Week of November 12-16, 2018

Hello families,
November is off to a super start. We've been talking and writing about what we are thankful for in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday. It's hard to believe we are wrapping up our first trimester. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you during our conference week!

Here is what we have coming up:

Monday, 11/12: NO SCHOOL; Veterans Day observed

Friday, 11/16 and the week of 11/26-30: Minimum days for parent/teacher conferences. On these days I will walk the kids to the cafeteria at 11:40am. You are welcome to pick them up then from our line or to pick them up at 12 when they are finished eating. Kids who go to 4th R will eat in the cafeteria and a 4th R staff member will pick them up at 12.

Week of 11/19-23: NO SCHOOL; Thanksgiving Holiday

Friday, 11/30: Last Friday of the month free dress.

Language Arts
We are reading and writing about what living things need to survive. The kids are learning about the features of informational text, such as headings, labels, and captions. We are working on writing a paragraph about how to take care of a cat.

Math
This week we continue working with shapes. We will focus on 3-dimensional shapes.

Thanks for reading, everyone!
Please don't hesitate to email with any questions or concerns.

Week of OCtober 29-November 2, 2018

Hello Families,
Our first field trip was a success! Thank you to all of our parent chaperones for helping our day go smoothly. We loved having all of you.
If you have photos from the day please email them to me at carrie.relles@gmail.com

Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates

Saturday, 10/27: PH harvest festival, 3-6:30 pm. I hope to see all of you there!

Wednesday, 10/31: Halloween. This is an orange and black spirit day. Kids can wear orange and black or uniforms. No costumes! We will celebrate Halloween with snacks and crafts at 11:35 when the kids come back from lunch. Thanks again to Kate Alves for organizing this. If you'd like to help, please come to room 4 at about 11:20.

Monday, 11/12: Veterans' Day Holiday; NO SCHOOL

Friday, 11/16 and the week of 11/26-30: Parent/teacher conferences; minimum days. Please see the attachment from my homework email to give me your top 3 dates and times. On minimum days I walk the kids to the cafeteria at 11:40 am. You can pick them up then or they can eat lunch until 12 and then be picked up. Kids who go to 4th R get picked up at 12. There are no after school classes that week.

11/18-11/23: Thanksgiving Holiday; NO SCHOOL

Language Arts
This week we work on the letter n and the /n/ sound.
Our new sight word is the
We will wrap up our unit on characters this week. We have had some really good work with identifying realistic fiction vs fantasy, retelling important events from stories, and making inferences about characters based on clues from the text.

Math
This week we will work on identifying one less in numbers up to 10. We will finish unit 1 on Wednesday and take the chapter test on Friday. There is no math homework on Thursday.

This week we have our first student of the week, Holden. The student of the week will take home a poster to decorate before their week, and share the poster on Monday morning. During the week the class writes letters to our student of the week. These will be displayed in the classroom with the poster.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Please don't hesitate to contact me with questions or concerns.

Week of October 22-26, 2018

The Jog-a-Thon is here! We are all very excited in room 4 for the kindergarteners’ first of many Phoebe Jog-a-Thon days. In case you missed the emails, we will run at 8:30 out on the back fields. All 96 kinders (and their teachers!) will run together. Please come cheer us on! Don’t worry if you can’t make it; our 5th grade buddy classroom will be out to give us lots of support.
Kids can wear athletic free dress clothing tomorrow, and they are encouraged to wear the new pink shirts they took home today! Because our class had 100% participation in Jog-a-Thon pledges, we earned a special free dress day of our choice. I will be in touch with a date.

As if the Jog-a-Thon isn’t exciting enough, we are heading into ANOTHER very exciting week with our first class field trip on Wednesday!
This is a uniform day, and kids must bring a bag lunch from home. We will eat together at the pumpkin patch before we head back to school.
Chaperones, please meet at room 4 on Wednesday morning no later than 9 am. I will have instructions and groupings for all of the chaperones then. We will take the bus together and return by 12:30.
PLEASE NOTE WE WILL NOT HAVE CENTERS ON WEDNESDAY MORNING.

After our trip on Wednesday we will get to look forward to Saturday’s harvest festival! Thanks to everyone who signed up to run our class booth. If you’d like to help please get in touch with Kate Alves, Ryker’s mom. Her email address is Kate.e.alves@gmail.com
Come in costume and ready for fun!

Lastly, we will celebrate Halloween on Wednesday the 31st with some snacks and crafts at 11:35 when the kids come back from lunch. Kate is organizing this, and we’d love lots of parents to help, so if you’re available, please let Kate know.

In between all of this jogging, celebrating and field-tripping we will also be getting some work done! The kids are amazing me with how independent they are becoming with letter sounds and writing. We will continue our unit on characters in stories this week, and focus on finding and ordering the main events in stories.

