November 12, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
November 12, 2009

Dear Parents,

I need your help! It is time to begin watching the weather on a daily basis. We will make every effort to go outside every day (as long as the temperature is above 32 degrees!) When the weather is below 60 degrees, please make sure your child has a jacket!!! I would rather they HAVE a coat and NOT NEED it than NEED it and NOT HAVE it! When your child is NOT wearing their coat, they are instructed to put it IN their backpack. This helps make sure they do not leave their coats at school if it warms up during the day! We have quite a few backpacks that are NOT large enough to hold their coat. Please make every effort to purchase a backpack that is large enough to hold their winter coat AND their take-home folder. (This was the description that was on the beginning of the year supply list! Now is when that description becomes evident!) When your child comes into school, they are instructed to take off their coats and put them in their backpacks. If they have their coat on all morning, it will do them no good when we go outside. Please help them understand this. Our room is warm and coats are not needed inside. ALSO, Please make sure all coats, jackets, sweaters have your child’s name printed in permanent marker. This will help identify lost clothing!

NEW THIS WEEK: Every child should have a yellow tag attached to their backpack. Please make sure this tag remains on their backpack. In case of inclement weather and buses need to unload one bus at a time at the front door, children will be sorted by these tags and brought to their ‘home’ hall. (We live on the YELLOW hall.)

FAMILY PROJECT #2 IS GOING HOME TODAY!!! Please read the instructions carefully, have fun and return the turkeys to school by Monday, November 23!

Mrs. Ray’s Wise Tribe – In the glass case outside our door, we have put up incentive charts. Each child has a wise man or wise woman with their name on it. As they achieve academic goals in the classroom, they will receive stickers to place on their ‘person’. These goals reflect the expectations on the second report card. As you visit our hall, take a look at your child’s card to see how they are doing. If at anytime, they are ready for a challenge, they can tell me and I will recheck! This nine weeks we are working on:
• Counting to 20
• Writing numbers to 20
• Counting 20 items (1 to 1 correspondence)
• Writing first name correctly (initial capital, rest lowercase and each letter formed correctly - see handwriting guide in parent handbook!)
• Counting by 10 to 100
• Names all 26 capital letters
• Names all 26 lowercase letters
Third nine week skills: counting by 5 to 100, names coins, knows value of coins, knows addition facts to 10, knows 31 sounds (includes long vowels), correctly prints last name, identifies 18 sight word (1/2 of the total popcorn words) challenge:: counts to 50, writes numbers to 50, reads CVC words,
Fourth nine week skills: count by 2 to 20, tells time to hour and half hour, knows subtraction facts to 10, identifies 36 sight words (popcorn words) – challenge: count to 100, write numbers to 100, knows additional 1st grade vocabulary.
I am working on individual challenges for those students who have already mastered these skills! More to come, soon! For now, we are working to assess the basic goals for all 46 children!

FOOD DRIVE – don’t forget the Thanksgiving Food Drive. There is a collection box in the hall outside our room for any non perishable foods you can send!

ARRIVAL/DISMISSAL PROCEDURES: Please read Mrs. Sampson’s purple note carefully. Please do not bring your child to the room before 8:00 or 11:55. If you pick your child up, please wait IN THE CAFETERIA!!! Not in the hall outside the cafeteria or in the front hall. I have been instructed NOT to release your child to you at any other place! This is for your child’s safety!
FAMILY FEAST DAY – Thanksgiving week, we will only come to school on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, we will be preparing for our feast on Tuesday. I will let each child decide whether they want to dress as a Native American or as a Pilgrim. (guess which is the favorite ) To help with this, I would like each child to send in either a solid color pillow case OR a solid color oversized t-shirt that we can cut and decorate. We will be making buckskin shirts, or dresses. THEY WILL BE CUT AND COLORED WITH PERMANENT MARKERS!! (If you wish to purchase a package of child size L or XL solid white t-shirts to share with other children, this would be appreciated! I would like to decorate a class field trip t-shirt after Christmas! Please do not send smaller sizes! After dying the shirts, they shrink!)
I am asking Mrs. Bolton (AM) and Mrs. Berryman (PM) to help me coordinate items for the feast. We will try to have ‘authentic snacks’ for our meal. We need beef jerky or slim jims, sunflower kernals (no shells), peanuts, pumpkin bread or banana nut bread, craisins, raisins, misc. fruit tray, vegetable tray, cheese tray, dips, apple juice boxes, plates and napkins. In the past, I have had parents volunteer to smoke turkey to send or prepare homemade jerky or dried fruits. If this is something you do (or want to cook something special for the class), let me know. Otherwise, I will have these mom’s call and fulfill the items on the list. They will be calling parents who gave permission to be on a phone list at the beginning of the year. If you did NOT give permission, you will NOT be called.
Our Feast will be at 9:30 – 10:30 and 1:30 – 2:30 on Tuesday the 24th. The children will go to ART at 10:30 and 2:30. (Parents are welcome to help clean up the room while the children are at ART! )
Upcoming Dates to remember:
Friday, 11-20 – pillow cases or t-shirts due for decoration.
Monday – 11-22 Family Turkey Project is due
Tuesday – 11-23 Family Feast 9:30/1:30
December 17 – Kindergarten Music Celebration (evening performance – set the date!)
December 18 – Last day before Christmas Break (we will be wearing pajamas that day, enjoying hot chocolate and cookies and celebrating!)
Heads up – For Christmas, I ask each child to bring in a treat for each child in the classroom! They are to bring in of the same item (AM-24, PM- 22 unless our numbers change). I am giving you advance notice to be thinking about this. In the past, I have had children bring in 24 holiday pencils, 24 homemade craft items, 24 christmas necklaces, 24 ring pops, 24 goodie bags, 24 christmas ornaments, 24 coloring books, 24 crayon boxes, 24 christmas candy bars, etc. These are just suggestions! Every year I am very surprised at the creative thought of my parents! Each child will be asked to bring in a large Christmas Shopping bag to collect their treats. The children will ‘pass out their treats to everyone in the class! Every child will receive the same goody bag full of treats and everyone is happy!

