Monday, August 17, 2009
Favorite Sites
Although the sites listed have child friendly activities and information, I recommend them to be used only with adult supervision.
Procedures for Parents
Newsletters: On most Fridays, I will send home a letter telling a little about the past week’s activities and giving information for the next week. These letters will always be on the same color paper with familiar looking clip-art for easy identification.
Book Bags: Each student receives a book bag at South Prairie School. This book bag stays with them from year to year. In kindergarten, it is important that their book bag stays in their backpack when it is not being used, and travels to and from school each day. Book bags are used to transport borrowed books for reading homework.
Monthly Reading Log: Parents will need to keep a record of each book read to students on the monthly reading log. This can be a book borrowed from our classroom, or books you already have at home. Rewards will be given to all children who read 25 (or more) books each month. I will be keeping a running total of books reported on the reading logs, and these totals will be recorded on your child’s report card. Students will receive a certificate at the end of the year telling the total number of books read. Will your child be in the 200 club, the 300 club, the 400 club or more?
Borrowed Books: There are several tubs of books in our classroom to borrow for reading homework. I encourage each child to borrow and return one or two books each day from this collection of read-aloud books. Later in the year, your child will be bringing home ‘leveled books,’ which he/she will be able to read independently. I’ll be sending more information about that after the winter holidays.
Parent Helpers: In order to work with the children in smaller groups, I need one parent volunteer to join us at school each day. A parent helper would not be expected to handle student misbehavior. Possible duties of a parent helper:--help individual children finish up incomplete work. --supervise a group of seven or eight children as they play a game or complete a project during “stations.”--help set out and clean up after snack.--help with additional jobs to make our day run more smoothly. Please let me know if you can commit to one day a week, or share a day with another parent and come every other week.
Snacks:
Birthdays: We will be asking parents to send cookies for your child’s birthday celebration. These will need to be store bought, in keeping with district policy. Please don’t send candy, cupcakes or ice cream. We will have these treats on other occasions. I will send more information about this at a later time. If your child’s birthday is coming up soon and you haven’t heard from me, please give me a call.
Contact Information: Work phone: 842-8401. I do not answer the phone during class time while I am teaching. However, you may feel free to leave a message and I will respond as quickly as I am able. Always inform the office of transportation changes. I will not listen to the messages until after the students are on the buses. E-mail: sherilyh@tillamook.k12.or.us (Yes, my name is not spelled correctly for this address) E-mail is an effective way to make a quick contact.
Book Bags: Each student receives a book bag at South Prairie School. This book bag stays with them from year to year. In kindergarten, it is important that their book bag stays in their backpack when it is not being used, and travels to and from school each day. Book bags are used to transport borrowed books for reading homework.
Monthly Reading Log: Parents will need to keep a record of each book read to students on the monthly reading log. This can be a book borrowed from our classroom, or books you already have at home. Rewards will be given to all children who read 25 (or more) books each month. I will be keeping a running total of books reported on the reading logs, and these totals will be recorded on your child’s report card. Students will receive a certificate at the end of the year telling the total number of books read. Will your child be in the 200 club, the 300 club, the 400 club or more?
Borrowed Books: There are several tubs of books in our classroom to borrow for reading homework. I encourage each child to borrow and return one or two books each day from this collection of read-aloud books. Later in the year, your child will be bringing home ‘leveled books,’ which he/she will be able to read independently. I’ll be sending more information about that after the winter holidays.
Parent Helpers: In order to work with the children in smaller groups, I need one parent volunteer to join us at school each day. A parent helper would not be expected to handle student misbehavior. Possible duties of a parent helper:--help individual children finish up incomplete work. --supervise a group of seven or eight children as they play a game or complete a project during “stations.”--help set out and clean up after snack.--help with additional jobs to make our day run more smoothly. Please let me know if you can commit to one day a week, or share a day with another parent and come every other week.
Snacks:
Birthdays: We will be asking parents to send cookies for your child’s birthday celebration. These will need to be store bought, in keeping with district policy. Please don’t send candy, cupcakes or ice cream. We will have these treats on other occasions. I will send more information about this at a later time. If your child’s birthday is coming up soon and you haven’t heard from me, please give me a call.
Contact Information: Work phone: 842-8401. I do not answer the phone during class time while I am teaching. However, you may feel free to leave a message and I will respond as quickly as I am able. Always inform the office of transportation changes. I will not listen to the messages until after the students are on the buses. E-mail: sherilyh@tillamook.k12.or.us (Yes, my name is not spelled correctly for this address) E-mail is an effective way to make a quick contact.
Develop Motor Skills
Include your child in activities around the house. Cooking, stirring and rolling out dough are great activities for building strength in the hands and arms. Moving books and stacking firewood are also good, in addition to other tasks at home.
Chores are good to help children build strength and confidence as they learn to be more independent. Have a place for children to put their toys, clothes, etc. away, and expect them to carry through with taking care of their things. These jobs help them at school so that school responsibilities become automatic, too.
