Scholastic Book Orders Are Coming Home!

I will be sending home our first Scholastic Book Orders tomorrow.  This is an inexpensive way to buy some beginning readers for your child.   They will begin to bring home homework readers in October.  If you need some ideas on quality literature for children you can see the list of suggestions below.  I know that I have a hard time reading those Spiderman and Strawberry Shortcake books over and over again because they are so poorly written and rely on the character appeal to sell the book. 
     There are a few different sets of leveled readers in the SeeSaw Order.  I saw My Little Pony or a Hot Wheels set of 10 readers and 2 workbooks for $12.  There is also a non fiction science series with sets A-D increasing in difficulty.  If the budget is tight, there are usually a couple of $1-$2 books in each order so that your child will not be disappointed when the order arrives and they don't receive anything.  I will collect all the orders and process them on Friday, September 9th.  You may order online or fill out the back of the order and send in a check made out to Scholastic.  You only need to make out one check even if you order from both forms.  All the money goes to the same place.  If you order online from our class area, I think the class gets an extra $3.00 book pick.  I usually choose homework readers for the kids to bring home or an extra copy of a picture book from the listening center so the kids each have their own copy to follow along during literacy center rotations. They are having technical issues setting up the online ordering for my account so I will add a comment  under with the new order number if I get it.


Suggestions of good books:
Firefly order (picture books and great stories to read many times)
1. The Llama Llama series
2.If you Give a Mouse a Cookie Pack
3. animal and space non fiction sets
4. Bereinstein Bears set
5. Eric Carl classic books with CDs
6.  there are also several Halloween seasonal books

Seesaw Form: (for beginning readers)
1. The Kissing Hand set of books
2. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
3. Any of the Junie B Jones series of chapter books ( we will read many of these as teacher read alouds and they are always a favorite of kids)
4.The Magic Tree House series of chapter books
5. sight word pop corn game

What is Coming Up in the Second Week

This week we will be working on the letters N, O and T.  The new sight words for this week are Can and See.  We will be using Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? as a focus book.  In class we  will be studying the 5 senses in science and  getting to smell a variety of smelly jars to see if we can name the scent, tasting items for sweet, salty, bitter and sour to learn about how we use our tongue to taste, trying to identify common sounds made behind a screen or on a sound bingo game.  We will continue calendar math strategies and exploring a variety math manipulatives.  Our focus this week will be on the theme "All About Me" and friendship.  We will continue working with names and learn some of our friends names, make a chart about what it means to be a friend, and play several name games.

Wrapping up the third day...

We have had a fun first three days of school.  We have been busy learning an alphabet chant, working on the letters R, E and S, learning positional words and about mixing primary colors.  I have planned a science activity for tomorrow where they will mix primary colors using pipettes. Just a heads up, I am planning on letting them paint on Friday, so you may not want to dress them in their best clothes.

They seem to be having a good time and have enjoyed going to art and P.E so far this week.  Tomorrow they will be going to computer and library on Friday.

Magic Playdough

 Here is a hint about what tomorrow will bring!   

              Magic Playdough
                Oh so white.
             I make this wish
             with all my might.
        If another color does appear,
       It is sure to be a great school year!

The Final Countdown

I have been making the final push getting things ready. My team and I put in yet another 13 hour day but I'm finally ready ,except for a few things I can do from home. I'm beginning to think it is a bad sign when I refer to conversations that occurred this morning as happening yesterday. This has been a long, long week but it's always so much fun. I am going to attempt to use crayons, scissors, glue and paint during the first days lesson plans. We will see how that goes and how brave I am feeling about the paint. Don't worry moms and dads, I'm controlling the paint and it will be quick. The new school clothes should be fine. I will try and warn you through the blog or facebook when I start letting them paint so you can dress them accordingly.

Curriculum Night is coming up soon. Please make plans to attend. I will send a note with the date as soon as it is set. It is very important because this is not the kindergarten we remember growing up. It is the new 1st grade. There are standardized tests and set reading level expectations we need to discuss. Hope to see everyone there.

Look forward to seeing you Monday morning! Check back here Monday night for anecdotes and a summary of our day. I'm not posting it early to spoil the surprise.

Sneak a Peek!

What a success! I had nearly all of my kinder buddies come by tonight to sneak a peek of our classroom. I really enjoyed getting to meet everyone and their parents. I am looking forward to a wonderful first day. Our student teacher, Mrs. Emily Winemiller, was able to come this evening to help out and meet the kids. She looks like she will be a a fantastic asset to our classroom for the next 7 weeks. I am beginning to get excited. I hope the kids are too.

It's Right Around the Corner!

I am so excited about starting a new year in kindergarten and am working hard getting the room ready for a whole new batch of kindergarten kids to come and enjoy. Please make plans to attend the meet the teacher night on Thursday, August 18th at 5:30. Childcare will be provided for the first half hour so that we can brief you in "All About Kindergarten"! At 6:00, you may bring the children down to the room to have a look around. You may bring school supplies that evening. We have community supplies so there is no need to label items except the watercolors. I am looking forward to seeing all of you soon!

Ms. Rutherford