October 29, 2009

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! 

October 22, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
October 22,2009

Dear Parents,

Our trip to Patterson’s was FANTASTIC!!! We couldn’t have had a better day to go – the weather was amazing! Hope you enjoyed your pumpkins!

REPORT CARDS – are going home today. Please read over each area of the report card carefully. In most areas, there is a section marked showing what your child has demonstrated in that area. For example, “identifies numbers” to 20. __/20 will show the number of numerals your child correctly identified out of 20 numerals. Then the score of 1 to 5 reflects the overall score. If your child has scored 1’s or 2’s in any area, I would consider that an area of concern and definitely an area that needs work!

Writing Stages: I have made an error in the assessment of writing stages. I received the insert for writing stages yesterday. The assessment I used was based on the pages in the Parent Orientation Handbook that lists levels 1 to 7. (The insert you are receiving is on the previous page in the orientation handbook.) The levels do NOT correspond to the stages on the insert. Use this table to see the level of writing correlation.

If Report card shows: Report card SHOULD show:
Level 1, 2, 3 Stage 1
Level 4 Stage 2
Level 5 Stage 3
Level 6 Stage 4
Level 7 Stage 5

I will use the insert for the next reporting period. I am sorry for the confusion.

You may keep your copy of the report card and all the inserts. I suggest you post it on the refrigerator or in your homework box so you can refer to it when doing nightly homework.

Please sign the envelope and return it to me tomorrow.

Next week: Community Helper Unit

Wednesday, October 28 is our first Early Release Day. AM students will come to school normally. PM students will NOT attend school that day. I will be making home visits Wednesday afternoon. I am currently scheduled to visit the following homes: Brianna Bigam, Troy Brock, Jadon Lapasnick, Alexandria Ramirez-Buck. If these visits are no longer ok, please drop me a note so I can re-schedule.
Friday, October 30, Community Helper Costume Parade (Your child should come to school dressed in their favorite community helper attire. Be creative! These do NOT have to be purchased costumes. Last year I had a President, a principal, a teacher (complete with coffee mug, badge and pointer) and a veterinarian (with stuffed animals and stethoscope!
October Homework packets are due next Friday. Once again, double treasure box will be given for those students who turn in completed homework packets on Friday!

September 24, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
September 24, 2009

Dear Parents,

INDEPENDENT READERS: Today, we had our first volunteer moms. Each child brought home a little reader and a book slip. Please follow this procedure with the books.

1. Read the book TO your child. Point to each word as you go.
2. Have your child read the book WITH you 1-2 times.
3. Have your child read the book alone, pointing to each word.
4. Play a game with the book. Have your child close the book, then play “find a word/letter”. Have them find the word in the book.
5. Take the repetitive pattern in the book and have your child create their own page using that pattern. Illustrate and send to school the next day (be sure name is on paper!)

I only have 2 mothers in each class who have volunteered to come and help check out the books. If anyone else is willing PLEASE let me know. I completely depend on volunteers to help with this process. I cannot guarantee that your child will get a book every night. If a book does come home, please read it, sign the paper and send any work you did relating to the book to school the next day. If I have a parent, your child will get another book the next night. THEY WILL NOT RECEIVE ANOTHER BOOK UNTIL THE PREVIOUS BOOK IS RETURNED. Remember, there is a $5.00 replacement cost for lost books. Keep them in your child’s folder when you are not reading. Keep them away from pets and younger siblings. The children are told NOT to get the books out of their backpack on the bus or at daycare.

