Thank you to all of you who brought your child to sing yesterday. The children did a wonderful job of praising God through their song. If you were unable to attend, I need a written excuse from you explaining why your child was not there. Thank you.

This week we will be reading the story In the Rain with Baby Duck by Amy Hest. Is this ever an appropriate book! We will be working with the letter D as we talk about this book. I am sending home a word list for you to go through. Please keep up with that. Soon, I will be sending home books for your child to read. If you have kept up with the words lists, it will be much easier. In math, we will work with the addition again. This will take some time, but the class is ready for this next big step. During our circle time, we will talk about nutrition. I hope that your child will be able to distinguish what is healthy and what is not. Our Bible lessons will be “God’s People Enter the Promised Land” and “Rahab and the Spies.” >From these lessons we will learn how God encourages his people with assurances of a final victory.

I am sending home a book order for you to look through. Please send your order back to school by Friday, February 1. If you write out a check, please make it out to Scholastic Books. Thank you for your help in this matter.

On February 14, we will be having a Valentines party. Those of you in the latter half of the alphabet, N through V, will be doing the snacks and games. Most of the time is spent handing out valentines, but a game or two is always nice. If you get ambitious, your child can start writing out his or her valentine cards. We trade with everyone in the class. I am including a class list so that you know how many cards to get ready. If you have any questions, let me know.

I hope that all of you had a nice weekend. I certainly did. I attended the California Kindergarten Conference here in San Jose. I learned so much. My only fear is that I will try too many new ideas on the children. Let me know if that happens.

This week we will be reading the story Looking for Crabs by Bruce Whatley. We will also be working with the letter L and the new sight words ‘look’ and ‘see.’ Please add these words to your child’s stack of words. In math, we will start working with the addition. For the next two weeks, we will try to work with the idea of adding things together. During circle time, we will talk about Martin Luther King and the things that he did to help us be more kind to one another. Our Bible lessons will be “The Bronze Snake” and “Balaam.” From these lessons we will learn how God disciplines those who do not give him the glory due him.

Today, you will be receiving your child’s report card. Please look it over and discuss it with your child. As a whole the children are doing fine. However, it would be good for all of them to work on being quiet in school. I would like to meet with all of you for a second quarter consultation. I will ask each of you when it would be best to meet. If I do not catch you this week, I will get to you next week.

This Friday evening we will have the Social Studies Fair. There will be many nice displays done by the children. You are welcome to stop by the classroom. But, most of the projects will be done by the children in grades one through eight. It is an enjoyable evening so please try to stop by.

On Sunday, January 27, we will sing in the early service. Please bring your child to the kindergarten classroom by 8:30 so that we can warm up. Once we have finished, your child will be excused to sit with you throughout the service. We do have something different in our services now. We have a Children’s Church where the young children are excused to go out and listen to a lesson designed for them. Once the sermon is finished, they return to you in church. If you have any questions please let me know. I will be happy to try to answer them.

I believe that is all for this week. Have a great week!

I hope all of you had a nice weekend. We are slowly returning to our regular routine here at school. I did notice that some of the children took a break from their blending over Christmas vacation. Please return to that as soon as possible. We have been working very hard on the reading here at school, but we need your help. Thank you for attending to this matter.

This week we will read the story Raccoons and Ripe Corn by Jim Arnosky. We will also work with the letter R. We will not work with any R blends yet, but it will be coming. In math, we will start learning how to count by tens. We will use dimes to help us in this process, but we will be counting by ones and tens when we do our calendar just to give the children practice. During our circle time, we will talk about the internal parts of the body. I want the children to know about their heart, lungs, and other parts of the body. The thought behind teaching this is to let them know that it is important to take care of themselves even at this young age. Our Bible lessons will be “The Twelve Spies” and “Korah and His Men Sin.” From these lessons we will learn how God punishes his people if they rebel against him.

Along with your notes, you will notice a milk order form. Please send that back to school no later than Friday. If your child wants to switch milk orders, he or she should do it now. Thank you.

