K-3 Newsletter

                              Mrs. MacIntyre

October 9, 2015

Dear Families,

I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful Autumn weather. We had a nice week here in K-3. I went to a science training on Tuesday to learn about a new science unit we will be starting this winter call Animals Two by Two. Right now we are digging right into our Trees and Weather unit and the students are really enjoying watching the changes in the trees right outside our window. You may notice your child paying special attention to trees or even naming different parts of a tree. Enjoy and encourage this with them!

Our letter of the week was “Pp”. Our tongue twister was “Pat and Paul pick pickles and peppers.” I hope that you enjoyed reading your child’s September writing. I will send a folder home at the end of each month.I will also be keeping one writing sample from each month in a folder here at school. At the end of the year you will get the folder and you will be amazed at the growth your child makes!

We are also moving forward in our SIPPS phonics program. When your child brings home the story papers like the I see pets paper that went home last week, you only need to read that with your child, it does not have to be sent home. You will also see some writing papers that we do in class come home. If you have any questions, feel free to write me a note.

In math, we  counted, named and graphed pattern blocks. We also identified and matched numbers and continued practice in our Go Math workbooks. You may have noticed your child will be getting math homework every Wednesday night, that is our homework night, in case I haven’t mentioned that.

We are reading lots of literature about trees, apples and pumpkins. Next week, we will taste different apples and graph our favorite.

I will try to take the class outside to look at the trees throughout the fall. I know it may seem hard to know how to dress your child in the morning. Layering works best. Our classroom is pretty comfortable: not too hot or cold. Having a sweatshirt to wear outside is important and please if you haven’t already LABEL the sweatshirts and hats, they get left outside a lot. Thank you in advance!!

Remember there is no school on Monday in honor of Columbus Day and Tuesday is a Professional Development Day for teachers. I hope that you all enjoy the long weekend!

See you on Wednesday October 14th!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. MacIntyre

         K-3  Newsletter

                                          Mrs MacIntyre

October 2, 2015

Dear families,

Happy October!

First of all, I would like to thank all of you who were able to come to Open House on Wednesday night. It was great to see you and I hope that you enjoyed seeing your child's classroom. I appreciate having such kind and supportive parents. I love being a kindergarten teacher and it makes my job even more rewarding when families are supportive. I feel like we are going to have a wonderful year together.

If you were not able to come to Open House or you forgot to sign up for a conference, please send me a note in the blue book so we can arrange one. I have afternoon slots for Monday, November 9th available. Conferences lasts approximately 15 minutes. If you have anything pressing you would like to talk with me about please feel free to come in. I am here by 7:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Just let me know.

This week our letter of the week was “Dd”. Our tongue twister was “David and Dominique dance with Dalmations.” We began journaling in our Science Notebooks. We are observing and taking data on trees and leaves. I was at a Science training on September 29th. learning about our new science curriculum. I am scheduled to go to another training on October 6th, so I will be out that day also. The class will have the same substitute as last week.

In math, we talked about 5 frames and 10 frames. The students had to color the correct number of frames to match a number. We also practiced naming and identifying shapes including the hexagon!

In our Writer’s Workshop, we worked with our Being a Writer program and read wrote about things we like to do with our families and  we also learned how to label pictures. I am excited about the progress the students are making already! Our Writer’s Workshop is already lasting about 5 minutes longer than it did in September.

We finished up our Eric Carle author study. I really enjoy reading his books and I told the class my favorite book by Eric Carle is Walter the Baker. The class loved it!

This month, we will read a lot of books about autumn, pumpkins and foliage. We will also learn about fire safety and visit the Jamestown Fire Station.

Thank you all for the donations of tissues and Lysol wipes. I will definitely put them to good use!

Enjoy your weekend. Keep sending in those awesome signs of autumn!

Sincerely,

Mrs. MacIntyre

 K-3 Newsletter

                   Mrs. MacIntyre

Dear Families,

September 25,2015

Happy Autumn!