HOMEWORK: September homework packets are due by Wednesday, 9-30. (If the packets are complete on Friday, I will take them home to grade over the weekend.) Children turning in complete homework packets will receive an extra treasure box treat next Friday. October Homework packets will go home on Thursday!
I sent home the field trip permission slips for the Patterson Pumpkin Patch last week. I have not received many slips back. I need the permission slips as soon as possible. The money is not due until the Friday before Fall Break (October 9). If you are able to help pay for another child, please check that on the slip so I can see where we stand. Do not send extra money at this time, I will let you know if we need it. When you do send money, make checks out to JELV, please.

BOOK ORDERS are due tomorrow. Remember, one check to Scholastic Book Clubs can pay for all book orders.

Upcoming Themes:

September 28 – October 2 - PUMPKINS
October 5 – 9 The Farm
October 19 – 23 The Farm
October 26 -30 COMMUNITY HELPERS

Upcoming Dates to Remember:
Friday, September 25 – Fall Comprehension Assessment
Thursday, October 8 – JELV Family Fun Night “Hoe Down” 5:00 to 7:00
October 10 – 18 – FALL BREAK
October 20 – Field Trip to Patterson Pumpkin Patch
October 28 – Early Release – AM comes to school; PM does not!
October 30 – Community Helper Costume Parade (all children dress either as their favorite community helper OR what they want to be when they grow up! NO HALLOWEEN COSTUMES OR SUPER HEROES. (Parade time will be announced later)

September 3, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
September 3, 2009

Dear Parents,

We have had a very busy week. Initial screening and assessment of all children is complete and we will begin ELF Groups (reading) next week. ELF stands for Early Literacy Friends. Whenever I say ELF it refers to our reading groups.

NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY: Everyone enjoy your three day weekend!

PARENT ORIENTATION: Thursday night is Parent Orientation. Please come at the time you signed up for. Remember to be prepared to come either 30 minutes early or stay 30 minutes after the session in my room. Remember, this meeting is for adults only!

TAKE HOME FOLDERS: Some of our folders are getting quite full! Please make it a habit to go through your child’s folder each night. When you return the folder the next day, it should ONLY contain homework, note to me, or envelope with money! Please remove work that has been completed! Remember to send folders everyday.

HOME WORK PROJECT: I am very pleased with the projects that you completed at home. They will be on display Thursday night at Orientation!


TREASURE BOX: Please continue to send items for Treasure Box. We will be drawing from this each Friday! Thank you so much for your donations!!!

BEHAVIOR: The children seem to be settling into our routine. Thank you for your support from home. Continue to talk with your child about “making good choices” and “stop and think”.

HOMEWORK: All children should be practicing writing their name correctly! As they write their name, have them SAY the name of each letter. I am finding that many children cannot spell or recognize the letters in their name! Also practice writing numbers 0 to 10, using the following rhymes:

SEPTEMBER HOMEWORK PACKETS: Our first “OFFCIAL” homework packet will be given out at Parent Orientation.




1
Straight line down
Then you’re done.
That’s the way
To make a one!

2
Around and back
On the railroad track.
Two! Two!
Two! Two!
3
Around a tree,
Around a tree,
That’s the way
To make a three!

4
Down and over,
Down once more,
That’s the way
To make a four!


5
Straight line down,
Then around,
Hat on top
And five’s a clown!
6
A stick and a hoop
Do the tricks
That’s the way
To make a six!

7
Across the sky
And down from heaven
That’s the way
To make a seven!

8
Make an ‘S’
Do not wait
Come back up
And that’s an eight!
9
A hoop and a line
That’s a nine!


14
Straight line down
Then around with a grin
That’s the way
To make a ten!


b

August 20, 2009

Ray’s Ramblings
August 20, 2009

Dear Parents,

Many important things are included in your child’s Take Home Folder Today. Please read carefully!

FOLDERS: I am very pleased that you are being so diligent in sending the Take Home Folders to school daily. Please check the folder each night and return it to school either EMPTY or put lunch money, book orders or notes to me in the folder. Please take out all work that is sent home.

ABSENCES: Remember, if your child is absent, you must send in a doctor note if they have been seen by a doctor OR you may write a Parent Note explaining the absence within three days! I am sending in a sheet with 4 sample parent notes for you to use. Please keep these handy. If your child is absent, please cut one of these off and send it in. Of course, you may write your own note. This is just an attempt to help you out! Remember you may only have 8 (eight) parent notes for the entire year! (Read the Parent Handbook).

