Author: White, Katie

Hello KA Parents,

Happy November!  This week will be learning about Veterans’ Day, and saying thank you to the people who keep our country free and safe.  We will make special cards and artwork.  On Thursday, we will attend a Veterans’ Day assembly.

In reading, we will be focusing on the letter Tt and the sight word “see.”  The kindergarteners have been doing more writing the last couple weeks, and feeling more confident in their recognition of sight words and beginning sounds.  (These skills will serve them well, as we will begin independent writing and “best guess” spelling next month.)  In math, our next chapter focuses on two-dimensional shapes, and symmetry.

The fourth graders are organizing a Thanksgiving food drive, and our class has been assigned to collect cans of frosting for the meal baskets.  Please consider donating cans of frosting to help complete and meal basket for a family in need during Thanksgiving.

We will have a KA “Thanksgiving Feast” on Thursday 11/17.  This will be a wonderful experience to gather together and share a meal together, as well as to try many different types of foods.  Look for more information to come next week!  Mrs. White will bring turkey, and ask parents to bring other items to share for our class feast.  Is there a traditional or favorite dish that your family enjoys and would be willing to share?   I hope you can join us!

Parent teacher conferences are scheduled for November 21-23.  There is no school that week!  You should have received a scheduled time for your conference in your family envelope.  If you have any questions, let me know.  If your scheduled conference time will not work, please contact Sue Snider in the office, as she does the scheduling.

Upcoming dates:

Thurs. 11/10- Veterans Day Assembly at 2:15

Fri. 11/11- No School, Veterans Day

Thurs. 11/17- KA Thanksgiving Feast, more info. to come

Fri. 11/18- Thanksgiving Prayer Service in the church at 2:15

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

It was great seeing many of you at the SMM Halloween Carnival on Friday, I hope your families had fun!  We have a full and busy week ahead…

Tomorrow- Monday, Oct. 31 we will celebrate Halloween with a class party in KA at 2:00.  **Important** On Halloween, all KA students should come to school dressed in their uniform.  They can bring their Halloween costumes in their backpacks or a bag.  We will put costumes on in the afternoon for the party. Students may put their costume on over their uniforms, or change in the bathroom.  Please make sure they can dress themselves to put their costume on.  No face masks, face paint, or weapons of any type.  Thank you!

Tuesday, Nov. 1 we will celebrate All Saints Day.  There will be an All Saints Day assembly in the church at 10:30. On this day, students may come dressed as a saint or come in uniform.  Dressing up is optional, but highly encourage as we celebrate this special day in our church.  We will change into uniforms after the assembly, so if dressing up, please send uniform in their bag to change.  If you need ideas for saint costumes, please see these links below for inspiration.

http://www.catholicicing.com/all-saints-day-costume-ideas-for-boys/

http://www.catholicicing.com/all-saints-day-costume-ideas-for-girls/

On Wednesday, our class will attend a special assembly about Dia De Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. This is not a sad or scary day, but a special day to pray for and remember those who have died.

This week, we will be integrating some fun Halloween activities into reading and math on Monday, and then resuming regular reading and math for the rest of the week.  In religion and social studies, we will be learning about the saints (What is a saint? Why are the saints important to our faith?  Why do we ask the saints to pray with us?)   We will also be learning about the voting process this week.  We will read the story “Duck for President” and discuss how we get to vote for our president in the United States.  We will take a class vote to vote for our favorite Halloween candy!

If you have any questions, please let me know,

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend!  The class had a wonderful time at the Craven Farm field trip on Friday.  They loved seeing the lifecycle of a pumpkin that we have been learning about “in real life”: seed, sprout, vine, blossom, green pumpkin, orange pumpkin.  Although the ground was muddy, the weather was great!