We welcomed in the first day of fall here in K-3 by going on an acorn hunt. The students had a great afternoon searching for acorns outside and up on the ball field. We are beginning our science unit Trees and Weather so that was a perfect introduction to the unit. If you have time, discuss with your child what you notice about the trees this fall. Maybe you have a tree in your yard that you could pay special attention to. Observe its trunk and branches and the changing color of the leaves if you can.

On Wednesday we also visited Maker’s Space. Maker’s Space is a room upstairs that has many different materials that the students can explore and create with. There are markers and white boards where students can make plans of what they are going to create if they want. There are blocks and nuts and bolts that the students can use to create a variety of structures and moving creations. Students experiment and figure out how to put things together on their own  with no specific goal in mind other than to just create. It is a great opportunity for learning.We will go up every Wednesday throughout the year.

In math, we worked on writing our numbers 0-5. We also learned what it means to put things in sequence by make our own Very Hungry Caterpillar cards. Hopefully your child can retell the story with their cards while you read the summary that I am sending home.

Our letter of the week was “Ee”. Our tongue twister was “Elizabeth and Ethan eat eclairs.”

We began our Sipps phonics program this week. It is a systematic instructional program to promote phonological awareness and sight word recognition.

Please remember to come to Open House on Wednesday, September 30th 7:00-8:00 pm.

I hope your child is enjoying kindergarten and that if you have any questions you know that I am here.

I know many of you signed your child up for the after school programs. They start next week, if your child is going please remind them in the morning and if you could write me a reminder in the blue book that would be great! If your child did not get into the class they wanted this time, they usually offer it again in the winter or spring and they students who did not get in the first time are taken. Unfortunately, they fill up quickly and not everyone is able to get in.

Keep sending in your signs of fall.. our fall table looks great!

Have a nice weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. MacIntyre

 K-3 Newsletter

                        Mrs. MacIntyre

Dear Families,

September 18,2015

We had a nice full week of school here in K-3. It is nice getting into the routine of things and all of the students seem to be adjusting very well. We have begun our Unit Study of Eric Carle. We will read many books by Mr. Carle, paying particular attention to The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We are learning about sequence and days of the week from this book and the students made their own hungry caterpillars to hang in the classroom. We also read some books by other authors this week. We read Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom, Chrysanthemum,Wemberly Worried and The Kissing Hand. Many of the students seemed familiar with these. It is nice to see the class enjoying read alouds so much, especially since it is one of my favorite things to do with the class.

We are doing Writer’s Workshop everyday now. The students are doing well. I encourage them to use “good kid’s spelling”, and write the sounds they hear when they say a word, not worrying if it is right or wrong. When they draw a picture, I also encourage them to use five colors or more to add detail.

Our letter of the week was “Ff” and our tongue twister was ;”Felicia and Freddy follow funny footsteps.”

In math, we began writing our numbers 0-5 and we also practice naming simple 2-D and 3-D shapes.

I sent home a book order and forgot to write the on-line code on the flyer. If you would like to order on-line the code is HJH4J.

That is the code for the entire year. I apologize for not writing it on the flyer. I usually send home flyers every 6 weeks or so.

I hope your child is enjoying kindergarten and please feel free to contact me at anytime if you have any concerns.

                            SPECIAL EVENTS

OPEN HOUSE is on Wednesday September 30th from 7-8p.m.

The first day of Autumn is September 23rd

I hope you have a nice weekend. If anyone sees any signs of autumn outside in nature this weekend, your child is welcome to bring them into school and we will put them on our Autumn table.

Sincerely,

Mrs. MacIntyre

K-3 Newsletter  

               Mrs. MacIntyre

Dear Families,

September 11,2015

I hope your child is enjoying their first week of kindergarten. I am sure they are coming home tired, I know I am. It has been especially warm this week, so thank you in advance for sending in the water bottles. Hopefully, next week it will be cooler. The students took a tour of the school, made class rules and spent a lot of time getting to know one another and getting to know me! I think we are going to have a wonderful year together and I am looking forward to getting to know your child.

