Senior K Newsletter August 17, 2009

The school year is off to a GREAT start! We have enjoyed these last four days with your children--they are delightful! Parents, thank you so much for all the extra supplies you sent in! Also, thank you to Jessica Adams for sending cupcakes in honor of Emalyn’s birthday on Tuesday. Please remember to send a raincoat that can remain at school. We would like to take this opportunity to let you know more about our class routines and procedures.

Folders: We will be sending home your child's folder daily with any notes. Please check these daily and send them back to school each day. Please use them to correspond with us also. Your child's classwork will be sent home on Mondays. We would like to encourage responsibility for the children and help them develop good habits for First grade. Each Friday we will email a "Sr. K News" letter explaining what we are planning for the upcoming week. This note will also include random pictures of the children, any reminders and/or announcements.

Traveling Bags: We will begin sending home our first traveling bag, "My Family" next week. The instructions will be inside the bag. Return the bag as soon as you have completed the activity so the next child can take it home.

Homework: Reading homework will be sent home on Mondays and should be returned on Fridays. Math homework will be sent home as needed and should be returned the next day. We are trying our best to accommodate everyone's busy schedule. It is important to start building habits for First Grade now. :-)

Behavior Management: The children have been learning "Our Class Rules":

*1. Treat other people the way you want to be treated.

*2. Do your best.

*3. Be neat.

We have spent a lot of time going over each rule and talking about what each one means. The children will learn that if the rules are not followed, they will have to "Pull a CARD". In our rooms, we have a behavior chart with five cards for each child. The cards are different colors. The children start out everyday on blue. If a child has difficulty following our rules, he/she will receive a verbal warning. If the verbal warning is not effective, we will start "pulling cards". The child would then be instructed to "pull his/her card", which means taking the blue card and placing it behind the others. Then his/her green card would be showing. Green is a strong warning and may also mean time out. Yellow follows green and means time out from recess. After yellow is orange, resulting in parent contact and time lost from recess. Red is the final, dreaded card which means all of the above plus talking to Mr. Frazier. If your child gets to yellow during a week, he/she will not be eligible to go to the Treasure Chest on Friday.

Unit Study: Next week our unit will be "Dinosaurs". The letters we will work on will be Mm and Ff. In Math we will continue working on Chapter 1, Sorting and Classifying.

Star Student- This is a special time of year for each student to share special things about him/herself. We have a bulletin board in each Sr. K classroom that your child can help decorate. Things to bring in when you're Star Student: Pictures (limit 10) of family, homes, pets, friends; a favorite book, special toy or trinket. Parents are welcome to visit our classroom during this time to read a special story, share a song, or activity. Each child will be Star Student for approximately 2 weeks. You may also send a special snack. We will send a reminder close to your date.

Our Star Student Schedule:

Anna Kate: August 24 - September 4

Davis: September 8-18

Emalyn: September 21 - October 2

Jacob: October 5-15

Kabien: October 19-30

Maddie: November 2-13

Sadie Grace: January 19-29

Tyler: February 1-12

Virginia: February 16-26

Upcoming Events:

Grandparent’s Day program- September 11

Pet Day- September 25