This week is packed with fun and learning!  We will be continuing with the letter Pp and the sight word “a” in reading and writing.  In math, we are working to solidify our number sense from 0-5 this week.  Soon we will start adding and subtracting these numbers!  In religion, we will study about how God gives us family, friends, and community.  In science and social studies, we will be doing a two-day pumpkin investigation!  We will use many scientific strategies to make hypotheses (smart scientific guesses!) about our class pumpkin.  We will then test our hypotheses to see if they were correct!  Sometimes scientists guess correctly, and sometimes they do not.  That is OK- that is how we learn!

Monday at 12:10 is the family picnic lunch, followed by the all school assembly in the sport court, and then the fun run.  If you can, join us for lunch in the classroom at 12:10!  Bring a blanket, if weather allows we can picnic outside.

Upcoming dates:

Monday Oct. 24^th– Orange Ruler Fun Run and Family Picnic, Begins at 12:10.  Free dress, wear orange and dress for the weather.

Friday Oct. 28^th– SMM Halloween Carnival, begins at 6:00 pm

Monday Oct. 31^st– KA Halloween Party, 2:00

Tuesday Nov. 1^st– All Saints Day (students may dress up as a saint if they choose)

Friday Nov. 4^th– First Friday, SVDP food drive is requesting soap and shampoo, but will happily take any non-perishable food items as well.

Friday Nov. 11^th– No School for Veterans Day

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

I hope that you are all able to stay safe and warm this stormy weekend!

This week we will continue to work on the letter Ss and the sight word “like”, and we will also introduce the letter Pp and the sight word “a.”  I am so proud of how well the students are doing in recognizing sounds, letters, and sight words in our reading!  Keep up the great work!  In math this week, we will be working on counting and writing numerals to five.  The most recent math assessment will go home in your child’s folder this week.  We have also been introducing new math games that the students have been practicing and enjoying in class.  I hope that you can join me and the other teachers on Thursday for math night from 6:00-7:00 pm.  It will be an exciting opportunity to do hands-on math activities with your student, and get more ideas on how to assist your child with math concepts at home!  In religion this week, we will be learning more about feelings.  We will discuss how God knows our feelings, and that God wants us to be happy.  We will also be doing lesson one of Talking about Touching, the Archdiocesan safety course for kindergarten.  If you have any questions about this let me know.  In science and social studies, we will begin our unit on pumpkins.  Friday is our field trip to Craven Farm; please pray that the weather is mild, as we will go rain or shine!  Please be sure to send your child in clothes for the weather.  Bring eachild’s carseat/booster seat to school, and a sack lunch.  Thank you to the following parents, who will be volunteering that day. (*Parents, please arrive in the classroom at 9:45.  We will leave at 10:00.  We will leave the farm at about 1:15 pm and head back to school.  Thanks!)

Brianna Cless

Aundry/Steven Gade

Christine Gaffney

Joe Pierson

Susie Smith

Vanessa Thuyns

Amanda Siep

Upcoming dates:

Thursday 10/20- Math Night 6:00-7:00

Friday 10/21- Craven Farm field trip.  Free dress, dress for the weather.  Bring carseat/booster seat.  Pack a sack lunch.

Monday 10/24- Orange Ruler fun run and family picnic lunch.

Friday 10/28- SMM Halloween carnival, begins at 6:00 pm

Monday 10/31- KA Classroom Halloween party at the end of the day. More details to come.

Tuesday 11/2- All Saints Day. Students may dress like a saint.  More details to come.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA parents,

I hope you are all enjoying the weekend!  The teachers had an excellent day of professional development on Friday.  It is always inspiring to learn and reflect together with educators from other Catholic schools.

We have a busy and exciting week coming up.  In reading, we will be introducing the letter Ss and the sight word “like.”  We will also begin writing in our kindergarten writing journals, which we will work on all year long.  As we finish chapter 2 in math, we are using logical reasoning to sort items using rules that make sense.  As we begin chapter 3, we will introduce matching one-to-one, graphing, and ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc.), and counting and writing numbers 0-5.  Writing numbers can be tricky, and it is very common for kindergartens to start out writing numbers backward.  Any extra practice at home is always helpful.  In religion we will be discussing the talents and special qualities that God gives to each of us.  We can use our talents and qualities to praise and thank God!  In science and social studies, we will be exploring the changes that come with fall.  We will be studying fall leaves as well.  If you have a variety of colorful fall leaves in your yard or neighborhood, would you please send a small baggie of different leaves to school this week for our class to examine?  (Just please make sure they are dry and not crumbly- thank you!)

