 to work in the school garden, 8:15-8:45. We would love to have some parent helpers for this! Please let me know if you'd like to stop in and help.

11/21-25: NO SCHOOL: THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week of November 28-December 2: minimum days for parent/teacher conferences. Kindergarteners will be dismissed at 11:40am. Please look for an email late next week about scheduling a conference day and time.

Friday, 12/2: Room 4 to work in the school garden, 10:00-10:30. Again, if you'd like to help, please contact me.

Language Arts
Our phonics lessons this week will begin to focus  on putting syllables together to make words, letter sounds, and remembering sight words.
New sight words: down, go, up
We have finished our comprehension and writing unit on narrative and have begun learning about informational text. Kids will learn about features of informational text, how it differs from narrative, and the different purposes authors have for writing informational text. Each child has chosen an animal to learn more about for a ressearch project. We will work on this mostly in class.


Math
We will finish up the chapter on comparing numbers to 10 on Monday and take the chapter test Tuesday. On Wednesday we will begin working on numbers to 20.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Please let me know if you have questions or concerns.
carrie.relles@gmail.com

Week of October 24-28, 2016

What a week! I hope the kids told their families all about the pumpkin patch. We had so much fun. Thank you again to all of the parents who chaperoned. We would not be able to go on field trips without all of our awesome volunteers.

We have another fun week ahead
Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates
Saturday, 10/22: PH Harvest Festival, 3-6:30 pm. I hope to see everyone there! Wear your costumes, and be sure to stop at the Room 4 booth for face painting.

Wednesday, 10/26: We will go to morning announcements with the rest of the school to hear about jog-a-thon top earners and classes.

Friday, 10/28: PH Jog-a-thon, all day. The kindergarteners are scheduled to run at 8:20 out by the baseball fields at the back of the school. We will run for 15 minutes and then have a snack. Families are invited to come cheer us on!

Monday, 10/31: HALLOWEEN! This is a spirit day--kids are encouraged to come to school in orange and black and crazy socks. If you'd like to help at our small class celebration from 11:40-12:40, please let me know.

Friday, 11/11: NO SCHOOL; Veterans' Day

Friday, 11/18, Room 4 to work in the school garden, 8:15-8:45. We would love to have some parent helpers for this! Please let me know if you'd like to stop in and help.

11/21-25: NO SCHOOL: THANKSGIVING BREAK

Friday, 12/2: Room 4 to work in the school garden, 10:00-10:30. Again, if you'd like help, please contact me.

Language Arts
This week we will finish focusing on a letter shape each day. We will begin to focus more on letter sounds and putting them together to make words.
Letter focus: Yy and Zz
New sight words: it, no, this

Math
This week we continue to work on comapring numbers. We will work to figure out what is one fewer, one more, two fewer and two more.

Science
This week we will begin to wrap up our pumpkin unit. The kids will plant seeds from the pumpkin we carved and continue to write about pumpkins.

Week of October 17-21, 2016

Hello families,
It's been another super week. The kids and I are getting very excited about our first field trip next week; they've been learning and writing lots about pumpkins in preparation. Be sure to stop by the classroom to check out some of their fantastic work.

Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates

Friday, 10/14: Jog-a-thon pledges due. In order to be eligible for prizes, please be sure to bring envelopes to school by no later than THIS MORNING!

Thursday, 10/20: first field trip to Dave's Pumpkin Patch in West Sac. Thank you to our 10 parents who have volunteered to chaperone. Please look for an email about this early next week. We will leave on the bus at 9am and return by 12:30 pm. Please send your child to school with a bag lunch, as we will be eating at Dave's

Saturday, 10/22: Phoebe Hearst Harvest Festival, 3-6:30 pm. Come in costume and have lots of fun with friends playing games, eating spaghetti dinner, and getting spooked in the haunted house. Please be sure to volunteer some of your time in our Room 4 booth as well.

Friday, 10/28: Phoebe Hearst Jog-a-Thon. I will let parents know our scheduled running time as soon as I get it. All parents are welcome to cheer us on as we run at this fun event. This is a free dress day; please send your child in clothes appropriate for running.

Monday, 10/31: Halloween. We do not wear costumes to school! However this is a crazy sock and orange and black spirit day, so check the sock drawers and go crazy!
 We will have a small celebration during the last hour of class. The kids will make some crafts and have a snack. If you would like to help out, please let me know.

Friday, 11/11 No School; Veterans' Day

Language Arts
This week we will continue to work on telling stories using pictures. The kids have begun working with problem and resolution plots, and they are doing really well with this.
Letter focus: Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx
New sight words: big, have, small

Math
This week we begin working in chapter 4 on comparing numbers to 10.

Science
We are continuing to work on learning about pumpkins. On Monday I will carve a pumpkin so we can check out the insides. We will then conduct an experiment to see what happens when a pumpkin rots. The kids love this!

Thank you for reading! Please contact me with any questions.

Week of October 10-14, 2016

October is off to a fantastic start! We began a science unit studying pumpkins, mixed primary colors with Ms Jane, started sounding out words and sentences, worked on writing numbers to 10, experienced our first rainy school day, read with our fifth grade buddies, worked on illustrating characters in action, and has our first music lesson with Mrs. Toone.

Check out what we have coming up:

Important dates

Friday, 10/14: Jog-a-thon pledges due. In order to be eligible for prizes, please be sure to bring envelopes to school by Friday morning.

Thursday, 10/20: first field trip to Dave's Pumpkin Patch in West Sac. Thank you to our 10 parents who have volunteered to chaperone. Please look for an email about this early next week. We will leave on the bus at 9am and return by 12:30 pm. Please send your child to school with a bag lunch, as we will be eating at Dave's.