In math we will work on finding “one more than” a given number to 10. We will not use math equations yet, but rather focus on looking at quantities of objects and becoming fluent in naming the number that is one more. Watch for this in this week’s homework packet.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns.

Week of October 8-12, 2018

We had such a great week in Room 4!
 For those of you who missed the school announcements this morning, our Jog-a-Thon totals are in, and together we raised $94,000 to support the arts at Phoebe Hearst. For those who are new to our school, this is $15,000 more than last year, and nearly $50,000 more than 5 years ago. I am so lucky to teach and send my children to a school where we work so hard to give our kids enrichment programs. THANK YOU to all of the Room 4 families for your donations. We have 100% participation this year.

Congrats to our classroom's first Golden Dragon winner, Dylan!

Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates

Thursday, 10/18 Jog-a-Thon prizes will go home with kids. Everyone is encouraged to wear their gear on Friday for run day!

Friday, 10/19: Jog-a-Thon day! Please come cheer us on as we run. I will send out the schedule as soon as I recieve it.

Wednesday, 10/24, 9:00-12:30 pumpkin patch field trip. Thanks to all our parent chaperones!
They are:
Lindsey Murawski
Abby Jaske
Nattana Lindsey
Theresa Barajas
Nate McGill
Rebecca Frazee
Julia O'Brien
Shayla Khan
Luana Cook
Janelle Reali
Panorea Avdis
Milt Apostolidis
Kate Alves
Cate Williams
Paula Turner

Please be in room 4 at 9:00 am to get your group and hop on the bus with us. We will eat lunch at the pumpkin patch, so parents please send all kids to school with a lunch from home that day.

Saturday, 10/27: PH Harvest Festival. Thanks to Kate Alves for organizing our class booth and to everyone who signed up to help that day!

Wednesday, 10/31: Free dress/wear orange and black. We do NOT wear costumes to school. We will have a small celebration that day 11:35-12:30. If you'd like to come in and help please let me or Kate Alves know.

Language Arts
This week we will wrap up our first comprehension unit on rules at school and at home. We will read a story this week and compare it to last week's informational text.
We will continue to work on letter sounds and shapes. Our focus will be Aa (short and long sounds)
Our new sight word is like.

Math
This week we continue working on numbers to 10. Kids will work on finding pairs that are "hiding" within larger numbers, like 5 and 3 making 8.

Science
This week we focus on the parts and lifecycle of pumpkins as we prepare for our field trip at the end of the month.

Today we had our first music lesson with Mrs. Toone. Photo below :)

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

Week of October 1-5, 2018

It's October! We have a very busy month ahead filled with reading, math, pumpkins, our first field trip, the jog-a-thon, and the harvest festival!
Please read on to see what's coming up

Important Dates

Monday 10/1: Homerun Reader launch. We will go to announcements on the big yard to learn about the Homerun Reader program. Kids will log their minutes reading outside of school to earn Rivercats swag and a ticket to a Rivercats game in the spring!

Friday 10/5: Room 4 to work in the garden, 8:50-9:20. Please join us! The more the merrier!

Friday, 10/19: Phoebe Hearst jog-a-thon. Kindergarteners usually run first, but I will send out a schedule as soon as I receive it. You’re all encouraged to come cheer us on. It’s a very fun day with music, encouragement and snacks.

Wednesday 10/24: pumpkin patch field trip. Please remember to send in permission slips and $5.50 asap. If you’d like to chaperone and you’ve been fingerprinted by the district, this is your last call. I am sending chaperone names to the office this week!

Saturday 10/27: PH harvest festival. Look for an email from our room parent Kate Alves (Ryker’s mom) about this.

Language Arts

This week we will work on reading informational text and discuss its features (table of contents, glossary, index. etc). We will work on identifying letter sounds and blending sounds orally to make words. We will work on writing together in order to solidify the writing conventions of capitalizing the first word in a sentence, using spaces between words, and ending sentences with an end mark.

Math

On Friday the kids took their first math test and did very well! Tests in kindergarten are as much about teaching test-taking procedures and strategies as they are about the math concepts. As the year progresses they will look forward to test days because they are a chance to shine and show our smarts!

Science

This week we will take our plants unit into studying pumpkins before our field trip on the 24th. We will start with the life cycle of the pumpkin.

Thanks for reading! Please reach out if you have questions. carrie.relles@gmail.com

Week of September 24-28, 2018

Hello families!

We’ve had another super week in room 4. This week we really started getting into our curriculum, and the kids were superstars. They deserve some rest and lots of fun this weekend!

Here is what we have coming up:

Wednesday, 9/26: Kindergarten Apple Day. Please send your child to school with one apple. 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.