Friday is the Orange Ruler Fun Run!  There is also a family picnic lunch.  Please join us if you can!

Upcoming dates:

Friday 10/14- Orange Ruler Fun Run and family picnic lunch.  Bring a lunch and join us to eat lunch with your child(ren) and then cheer on all of the SMM students!  Free dress, wear orange!

Thursday 10/20- Family Math night from 6:00-7:00 pm

Friday 10/21- Kindergarten Field trip to Craven Farm, free dress.  All students must bring their carseat/booster seat!!  Bring a sack lunch!

Friday 10/28- SMM Halloween carnival from 6:00-8:00 pm

Monday 10/31- Halloween- We will have a small class celebration, more details to come.

Tuesday 11/1- All Saints Day. Students may dress like a saint, more details to come.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

We have had such a fun-filled week of learning together in KA!  In reading, we have been focused on the letter Aa this week, practicing the beginning sound and practicing writing it correctly. We have added the sight words “the” and “am” to our word wall.  We got to read with our 6^th grade reading buddies on today!  In math, we have completed chapter one (the review/test came home in folders) and are now starting chapter two.  Our science experiment included a review of the five senses, and voting on our favorite type of apple.  The winner was… YELLOW! We learned about the parts of an apple, and created torn paper apples to practice fine motor skills of tearing and gluing.  In religion, we read the story of Noah and the great flood.  We learned that God made a promise to his people, and the rainbow is a reminder of God’s love for us.  We made rainbow clouds to decorate our classroom and hallway and remind us of God’s love.

We are still in need of a couple more field trip drivers! If you would like to drive, please let me know!  Sue Snider in the office is working on checking to make sure everyone who will drive/chaperone is up to date with background checks, Called to protect class, and driver forms. 

Upcoming dates:

Monday Oct. 3- Vision screening

Tuesday Oct. 4- Last day for Orange Ruler fundraising, all money due in envelope (bring to school) or online.

Wednesday Oct. 5- Spanish immersion club begins after school.  Sign up forms in office if interested.

Thursday Oct. 6- Beginning orchestra begins after school. Sign up forms in office if interested.

Friday Oct. 7- NO SCHOOL, teacher in-service day

Friday Oct. 14- Orange Ruler Fun Run- wear ORANGE and dress for running outside in the weather!  Family picnic lunch; more details to come.

Thursday Oct. 20- Family Math night, 6:00-7:00 pm.

Friday Oct. 21- Field trip to Craven Farm.  Free dress, dress for being outside at the farm.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents!

As we reach the end of September,our classroom is up and running in all areas.  We have started our class jobs, and our behavior chart is in use daily. Our first Star Student took the class pets home for the week. The students are settling into our classroom routines and feeling comfortable in the classroom.

Students have started literacy stations, which we do four times per week.  Literacy stations are a series of reading/writing/listening activities in which the students rotate through the classroom in small groups.  Ask your child what their favorite has been so far!

We have introduced our first sight words (I, we, can) and added them to the word wall.  We are working on the letter Mm to identify the sound and write the lowercase form correctly.

In math, we identified and created repeating patterns (AB, ABC, and AAB).  We painted patterns as well; these will come home in folders this week.

We started our first science unit last week, a study of the five senses.  We conducted two experiments to explore through our senses of taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch.  Ask your child what was in the foil-covered bowl that they smelled, and what their favorite type of taste was (salty, sweet, or sour).

In religion, we are continuing our study of God’s creation, and practicing different types of prayer.  We pray the “Our Father” and “Blessing Before Meals” every day, and pray special intention prayers on Wednesdays.

Check out our class Instagram page for many photos of our classroom activities!