Home art projects are terrific! Have children use rubber stamps to make wrapping paper, cut out designs, paint, and work with clay.
Work on helping your child learn positional concepts, such as, beside, between, in front, behind, next to, etc. Learning these concepts with practice at home will help your child better understand directions given at school.
Echo drawings are a fun way to practice writing and drawing skills. Just draw a shape such as a square, and take turns with your child drawing identical shapes smaller and smaller inside the original shape to 'echo' the original shape. You may also start with a small shape and make your echo drawings larger and larger.
Gift giving ideas could include games that build motor skills and perceptual motor skills. Examples include Mancala, Twister, Chinese Checkers, Memory, and all kinds of card games that will help to build fine motor skills.
Chores are good to help children build strength and confidence as they learn to be more independent. Have a place for children to put their toys, clothes, etc. away, and expect them to carry through with taking care of their things. These jobs help them at school so that school responsibilities become automatic, too.
Home art projects are terrific! Have children use rubber stamps to make wrapping paper, cut out designs, paint, and work with clay.
Work on helping your child learn positional concepts, such as, beside, between, in front, behind, next to, etc. Learning these concepts with practice at home will help your child better understand directions given at school.
Echo drawings are a fun way to practice writing and drawing skills. Just draw a shape such as a square, and take turns with your child drawing identical shapes smaller and smaller inside the original shape to 'echo' the original shape. You may also start with a small shape and make your echo drawings larger and larger.
Gift giving ideas could include games that build motor skills and perceptual motor skills. Examples include Mancala, Twister, Chinese Checkers, Memory, and all kinds of card games that will help to build fine motor skills.
Develop Phonological Awareness
Phonological awareness is the conscious sensitivity to the sound structure of language and is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability. Children develop phonological awareness through verbal communication. Songs and nursery rhymes are particularly good tools for developing this auditory skill. Here are some fun activities that you can do with your child:
Sing the "alphabet song."
Read Books that rhyme—Dr. Suess, Nursery Rhymes, etc. Read to the point of the rhyming word, then stop. Let child guess the word.
Play the "Rhyming Game": You give a word, child thinks of a word that rhymes. Take turns.
Play "Can You Find the Rhyme?" Orally provide pairs of words that rhyme and pairs that do not (pan, man; pat boy). Ask, Do pan and man rhyme? How do you know? Then ask, Do pat and boy rhyme? Why not?
Sing rhyming songs.
Play the "Stretch and Shrink Game": You stretch out a word “sssssssaaaaaannnnnnnnd” and child tells what the word is. Play it like “I Spy” on car trips. Take turns.
Play the "Word Puzzle Game": Say each letter sound, individually, “c – a – t” and child guesses the word. Take turns if child can. Play it like “I spy.”
Play the "Sorting Game": Gather objects or pictures with two or three different first sounds. Take turns choosing an object and putting it in the right pile. You can use a letter card to mark each pile and also teach letter/sound identification.
Play "Piglet” Latin Game: Say a word, then say it again omitting the first sound. “pig-ig” “cup-up.”
Play "I Spy" with your child. Say the name of the object you are spying, sound by sound (I spy a c-a-t.). Your child blends the three sounds and says "cat."
Play "Guess What We're Having for Supper?" For example: Tonight we are having h-o-t d-o-g-s. Can you guess what we're having?
Play "Pick a Sound." This is a listening game. Have your child sit and listen to a group of words. Each time your child hears a word that begins with the special sound she or he stands up. If the word does not start with the sound, he or she must stay seated. Demonstrate this game by providing a few examples for your child (s: snake, sale; a: apple, ant).
Play "Silly Word Day" by replacing the first letter of each family member's name with another sound (Tob for Bob; Tam for Sam; Tinda for Linda).
Encourage your child to read
Read aloud to your child whether he/she is a toddler or a high school student. This is the most important thing you can do to help your child learn to read and enjoy reading.
Show that reading is important by letting your child see you read.
Give your child books. Research shows that children who are successful readers own their own books and have a special place to store them.
Have plenty of books, magazines, and newspapers in your home.
Take your child to the library frequently. Encourage your child to browse through books before making a selection.
Limit TV viewing and electronic gaming. When children watch less television they often spend more time reading.
Set an early bedtime. Say, “Bedtime is at 7:30, or you can read with the light on until 8:00.” Let it be your child’s choice.
Show that reading is important by letting your child see you read.
Give your child books. Research shows that children who are successful readers own their own books and have a special place to store them.
Have plenty of books, magazines, and newspapers in your home.
Take your child to the library frequently. Encourage your child to browse through books before making a selection.
Limit TV viewing and electronic gaming. When children watch less television they often spend more time reading.
Set an early bedtime. Say, “Bedtime is at 7:30, or you can read with the light on until 8:00.” Let it be your child’s choice.
