Welcome to a New Year!!!

Ray’s Ramblings
August 14, 2009

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Kindergarten! We have had a very good beginning to what I know will be a fantastic year! I hope your children are coming home and telling you all about our day!

Ray’s Ramblings is my weekly newsletter. I will send it home every Thursday. I will also try to hold any important papers to send home on Thursday so you know that will be the day for important things! This week (due to phase-in) I have waited to send the letter home on Friday. In the future, look for my letter on Thursdays.

Many of you have asked about the internet/acceptable use policy form I indicated in my handbook. This form will be coming at a later date. It is being revised.

So far, we have practiced our daily routine. Please talk with your child about this and make sure they know it. When they come in, they are to go directly to their cubby, unzip their backpack and take out their Take-Home Folder. The folders are placed in the wire basket outside my door. Then they are to find their name on the sign-in chart and place it in the can. Then they come into the room and sit on the carpet. Please remember to put any important papers, notes, lunch money IN THE Take Home folder.

We are also learning the Five Steps to Success. These are our classroom rules. We have learned a song that teaches these steps. It is sung to the tune of “The More we Get Together”.

What are the five steps, five steps, five steps?
What are the five steps, five steps to success?
1. Safe hands and safe feet
2. Try your best
3. Express yourself
4. Play nice with others
5. Stop and think!

Next week, we will be having hearing screenings and beginning of the year Early Literacy Testing. We will continue to learn the classroom routine and meet our specials teachers. We will have Music (Mrs. Dolive) on Monday and Art (Mrs. Gilpin) on Tuesday. We have already met Mrs. Rhodes, our gym teacher.
We will be working next week on writing and recognizing our names, assessing pencil grips, cutting and gluing. We will be going over our colors and learning some color words. We will be practicing counting and recognizing numbers to 10. Please be practicing these skills at home.
If your child cannot write his name, please put this skill at the top of your homework list! We write our name on every paper we do! We will begin homework packets in September. It is important that you have a “school box” of supplies on hand at home for your child to use for homework. They will need pencils, scissors, glue sticks and crayons. It is very important that you practice the skills we are learning at home.



My classroom is a very diverse group of students of varying abilities. I have some children who are already reading and some children who are just beginning to learn their ABCs and some who are in varying stages between. I will be introducing the letters in whole group and introducing the “Phonics Song”. After Labor Day we will begin our ELF Groups (Early Literacy Families or reading groups) and will be individualizing for each child’s level. If your child already knows their letters, just consider this a review time for them. ALL children should be practicing writing their name using an initial capital letter and the rest in lowercase.


If you have not already done so, please send in all the paperwork by Monday. I will be sending home checklists next week to let you know what forms you are missing.




Next week: I will be sending August book orders.

Remember, your child is required to bring their backpack and their Take-Home folder EVERYDAY! This is a MUST!!! If you have any questions, please send a note in your child’s folder. You are also welcome to e-mail me at: cjlray@gmail.com

I am e-mailing my newsletter to parents who have given me their e-mail AND I am posting the newsletter on my classroom blog at: : http://www.clray.blogspot.com/




If you were unable to attend Open House, you will need to sign-up for one of the three remaining sessions of Parent Orientation that will be held on Thursday, September 10. There are three remaining sessions for you to choose from: 4:30 to 5:00, 5:15 to 5:45, 6:00 to 6:30. The 6:45 to 7:15 session has already been filled. Please cut the following form off and send it back to me! It is very important for every parent to attend this orientation. I will be demonstrating correct handwriting procedures, going over expectation for homework and the kindergarten curriculum. I will explain our day, what we do and why we do it! This night is for PARENTS! If at all possible, please make arrangements not to bring children.

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Child’s Name: ______________________________

Parent’s name(s) ____________________________

I prefer to attend the following session:

____ 4:30 to 5:00
____ 5:15 to 5:45
____ 6:00 to 6:30