Next week we will begin with our first letter of the week, which is”Ff”. We teach our letters in accordance with our “Handwriting without Tears” program. It follows the way letters are formed rather than in alphabetical order.

Your child has already begun our Writer’s Workshop program and it coincides with our Being a Writer Program. Basically after I read your child will draw and begin to write a response to what I have read. In the beginning of the year, we may just be writing one letter to describe their picture but by the end of the year you will be amazed at what they can do!

The students are doing a great job following the schedule and becoming independent with their snacks. If your child is buying hot lunch and you think they may not remember you can just write a quick note in the blue book and I will be sure to see it and remind them. If they buy lunch everyday you do not need to worry about it.

I will be sending home the beach towels today to be washed. Remember to send them back on Monday. Your child is welcome to bring a stuffed animal and/or a favorite book or two to look at during rest time if they like. It only last about 25 minutes and it is a great way for them to recharge their batteries, no sleeping required!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns you may have. I know this is a big milestone for you and your child. I think we are off to a great start!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Sincerely,

Mrs. MacIntyre

Wish List

Our classroom is in need of

Lysol Wipes to keep us clean!

                 K-3 Newsletter

           Mrs. MacIntyre        June 12, 2015

Dear Families,

This will be my last newsletter for the year, as I reflect upon the school year and write what will be our last newsletter, I think back to September. I am amazed and excited of how much the children have grown during the school year. While I believe learning our sight words, reading books , learning our numbers and learning addition and subtraction is important in kindergarten , I also believe what we have learned  about each other and ourselves are skills that we can only learn when we are together in a group  We have learned that when we listen to each other and respect ourselves and each other then we will be successful learners and have more fun at the same time! The children in K-3 are full of excitement and enthusiasm each and every day. I hope that continues throughout their years of schooling. I hope you cherish every year with your child as they go through school…. Believe me it goes faster than you can imagine!

On graduation day, Thursday June 25^th, there will be 3 tables set up in the back of the multi-purpose room, one table for each classroom. There will be end of the year bags for each child. Inside will be class work we have done and other things from school. Please make sure to take your child’s bag with you. I will make sure all the cubbies are cleaned out before graduation so you do not have to worry about that.

Following graduation, please meet at Fort Wetherill for a family picnic and games. Please remember to bring your own picnic and drink and blanket and games. Remember that there are no garbage cans there so you have to take your own trash home with you,, you may want to bring a garbage bag. Please also remember sunscreen. I have no idea what the weather will be but let’s hope for a beautiful day. Also, a reminder that children DO NOT come back to school after the picnic.
 

On Wednesday, we had a great time at Field Day. Mr. Ucci did such a wonderful job preparing games for us to play. I am sure your children will tell you all about it!! Thank you to all the parent volunteers!

 A note about graduation day, please remember to drop your child off at the REGULAR TIME.  The graduation will begin at 9:15 promptly. I would arrive a bit earlier. K-3 will be on the right hand side of the stage.( if you are facing the stage)

Also, they do not need a morning snack or drink. I will have something for them.

**PENNY CARNIVAL is Thursday June 18^th. Please have your child bring in a bag of coins (pennies and dimes or nickels) to play games designed by the 4^th graders!!!!! Label your bag please!!!

I would like to take the opportunity to say goodbye to our friends that our leaving this beautiful island of ours. Farewell and all the best to Booth McGraw, Jacob Marks, Mary Faith Meyers and Peter Seguin. You have brought so much to our classroom and our school and all of us here at Melrose School will miss you and your families. We were lucky to have you be a part of our year.

 I know this is a lot of info. Please let me know if you have any questions about any of this!

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

Fondly,

Colleen MacIntyre

Free Guppies!!! Bring a container and take one home today!please!