Tomorrow, Monday, September 15th is picture day!  Don't forget to send your picture packages. :)

As we are entering our third week of school, we are shifting from assessing, tweaking schedules, and explaining expectations to being able to start more instruction and work time, focusing on our 1st quarter goals.  We have started learning about apples and will start a unit focusing on families this week.  We have been continuing to work hard on learning about rhyming, syllables, writing letters and numbers, learning letter sounds, counting, reviewing shapes, and understanding number quantity.  We have learned to read in three different ways (words, pictures, retelling familiar story) and will focus on how to grow our stamina in reading on our own.  We are learning how to use ipads to practice reading and math skills and are starting to express ourselves with writing.  We will be focusing on vocabulary in math and reading.  We will be using position words in math and pulling words out of our reading to study and expand our understanding. That's a lot of learning!  I am also starting to individualize student learning to help each student work at their own level.
Some things you can work on at home are the same things we are working on at school: practice recognizing and writing letters/numbers/shapes (including hexagon) and their sounds/quantities/sides and read books together!  If your student knows their letters and sounds, encourage them to use that knowledge to write down their thoughts and ideas.  They can sound out and write their own words and sentences, even if the spelling isn't conventional, it is a huge step in writing and reinforces their budding reading skills as well.  Thanks for all of your parent support and have a great week!

Monday, September 8th:
Hello Everyone!  I am finally updating my blog this week.  As we are settling into Kindergarten, there are a lot of adjustments.  Your students will be tired and rightfully so!  They may need a little extra care and rest when possible.
Right now, there is a lot of assessment going on to help figure out where your student is in meeting goals for Kindergarten. Assessment allows us to see exactly what they need to be learning to meet their goals.   As we get that assessing done, we will be focusing more and more on the goals we are working towards.  Please look at my learning goals section to see what we are working on for the year.  At this time of the year, we are working on letter recognition/sounds, writing letters, rhyming, using syllables, recognizing beginning sounds, counting, number writing, number recognition, sharing ideas and opinions orally and in writing/drawing, and learning about the world around us, utilizing our new skills while doing so.  We will be learning about apples in the weeks to come.
Some safety issues have been brought to my attention, so I would like to share them with you.  Please DO NOT park in the circular drive for drop-offs or pick-ups.  There are parking spaces available to use, but stopping and getting out in the circle is prohibited and can be dangerous, as others try to pass the parked driver and may not see children walking.  Please make sure our students stay safe by following this rule.  Thank you!
If you ever need to contact me, you may call Stella Mayfield at 541 437-2321 or on my personal phone after or before school hours at 541 263-1315.  I do text if that is more convenient for you and something comes up during the school day.  I usually check my phone during lunch.  I am enjoying your students very much!  Please feel free to let me know if you wish to volunteer in some way, whether it be helping with parties, chaperoning field trips, or helping with classroom learning somehow.  Here's to a great year!