BEHAVIOR: We have started our Apple Chart for good behavior. When your childcomes to school, they will have a green apple. As long as they are following the Five Steps without reminders, their apple will remain green. If they have a problem, they will be given a warning. At warning #2, they should STOP AND THINK about what is going on and stop the behavior. This usually works for most children. However, if the behavior continues and they get a third warning, their apple will be changed to YELLOW. They will spend 5 minutes at recess walking laps and discussing the behavior with me. Hopefully it will not happen again. If a child has another episode of behavior problems in the same day, their apple could move to RED. At this point, you will get a note home (or a phone call). If the behavior warrants, we will go to the office and you will be receiving a phone call from Mrs. Sampson or Mrs. Schlafer. At the end of the day, all children who still have GREEN apples, will receive a sticker to show you that they had a good day. I realize these stickers may not make it home. I keep a record of behavior. If behavior becomes a problem, I WILL LET YOU KNOW! No news is good news!

TREASURE BOX: I would like to be able to reward the students who stay on GREEN ALL WEEK with Treasure Box. I currently have nothing for treasure box. If you have extra McDonalds or Happy Meal toys, these make excellent items for treasure box. Last year, many parents had their children clean out toy chests for small items that may be a treasure to another child. On the supply list, you were supposed to send in a $10 class fee. I have only received two fees!!! If you send the class fee in, I can use the money to purchase some party toys OR you may purchase party items and send them in! ( I also need Play-Doh!!)

CAR LINE: The carline for parents picking up and dropping off their children will begin on August 24. If you are ONLY planning to drop your child off, you do not need to do anything. If you plan to pick up your child in the carline, you must let me know. I will send home a form for you to fill out and you will receive a special tag to put on your child’s backpack and a matching tag to place in your window.
SHOES: Please read through your Parent Handbook carefully. Particularly the part about shoes. It is highly recommended for every child to wear tennis shoes to school. We have lots of trouble on the playground with children tripping on flip flops and stepping on wood chips. We have even had children step on them and get splinters. Be sure to remember that WEDNESDAY is our GYM day and tennis shoes are required on that day.

JEWELRY: We are having a problem with girls wearing jewelry. I know this is a neat thing to do. If the child can wear the jewelry and leave it alone, that is fine. If they continue to take it off and play with it, it becomes a toy. Toys are not allowed at school and will be taken away and put in backpacks.

HOME VISITS: It is the Jessamine Early Learning Village policy for kindergarten teachers to make 1 home visit with each child at some point throughout the year. Home visits are very important to your child. It allows me to see “their world”. I do realize that sometimes home visits are not possible and I am willing to make different arrangements if needed (meet at school, McDonald’s, etc.). Please fill out the enclosed Home Visit form and return it to school as soon as possible. I currently have 48 children on my class list. Please be patient as I work through scheduling these home visits in my ‘outside’ time. We will have one day in first semester designed for home visits for PM students (October 28) and one day second semester for AM (March 16) students. Keep these days in mind.

SALLY FOSTER FUNDRAISER: It’s time for JELV’s annual Sally Foster Fundraiser for technology! Last year we raised approximately $9000.00 and we look forward to another successful year. This fundraiser features quality gift-wrap, unique gift items, gourmet chocolates, edibles, and much more. And, everything is value-priced at $20 or less! The fundraiser will begin on Tuesday September 1 and end on Tuesday September 15. Order packets will be placed in your students backpack. Please return them in your child¹s backpack by Tuesday September 15. Orders will be received the week following fall break. As always, we keep the children¹s safety in mind, and encourage the students to only sell to familiar adults and with the assistance of an adult. We appreciate your help in helping your child¹s school raise money for technology.

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS: The Welcome Back to School book orders are going home today. I will send book orders home once each month. There are two ways to order. You may check on the book order the items you wish to purchase and send a check made out to SCHOLASTIC BOOKCLUBS. Put the order form and the check in an envelope marked book orders with your child’s name and put it in your child’s take home folder. You may also order online using a credit card. I am sending these instructions on a separate paper for you to keep for future reference. You can also find the directions on my website: www.carlaray.net. I am sending the orders home today. Please return orders to me by next Thursday. I will place the orders online over the weekend next week. If you are making online orders, please have these placed by Friday. The online orders will come to school with the rest of the orders about 7 days after placing the orders. If you choose to order from both book orders, you may still make ONE check out to Scholastic. I recommend item #37 in the Scholastic order for everyone. This is a set of High Frequency Readers that we will be using in ELF groups.

PARENT ORIENTATION NIGHT: Please remember to put September 10 on your calendar. This night is for PARENTS. Try to make arrangements to leave your children with a sitter. There are four sessions for parents in my room. Be prepared to stay at school for 1 hour. Thirty minutes will be in my room. The second 30 minutes will be in the cafeteria. If you have a 4:30 time slot, you will go to the cafeteria at 5:00. If you have the last time slot, please go to the cafeteria BEFORE coming to my room. If you have one of the two middle sessions, you may choose to go to the cafeteria either before OR after the session in my room!

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