Classroom Reminders:

·       Make sure to check (and empty) your child’s folder every day!

·       Change of clothes- please make sure to keep a change of clothes in your child’s backpack just in case of a spill or bathroom accident (this does not need to be a uniform).

·       As the weather changes quickly, please make sure your child has a jacket to wear at PE and/or recess! We go outside every day.  Label all jackets and vests/sweaters with name.

·       Milk program begins this week- if you still would like to sign your child up to get milk at lunchtime, contact the office.

·       Orange Ruler fundraiser is still going on- thank you to those that have participated!  It is easy to sign up online and send emails to family and friends.  Please consider supporting our school!

Upcoming Dates:

·       Friday Oct. 7- No school, teacher in-service day

·       Friday Oct. 14- Orange Ruler Fun Run (in the afternoon).  Free dress- WEAR ORANGE if you have it!  Event is rain or shine, so dress for the weather.

·       Friday Oct. 21- Craven Farm Field trip.  Free dress for kindergarten, dress for the farm and outdoor weather. (I will be contacting parent drivers/chaperones soon, once I get the list of cleared parents from the office.)  All students need to ride in their own car seat/booster seat!  (You will send the seat to school with your child on the field trip day.)

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

Wow, we have just completed our first full five-day week of kindergarten and the students are doing an amazing job of adjusting and learning our classroom routines!  I am so proud of them all!  It has been fun to observe them working together in learning groups and during play time, they are very sweet and kind to one another.  It is going to be great year.

We have been so busy working hard on math concepts and position words (top/middle/bottom/before/after/between), listening and retelling stories, beginning phonics, social skills and friendships, and learning about God’s creations. This coming week we will also be introducing our first science unit!

Please note that the first weekly homework assignment was sent home in your child’s folder.  Homework is always due the following Friday.  Also, there is a permission slip for our first field trip.  Please complete the permission slip, and the form stating if you can help drive.  We will need approximately 6-8 parent drivers for this field trip. If you have questions regarding the requirements for driving/volunteering for the field trip, please check with the school office.

Friday we attended a kick-off assembly for the Orange Ruler fun run fundraiser. The information form is in your child’s folder as well.  All students will participate in the fun run on Oct. 14^th, but there are some fun prizes for our class and individual students who help raise money for our school- so please spread the word with friends and family!  It is a lot of fun, and the money raised helps our school!

A couple of reminders:

• Please be sure to check your child’s folder every night.  Finished work should be taken out and left at home.
• Please be sure to follow all uniform requirements, especially shoes (no boots, sandals, crocs) and socks/legwear (visible socks and tights must be solid color white, navy blue, dark green, or black).
• Please make sure you have a set of extra clothes in your child’s backpack.  This does not need to be a uniform.  (If your child needs to change due to a spill or bathroom accident, I will have them change into their extra clothes on in the bathroom)
• Want to see our class in action?  Check out the photos on our class’s private Instagram page: kakindofday (If your user name does not identify you by name, please let me know so I can grant access.  Students on the school’s do not publish list will not have their photos on Instagram or school website, etc.)

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

Wow, I can’t believe we have been in school for over a week!  We have been so busy in kindergarten, learning all about our classroom and how to work together in a group.  The students have been doing a great job remembering all of the new routines that come with being at school all day.  It can be a big change, and they are transitioning beautifully!  I am so proud of our class!

We have learned our class promise, which we recite every morning.  “We are children of God.  We promise to always do our best, be kind to others, and follow all class rules.”  We have been “practicing” our color-coded behavior chart this week, and will begin using it for real next week.  If students break a class rule, they will be given a verbal warning, followed by a yellow warning card, and then a red stop card.  If a student receives a red card,  I will send a note home that parents will need to sign and discuss with their child.  Serious and/or chronic behavior issues will be referred to Mrs. Scherger via the school-wide discipline policy (detention, etc.)  Our class rules are:

1.       Listen when someone is talking.

2.       Raise your hand to speak.

3.       Follow directions quickly and quietly.

4.       Be safe. Be honest.

5.       Respect others, respect yourself, and respect our school.

COMMUNICATION:

-Our school website is now live, so you can find my KA webpage there!  I post my weekly email newsletters to the website if you need to find it later, as well as other information that will be added throughout the year.