Friday, 10/28: Phoebe Hearst Jog-a-Thon. I will let parents know our scheduled running time as soon as I get it. All parents are welcome to cheer us on as we run at this fun event. This is a free dress day; please send your child in clothes appropriate for running.

Monday, 10/31: Halloween. We do not wear costumes to school! However this is a crazy sock spirit day, so check the sock drawers and go crazy!
 We will have a small celebration during the last hour of class. The kids will make some crafts and have a snack. If you would like to help out, please let me know.


Language arts
The kids have been learning so muich about telling stories using pictures. We have focused on characters, setting, and emotions. This week we will look for problems and resolutions when we read and tell stories.
Letter shape and sound focus: Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt
New sight words: he, she

Math
We continue this week with numbers to 10. We will take our test on Friday.



Science
We have begun learning about  pumpkins in preparation for our field trip. The kids are learning about the pumpkin life cycle, the parts of a pumpkin,  and what pumpkins and all plants need to live. We will cut open a pumpkin and feel the insides and plant seeds in the next couple of weeks. This unit is lots of fun, and the kids learn a lot!

Thanks for reading, everyone! Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Week of October 3-7, 2016

Hello Room 4 families!
It's hard to believe we are beginning the second month of school. We have had such a fantastic September getting to know each other and working together.

Here is what we have coming up:

Monday, 10/3:  Golden Dragon awards at morning announcements. Congratulations to Room 4's September Golden Dragon, Strummer.

On Monday at announcements the kids will hear about our Home Run Reader program. The October newsletter contained a reading log for the program, which will run through February. Please help your child keep track of how long you read together each day and log the minutes. The logs are due at the end of each month, and kids who read at the "home run" level will be eligible for lots of prizes, including a ticket to a River Cats game!

On Monday we have an art lesson with Ms. Jane from 8:15 until 9. She has requested a couple of parent helpers for this lesson, so if you'd like to help out, please let me know.

Thursday, October 20: field trip to Dave's pumpkin patch in West Sacramento. Thank you to those who have sent in the permission slip and $5.50 for your child's trip. Remember these are due this Thursday 10/6. This is my last call for chaperones. We have plenty of adults signed up to attend, but if you'd like to join us please let me know by this Monday 10/3. Chaperones don't have to pay.

Language arts
This week we continue to work  on telling stories from pictures-both reading stories and writing our own. The kids have been very creative as we have practiced the difference between reality and imagination, how to add details, and the importance of the setting.
We will focus on letters Mm, Nn, Oo, and Pp.
New sight words: and, we

Math
This week we begin chapter 3 of our math curriculum on numbers 6-10. Look for lots of counting and writing practice in the homework.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope to see you all at MOVIE NIGHT tonight!
If you have questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me: carrie.relles@gmail.com

Week of September 26-30, 2016

Hello everyone! Happy Friday. This week we started centers with our awesome parent volunteers. We've been writing, comparing numbers, working on penmanship, reading lots of books, singing, and working together.
Parents are always welcome to drop in and help. Just let me know by the day before so I can be sure to have things for you to do.

Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates

Monday, 9/26 kindergarten apple day. We will read a little bit about Johnny Appleseed and do several lessons with our apples before we eat them. The kids' apples can be any size, variety or color.

Thursday, 9/29 "Green Out" spirit day. Kids are encouraged to come in all green to show school spirit.

Friday, 9/30 Family movie night, 6:30 pm on the big field behind the school. This is such a fun night! Bring some low chairs, a blanket, and some snacks and watch a movie on the huge screen.
This will also be a free dress day (the last Friday of every month is a free dress day). Kids can wear school-appropriate clothes of their choice! All of the shoe and sock guidelines still apply.

Thursday, 10/20 Field trip to Dave's Pumpkin Patch, 9:00 am-12:30 pm.
The kids are going to love this! We will take a school bus with the other kinder classes to Dave's where everyone will take a hay ride, bounce on the bouncing pillow, and choose a pumpkin. We will have a picnic lunch before we head back on the bus. The cost for this trip is $5.50 per person, which includes the cost of the small pumpkin. You can send this in to school beginning today. The money is due no later than Thursday October 6. Parents, if you would like to accompany us on this trip and you have been fingerprinted with the district, please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you to those parents who have already volunteered.

Golden Dragon awards
Each month one student from each Phoebe classroom is given the Golden Dragon award. The Golden Dragon is someone who models the Phoebe Hearst Dragon Values (check them out on the poster in Room 4) and of course fills others' buckets. For the first couple of months I will choose the Golden Dragon and later in the year I will have the kids vote. The Golden Dragon winners are announced at morning announcements in front of the school and then have a celebration breakfast in the library with Mr. McGill. September's awards should happen during the first week of October.

Language Arts
This week we will continue focusing on one letter sound and shape each day.
The kids are gaining confidence with penmanship, and some are beginning to take risks with sounding out their own words. When kids write independently they will use phonetic spelling, meaning they will write the sounds they hear. For example, if your child spells the word cake as "kak" this is fine. Encouraging them to sound out their words builds their writing and spelling skills tremendously.
Letter focus: Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll
New sight words: This week I introduced a, an, here, and is. Next week will be I and see.
Comprehension lessons will focus on telling stories from wordless books. The kids are having fun with these. We will talk about authors, illustrators, characters, setting, the beginning, middle and end, and the problem or conflict in the story.

Math
This week we will continue to work on comparing numbers and then will do work with the number 0 and ordering numbers 0-5. The kids will take the chapter 2 test on Friday.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions or concerns.
carrie.relles@gmail.com