Our Kindergarten Year is Half Over

January marks the mid-point of the school year. From now to the end of the year we will be working very hard as we prepare for First Grade. Many students have applied for language or advanced programs. Good luck to all of you! We are raising the bar on the quality of work and expected work level. Thank you for continuing to read with your students every day. Reading ability really takes off for many students the last half of the year. But please don't forget to keep working on math skills. Fluency is a big part of math. In other words, recognizing and processing numbers quickly and accurately. As we look forward to February and Valentines Day, students can begin preparing valentines for class members if they would like. We will send home a class list this coming week with our homework assignment. Please remember that we have students with severe peanut/nut allergies and do not include any items with valentines that would contain these items. Thank you!

Testing Week - Thank You Parents!

This has been a great week. It was a marathon to get everyone tested, but it was wonderful to sit down and interact with each student one-on-one for 20 minutes, without distractions or disturbances. Thank you to all you parents for bringing your student in for their appointment!!! The information that was gathered will be presented to you at Parent/Teacher conferences the first week of March. It has been invaluable. Next week the schedule is as follows...Monday 1/16 - no school (Martin L. King Day); Tuesday 1/17 - regular day; Wednesday 1/18 - regular day; Thursday 1/ 19 - Early dismissal day; Friday 1/20 - no school (teacher work day). Although it is hard to have another day off on Friday 1/20. that is the day teachers will be able to look at the information gathered from testing, and make adjustments in their plans to best help their students. Again, thank you parents for all the support and help you give. It truly does make a difference! Enjoy the long weekend.

This Is Winter????

It has been an unusual experience this week as we have been talking about winter in our class. There is no snow and the weather is so nice, many of the students take off their coats during recess. I guess we will experience it vicariously through our memories of last year. Unfortunately, I'm afraid we may make up for this weather by having snow in April and May :(!!!
Just a reminder that next week is Kindergarten mid-year testing. Students do not come to school on Wed., Jan. 11th, Thurs., Jan. 12th, and Fri., Jan. 13th. Each student has been given a 20 minute testing appointment. Reminder notes were sent home today.  If you are unsure of your date/time, please call the school office and check with them. School will be held on Monday and Tuesday with regular hours.
We had a lot of fun with our "Toy Day" today. I've included a few pictures for your enjoyment. Unfortunately I couldn't include all our pictures because they contained students who are not to have published photos on the internet.

Our school participates in a great program called Jr. Achievement. This program teaches children about business and economic principles. Parents are asked to teach the 5 lessons (approx. 30 min. each) for each class. This typically takes place in March or April and dates and times are arranged with the teacher, so it is convenient. If you are interested, please contact Rachel Miller (AM class)  @ jakeleemiller@gmail.com  or Marcie Ison (PM class) @ marciejane.ison@gmail.com