-If you haven’t already checked out our private classroom Instagram please find us at “kakindofday.”  It is a fun and safe way to share pictures and get a glimpse into our classroom!  (If your username is not your name, please message me so I know it is you and can accept access.)

-Thank you for checking your child’s folder each night!

UPCOMING DATES:

-Tuesday Sept. 13th- School Pictures (order forms were in family envelope last week; the office has extras if needed). Free Dress.

-Wednesday Sept. 14th- Parent Night, 7 pm.  This is an important information night for parents. (Children should not attend.  It is OK if only one parent can come.)  See you there!

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher

Hello KA Parents,

What a wonderful first week!  I was so happy to be able to meet you at the Open House day, and to spend the first transitional day with the students on Thursday and Friday.  It is going to be a great group, and a great year! I am looking forward to beginning next week with the whole class together. The transition to full-day school can be a big change for five and six years olds!  Don’t be surprised if your child comes home very tired at the end of the day, especially this first month.  This means they have been hard at work: playing, learning, and listening!

Throughout the year I will keep in touch with you in many ways, to make sure you know what is happening in kindergarten!  I send a weekly update to you via email, and will also post it on our class website, which should be up and running by next week.  Please feel free to email any questions you may have!  Also, if you haven’t already checked our private classroom Instagram please find us at “kakindofday.”  It is a fun and safe way to share pictures and get a glimpse into our classroom!  (If your username is not your name, please message me so I know it is you and can accept access.)  Also, your child’s folder needs to come back and forth to school in their backpack daily.  This will be used to send any papers home from class or the office, as well as homework (coming later).  You may send any paperwork to school in their folder and Mrs. Geppert and I will make sure they get to the school office.  This includes the brown family envelope.

*IMPORTANT:  Due to severe allergies, our classroom is completely NUT-FREE!  Please respect this policy for the health and safety of all students, and do not send any peanut or tree nut products in lunches or snacks!  This includes granola bars, cookies, etc! Sunflower seed butter (Sunbutter) or soynut butter (Wow butter) are good alternatives if needed for sandwiches.

Drop off and Pick Up:

• Morning procedure- Students line up in parish hall in location marked for KA (the parish hall “opens” at 8:00 with supervision).  The teacher or aide will come and get the class when the bell rings.  After the first week, we will wave goodbye to parents when the bell rings!
• Afternoon pick-up- Students will be signed out at the back classroom door (by little toy).  Only adults on the emergency list or siblings in 3^rd grade or older are allowed to sign students out.

**If your child will attend afternoon extension, please let me know which days!  Also, if your child will go to extension afterschool you will want to pack an extra snack for the afternoon there. 

A couple of other friendly reminders to start the year:

• Our weather can be unpredictable, but the students go outside every day for recess and/or PE.  Please make sure to send a weather-appropriate jacket or coat!
• All clothing that can be taken on/off must be labeled with the student’s name!  This includes sweaters, vests, sweatshirts, coats, jackets.
• Students may not bring toys from home! (The only exception is when a student has a special show and tell day.  More to come on this later.)

Some of you have asked about specific things your student can work on at home.  The first few weeks in kindergarten are focused on getting to know each other, learning classroom routines, and primary assessments.  Things to work on at home in September include: writing first name (capital letter at the beginning, the other letters lowercase), learning prayers (Our Father, and Blessing Before Meals), and identifying letters and numbers.  Our simple weekly homework assignments will begin in a few weeks.

Upcoming dates:

Sept. 5: No school (Labor Day)

Sept. 13: Picture Day

Sept. 14: Parent Night

I feel so blessed to be part of your child’s learning community this year.  If you have any questions, please let me know!

Mrs. Katie White

Kindergarten teacher