Friday, 9/28: class picture day/free dress
Photo ordering envelopes went home Friday. Please note all students will take a photo, even if you choose not to order.

Friday, 9/28: Jog-a-Thon pledges due to school. You can send these into the classroom or turn in to the office. Our jog-a-thon fully funds our arts program, thanks to all of you, our generous Phoebe families and friends. Thank you in advance for collecting donations!

Friday, 10/19: Phoebe Hearst jog-a-thon. Kindergarteners usually run first, but I will send out a schedule as soon as I receive it. You’re all encouraged to come cheer us on. It’s a very fun day with music, encouragement and snacks.

Wednesday 10/24: pumpkin patch field trip. Please remember to send in permission slips and $5.50 asap. If you’d like to chaperone and you’ve been fingerprinted by the district, this is your last call. I am sending chaperone names to the office this week!

Saturday 10/27: PH harvest festival. Look for an email from our room parent Kate Alves (Ryker’s mom) about this.

Language Arts
This week we will continue reading, writing and talking about rules at school and home. We will begin focusing on sounds letters make and using these sounds to blend words. We will also work on finding nouns in sentences.

Math
We have begun to work on writing numbers. Look for writing practice in the homework this week. We will also work on a little bit of addition and subtraction.

Science
We have begun a unit on plants. This week we will focus on apples as we celebrate apple day.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Please don't hesitate to email carrie.relles@gmail.com

Check out the photos below from our first day in the garden! 

Week of September 17-21, 2018

Hello Families!
I am exhausted after this busy school week, and I'm sure your children are as well! It's been so much fun writing, reading, counting, drawing, practicing routines and getting to know one another better. Thank you to everyone who came to Back-to-School night. I hope you found the evening informative; so sorry to have rushed at the end of the first session!

Here is what we have coming up:

Important Dates 
Today, 9/14: Movie night! I hope to see all of you here tonight!

Monday, 9/17: First art lesson with Ms. Jane, 8:15-9:00 am

Tuesday, 9/18: First day of centers with adult helpers, 8:00-8:50 am. Thank you to everyone who signed up to help with centers this year! For the first time in a few years we have more helpers than volunteer positions, and this is wonderful! This is a big part of the kindergarten day, and the kids love this time. I couldn't make it happen without parents who are so generous with their time.
As a reminder, our volunteers are as follows:
Tuesdays:
Alves
Frazee/Hammond
Brokaw
Apostolidis

Wednesdays:
Kain
Mulligan
Lindsey
Richards

Thursdays
Williams
Murawski
Jaske
O'Brien

If any volunteers would be willing to work in the room every other week, please let me know. We have one more parent who would like to join the fun.

If you have a day when you can't make your centers commitment, please let me know! I will find a replacement for you.

Friday, 9/21: Room 4 will work in the school garden, 8:50-9:20. Please join us if you can! Younger siblings are welcome.

Wednesday, 9/26: Kindergarten Apple Day. Please send your child to school with one apple. 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.

Friday, 9/28: class picture day/free dress
Photo ordering envelopes went home Friday.

Jog-a-Thon
Today we went to morning announcements on the big yard with the rest of the school for the Jog-a-Thon kickoff. The Jog-a-Thon is our school's biggest fundraiser, and completely funds our art program plus other enrichment activities. Your child will take home their Jog-a-Thon pledge envelope on Friday. The more pledges kids get, the more Phoebe swag they earn, and they have chances to win awesome prizes!
We will run in the morning on October 19.

Language Arts
This week we will begin to focus on one letter shape per day. The kids are building their fine motor skills with lots of writing practice. Many have difficulty with lower case letters, especially b and d. If they have an interest in practicing letter writing on their own, please encourage this! Look for a penmanship guide in thour homework folder that will go home Monday.
We have been reading lots of rhyming poems and books about starting school.
The kids have been writing in their journals daily. We will continue this week with writing sentences and then drawing an illustration to go with the words. Writing can be very frustrating for kids at the beginning of kindergarten, but these kids have not let mistakes get them down! They always try their best, which I appreciate so much.

Math
We have been working on sorting objects, and this week we will work on numbers to 5 in different configurations, math drawings, and expressions. Look for this in the homework starting Monday!

Book Orders
If you plan on ordering from the September Scholastic Book Catalogs, please do so by Monday. I will submit the order on Tuesday 9/16. Just go to www.scholastic.com/readingclubs and enter my classroom code which is FNJKK.
Scholastic books are super affordable, and all of our class orders help to earn books for our classroom! In fact we are only $108 in orders away from earning TONS of bonus points which means TONS  of free books for our classroom! This offer is only good during September, so please order away!
You can order online at www.scholastic.com/readingclubs


Thanks for reading, everyone. Enjoy the weekend.
Please do not hesitate to email if you have questions or concerns. carrie.relles@gmail.com