I mentioned that I would like to meet with you after the second quarter to discuss your child’s progress. I will set up those meeting for next week. The meetings will be informal and last only fifteen minutes. I will be calling or talking to you here at school to set those up. Your child’s report card will come home next week Tuesday. After that, we will meet.

On January 27, we will sing in the early service. Your child is expected to be here to sing. Please mark that date on the calendar so that you do not make other plans.

The Pasta Market is asking for their orders earlier. I now have to have them in by 8:40. Please be on time for school and have your hot lunch orders in to me by 8:30. Thank you for your cooperation.

We rejoice with the Maat family in the birth of their little girl. Courtney is a big sister now. I am not sure of the name, but I am sure Courtney will share that news soon. Congratulations!

I believe that is all. Have a great week!

I hope that all of you made it through the terrible storms with little or any damage to your personal things. It was a horrible day on Friday and as I was dismissing, I was praying that all of you would be safe over the weekend. Hopefully, we won’t get too many storms like that one.

This week we will finish our unit which focuses upon letter I. We will start a new unit which works with the letter H. We will also read and discuss the book Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash by Sarah Weeks. I have noticed that most of the children have kept up with their blending skills. That is a credit to you parents for staying vigilant over the holidays. Thank you for your work. I will send home a new word list today so that you can keep practicing. In math, we will work with cubes and make geometric shapes on our geoboards. For circle time, we will talk about germs and bacteria which give us flu and viruses. This is always a fun unit, and a very important one for instructing the children on what to do to prevent sickness. Our Bible lessons will be “The Golden Calf,” “The Tabernacle,” and “The Day of Atonement.” From these lessons we will learn how God’s people should worship him.

As you will notice, I am going to be enforcing the rules a little more now that we are back from vacation. I need to get into the academic side of things and it requires more attention from these little ones. This is always a difficult time for the children, but I need to get them ready for what is to come. If you have any questions, let me know.

This Sunday we had our first Children’s Church. I saw some of the children from class. For those of you who could not make it, instead of having the children sit through a sermon, we are providing a lesson which is at their level. It seemed to go well this Sunday. I will be helping with this activity to get it started. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. My husband and I are trying to work out the bugs and we are open to ideas. Thank you for your help.

For those of you who order hot lunch, I need to send in the orders right away in the morning. Please make sure that you mark your entrée selections. The Pasta Market will only bring the number of entrees that we order, Thank you.

Again, your child will be singing in the early service on January 27. Please mark that date on the calendar.

I believe that is all. Have a great week!

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas/New Year’s break. I know that you have been busy during these last weeks, but I hope you are ready to get back to the normal routine. I know we only have two days of school this week. They are important though. I will be reviewing many of the concepts that we learned prior to the break. Believe me, this is necessary.

This week we will start our next unit in reading. We will read the delightful story, Ginger by Charlotte Voake. We will also be working with the vowel I. I will want to spend considerable time with this vowel because it is often confused with the sound as made by the vowel E. Miss Beutel and I will be doing a lot of blending exercises and work with the children to help them master this sound. In math, we will be working with the numbers one through ten. During our circle time, we will talk about snow and make snowmen. Our only Bible lesson will be “God Gives the Ten Commandments.” From this lesson we will learn about the special laws that God gave his people to obey.

On Friday, we will have sharing. I know that all of the children received some special gifts. I would like them to bring in something that they got for Christmas. This has to be with your permission. The children will not be allowed to play with it, but I know they like to show others what they got for Christmas. That is why I am having this special sharing session. Please let me know if you have any questions. I really want you to talk this over with your child. Whatever you agree upon is fine with me. I will explain to them that you need to be involved.

On January 27, in the early service, the children are scheduled to sing. I will give you more details later concerning that singing opportunity.

We are trying something new this Sunday in church. During the services, the children from three years of age to third grade are going to be excused from the sermon so that they can participate in ‘Children’s Church.’ During this time, a special presentation will be worked up for the children which is appropriate for them. I am not sure of all of the details, but I will pass on the information once I know more.

I believe that is all. Have a great week!