Weekly Schedule AM and PM
Monday
Late Start for Morning Class. 9:00 - 11:00 (Tuesday - Friday - 8:10 - 11:00)
Afternoon Class begins at the same time each day. 12:15 - 2:55
Library Day. Students may check out a new book if they have returned their book from the previous week. All library books should be returned by Friday. If all of the previous week’s books are returned, we get to have a special snack.
Computer Day. We will be going to the computer lab on most Mondays.
Tuesday
P.E. Day. When the rainy season begins, we will begin to have P.E. in the gym on Tuesdays only. Students should wear clothing and shoes that are safe and comfortable for active play. Sandals and floppy slip-ons probably should not be worn to school on Tuesdays.
Friday
This is our day to return library books so they can be checked in and we can be ready for next week ’s library day.
Kindergarten Newsletter comes home on Friday.
Late Start for Morning Class. 9:00 - 11:00 (Tuesday - Friday - 8:10 - 11:00)
Afternoon Class begins at the same time each day. 12:15 - 2:55
Library Day. Students may check out a new book if they have returned their book from the previous week. All library books should be returned by Friday. If all of the previous week’s books are returned, we get to have a special snack.
Computer Day. We will be going to the computer lab on most Mondays.
Tuesday
P.E. Day. When the rainy season begins, we will begin to have P.E. in the gym on Tuesdays only. Students should wear clothing and shoes that are safe and comfortable for active play. Sandals and floppy slip-ons probably should not be worn to school on Tuesdays.
Friday
This is our day to return library books so they can be checked in and we can be ready for next week ’s library day.
Kindergarten Newsletter comes home on Friday.
Afternoon Class Procedures
Starting the day:
Kindergarten students may enter the glass doors close to our room, and come directly to our room.
Hallways:
Students walk quietly with their hands to themselves while walking through the halls to the classroom, to the library, and other transition times.
Beginning of the day jobs in the classroom:
Students hang up their coats and backpacks.
Book bags:
Bring book bag to the room. Trade for a new book in the book bag. Put book bag in cubby.
Important notes (about transportation, etc.):
Give to teacher.
Other papers being returned:
Put in white box by the door.
Choose an activity in the classroom to keep busy until all the buses have arrived.
Carpet activities:
Get a white board, marker and eraser, sit on assigned carpet space, and follow directions given by teacher.
Attention getting signals from teacher:
When any of the following signals are given by the teacher, the students need to:
…stop what they are doing
…raise both empty hands
…turn to look at the teacher
…be ready to listen.
Signals:
One set of lights go off, or the chimes quietly ring, and/or the teacher says, “May I have your attention please?”
Teacher says “1 – 2 – 3, eyes on me.”
Teacher says “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1”
Personal Needs:
Boys may use the classroom restroom.
Girls use the girls’ restroom across the hall.
Snacks:
Students sit at their own table space. Use conversation voice that can only be heard at your own table. Students clean up their own spot. Wait quietly for the teacher to give directions.
End of Day:
Teacher will dismiss students several at a time:
Get book bag and papers from cubby.
Take backpack and coat to the wall near a 'bus' that matches the color of your bus tag.
Sit by the wall to pack backpack and put on coat.
Wait quietly for teacher to take students to the bus.
Carefully follow in line to the bus lines in the gym.
Kindergarten students may enter the glass doors close to our room, and come directly to our room.
Hallways:
Students walk quietly with their hands to themselves while walking through the halls to the classroom, to the library, and other transition times.
Beginning of the day jobs in the classroom:
Students hang up their coats and backpacks.
Book bags:
Bring book bag to the room. Trade for a new book in the book bag. Put book bag in cubby.
Important notes (about transportation, etc.):
Give to teacher.
Other papers being returned:
Put in white box by the door.
Choose an activity in the classroom to keep busy until all the buses have arrived.
Carpet activities:
Get a white board, marker and eraser, sit on assigned carpet space, and follow directions given by teacher.
Attention getting signals from teacher:
When any of the following signals are given by the teacher, the students need to:
…stop what they are doing
…raise both empty hands
…turn to look at the teacher
…be ready to listen.
Signals:
One set of lights go off, or the chimes quietly ring, and/or the teacher says, “May I have your attention please?”
Teacher says “1 – 2 – 3, eyes on me.”
Teacher says “5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1”
Personal Needs:
Boys may use the classroom restroom.
Girls use the girls’ restroom across the hall.
Snacks:
Students sit at their own table space. Use conversation voice that can only be heard at your own table. Students clean up their own spot. Wait quietly for the teacher to give directions.
End of Day:
Teacher will dismiss students several at a time:
Get book bag and papers from cubby.
Take backpack and coat to the wall near a 'bus' that matches the color of your bus tag.
Sit by the wall to pack backpack and put on coat.
Wait quietly for teacher to take students to the bus.
Carefully follow in line to the bus lines in the gym.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)