Ray’s Ramblings
October 29, 2009
Dear Parents,
Lots of important information in today’s Ramblings! Read carefully!
Tomorrow is our Career Day Parade. Please, no Halloween costumes!
Sally Foster Fundraiser items are in. If you have not picked up your orders, please do so!
SHOES: We are spending quite a bit of time tying shoes!!! If your child is wearing tie shoes, please send them to school with double ties. This will save us a lot of time! Please work with your child on shoe tying at home!
PERMISSIONS: Last week, a form was sent home, requesting your permission to publish your child’s picture in the school yearbook, on my website, and on my blog, as well as in the Jessamine Journal on occasion and other things. I am re-sending forms to those parents who have not responded. I am receiving lots of pictures taken at the pumpkin patch and would like to post them on the blog as soon as I have permission from all students. We took group pictures of each class on the haybale steps! If anyone refuses picture access, I will not be able to post these pictures. If you went on the field trip, please e-mail pictures to me at cjlray@gmail.com. Jimmie Locker’s mom is coordinating the pictures for the school yearbook and would like to have candid shots of the class throughout the year so keep sending them in. If you can burn them to a disc, that would be great. If not, e-mail them to me and I will make a disc for her!
REPORT CARD QUESTIONS: I am having lots of questions about the report card grades. Last week, I sent home a copy of the rubric that I use to determine the grades.
I am sending home flash cards to help you help your child. I am sending alphabet cards, both capital and lowercase, pictures (for recognizing sounds, matching to caps or lc), numerals 0-20, and popcorn words. You may cut these cards apart and use them with your child. I would suggest gluing them to index cards for durability. I am also including “Oh no!” cards to put with any of the cards to make a simple game (we play this at school). For example, choose the skill you want to work on, select the particular cards you want to target (do not work with all popcorn words at one time – select a handful) and add a few “Oh no!” cards. Put them in a bag (or a bowl). Have your child draw a card and read it (or tell you the letter, number, etc. or if a letter, identify the letter and tell you something that begins with that letter). If they are correct, they may keep the card. Take turns with them and have them collect all the cards they can. BUT, if they dray an “OH NO!” card, they must return the cards to the bowl and start over.
ALL students need to be working on recognizing their popcorn words. We did not assess popcorn words during this period but we will over the next 9 weeks. See the rubric to see how they will be graded. There are 36 words. Working nightly on these words will help your child with their reading and writing. Research proves that the more words that a child knows and recognizes is a direct indicator and predictor of school success especially in the areas of reading and writing.
If your child did not receive a 4 on letter recognition and letter sounds, please continue to work with your child at home each and every night. It is essential that the child learn their letters and sounds quickly so they can work on reading and writing. **If your child did receive a 3 or 4, have your child begin sounding out words. When they are writing at home, have them to try and sound out words and write down any letters that they hear in the word. With the November Homework Packet, I am requiring 1 kidwriting page per week from each child. They will need to draw a picture, then write at least 1 sentence about the picture. If they do well with one sentence, have them write another sentence. Encourage them to use describing words like size, color, and number.
If your child did not receive a 4 on counting, and/or writing their numbers to 20 keep working on writing their numbers to 20, and counting up to 20. They also need to work on recognizing their numbers from 0-20. **If your child has mastered these skills, then we need to help students practice writing their numbers up to 50 by the end of the year. We also need to practice counting up to 100, and we need to practice skip counting by 5s to 100, 10s to 100, and 2s to 20. I will send home a number writing sheet for writing up to 30 and then up to 50 when they are ready.
Name Writing has prompted many questions. Your child will NOT receive a 4 unless they are writing them name AND forming the letters correctly. Refer to the letter formation guide in the green Parent Orientation manual for letter formation.
If your child is on writing level 3 or lower, then they really need to practice writing sentences each and every day at home. If your child is on level 4 or above, they still need to write each and every day, but we need to focus on writing great sentences using details like color words, and number words, and also describing words. For example,
The cat is big.
The big, black cat likes to play with his fuzzy mouse.
They also need to be encouraged to write more than one sentence about the same subject. They can write 2 sentences about the cat. I demonstrated kidwriting at the Parent Orientation and provided everyone with copies of our Phonics Song (our ABC song) and a popcorn word chart to be used as reference when kidwriting. I sent these home (with the green Parent Orientation booklet) to all parents who were unable to attend the Orientation. We use these at school each and every time we write. I am sending another copy of these today. Many children are telling me they don’t have these at home to use. PLEASE DO NOT THROW THESE AWAY. USE THEM NIGHTLY WHEN DOING KIDWRITING. EACH CHILD SHOULD BE DOING THIS REGULARLY!!!
I am also sending home a copy of verse TWO of our phonics song. We call this the “chunk” song. It is sung to the same tune as the Phonics Song. It includes the chunks: or, sh, ch, ir, er, ur, th, ow, ou, ew, ar, aw, au, ing, ang, ong. Use this sheet as a reference in kidwriting as well.
We also assessed graphing items, and that is a skill that we will work on all year so do not be concerned. We create graphs at school then assess (read) the graph and answer questions. After creating the graph, your child is asked to identify the item that has the most and the least. That is how we teach and assess this item. Please work on this vocabulary at home (more, less, most, least, fewer).
Patterns were also assessed. We work on this at school and you can work on patterns at home by having the kiddos use items like candy or different items from the kitchen like spoons and forks to create 2 part patterns, and they can use spoons, forks, and knives (plastic, of course) to create 3 part patterns. They can use beans, or pasta as well. They could also use colors and stickers. They will need to be able to recognize and create 2 and 3 part patterns.
I am happy to schedule a school conference with you to discuss your child’s progress on an individual basis. I am also trying to schedule home visits as well. Remember my conference times at school are on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 10:30 and 2:30. Let me know if you are interested in a conference or a home visit.
COUPON BOOK FUNDRAISER: Our newest fundraiser was sent home this week. The coupon books cost $20 each. If every child in our school sells TWO books, our school can make $17,000 for new technology for the Village!!! If you need more coupon books, let me know. Checks may be made out to JELV. The fundraiser ends November 6. Remember, the books are NOT FREE. If you do not want to purchase the book, it must be returned. Please send a note letting me know that you do not want it. I can’t tell if you haven’t seen it, or if you don’t want it.
ABSENCES: When you send in parent notes (or doctor notes) regarding your child’s absences, please include a description of their illness. The district is trying to document the illnesses that are going around. Please tell me if they are diagnosed with Swine Flu or flu-like symptoms. Thank you for your cooperation with this.
Today, you are receiving a yellow paper asking if your family (or groups of families or other groups) are willing to sponsor a family for Christmas. I always choose 2 families from our Village families who need assistance at Christmas – one for my AM class and one for my PM class. When the families are chosen, I will let you know what is needed by these families and you may send in items or $$ and Mrs. Barnhardt and I will go shopping to fulfill their wishes!!! Just wanted to give you a heads up on this!
