Mrs. King's Class

Sorry for not getting things posted earlier in the week, but it has been crazy!! We are doing DIBLES Benchmark testing, assessments for report cards and trying to have a little fun with the holidays. We have finished the Alphabet!!! YEA!!! Everyone is now bringing home little books to read. This will now become a part of the nightly homework. Please try to read and sign off each night. Each book should be read at least 3 times and have the sheet signed before I will send a new book home. Don't forget to color in the reading calendar as you read. It's a free pizza from Personal Pan Pizza Hut for your child when they bring the calendar back to me at the end of the month filled with colored stars.

We are finishing up Chapter 3 in Math. We have really flown through this, but the children are really getting patterning and the graph part will be review again in first grade. We can even identify ABAB, ABCABC, AABBAABB, ABBABBA, and AABAAB patterns! We have enjoyed this chapter and having fun with the patterns.

The book order was sent last week; so it should be here at the beginning of the week. I know that most people are using it for Christmas presents, so I won't be sending them home with the children. I will just e-mail you and you can come get it whenever is convenient for each family.

A new homework packet went home today. The last one for the YEAR! No homework will be sent home over the break, but please keep reading each night. It scary how fast they will forget things if you don't keep them in the habit. Homework will actually take on a new look when we come back from break. It will focus on Reading and writing with math skills also included, but no more worksheets. It will be a two-week log that will be returned on the second and fourth Friday of each month. It will new homework will also be sent home that same day.

Several fliers went home in the folders today. One about our Polar Express Activity on Thursday, December 17th. We are asking that the children wear their pajamas and robes to school that day and we will be watching the G rated movie "The Polar Express" in our classrooms aboard our very own imaginary trains. It should be a fun day. Then on Friday December 18th we will be have our First Annual All-Day Kindergarten Holiday Concert. We are asking parents and anyone else who would like to attend to be in the music room at 9:15 am on Friday morning. Following the concert we will be going back to our rooms for our Holiday Celebration and parents are welcome to come back to class with us. School will be dismissed early that day at approximately 10:55 am.

Report Cards and DIBELS testing scores will be coming home the first week we are back from break. Also don't forget that the students DO NOT have school on Monday, January 4th. School begins on January 5th for the students.

Thanks so much for all your support and help through the first half of this year. I can't believe we are almost halfway done! It's been a crazy but fun filled year and I look forward to the second half!

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable Christmas Season! Merry Christmas to ALL and to ALL a Happy New Year too!

Morning Recess

Parents, starting in January, kindergarten will no longer be playing outside on the playground in the morning due to the cold weather. Please have your child go directly to their classroom starting in January. If you have any questions about where your child should meet, please ask your child's teacher. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding of this new procedure.

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

We had a great week filled with fun holiday crafts. Next week we will continue to finish our holiday crafts including a surprise for our parents! We finished up the alphabet! Yay! Please continue to practice the letters at home if your child is still struggling.

A new homework packet went home today. Please let me know if you did not get one. These homework packets are due on Thursday for AM and Friday for PM.

In case you havent noticed, books have been put on hold. No books will be sent home until after the break. If you have not returned your little reader yet, please do so as soon as possible.

The upcoming week is filled with fun activities and events. On Thursday, we have our holiday parties. Please check the notes that have already gone home regarding supplies needed as well as helpers needed.

On Friday, only PM comes. Students need to meet on the kindergarten playground before 8am. We will also be having our polar express day on Friday for PM students. Students are invited to wear their Pajamas to celebrate the polar express. We will also be doing a fun craft this day. A reminder note about wearing PJs will go home next week.

I would like to thank everyone for a super first half of the year, I hope everyone has a great holiday break and I look forward to another great half of the year in 2010.

If you have any questions about anything, please email me.

ALL DAY KINDERGARTEN (not half day)

The All day Kindergarten classes have decided to perform their songs together in the music room. We are very excited to sing for you, so please meet us on Friday, December 18th at 9:15 in the music room which is room 214 (the yellow door next to the cafeteria). Class parties will follow the performance and we will begin releasing at 10:50. We are looking forward to seeing you!!

Thank you,

All Day Kindergarten Teachers

Ms. Wolters
Mrs. King
Mrs. Wright

Mrs. Wright's Class

We have been having a super week! Our class has been working on patterns and graphing in math, writing short sentences in Reading/Language Arts and have completed our second round of DIBELS testing. We have also been reading about different holidays celebrated in the United States during the month of December.

Today we had a visit from a Queen Creek children's author, Kathy Ferguson. The kids enjoyed hearing her story "The Extra-Ordinary Hat"! She is a retired teacher from our district and has been a substitute in our class. It was great having her here to share her book with us! The kids also enjoyed a fun craft. I am sure you probably noticed the cool hats they made with Kathy.

Next week is jam packed with fun. Thursday (12-17) we will be watching Polar Express and will take an imaginary ride on the train. Please send your kids in p.j.'s and slippers on Thursday. Friday (12-18) we will be having our holiday party. All parents are invited to attend. The first portion of the party will be a holiday singing concert with the all day kinder classes and the remainder of the time will be spent making gingerbread houses. Please join us for a great time.

Well, with 7 days left until our winter break we will be busy! I hope you all enjoy this time of year and find several reasons to celebrate the season!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This week we are learning about our last letter! The letter U. In math we will be learning about positional words. I am hoping to breeze through this chapter since it seems to be super easy for everyone. We are also doing some fun holiday crafts and activities.

This week we are also starting our "I Can Do It" notebooks. These notebooks will be filled with all the fun songs and poems we do in class. Each month, starting in January, your child will bring home their "I Can Do It" notebooks to read with you. It is very important that you return the notebooks so we can continue to fill them up.

I have had several questions over the homework calendar and treasure bag. On the back of the behavior chart is a homework calendar. This is optional homework that your child can do to earn points towards getting to go to the treasure bag. This calendar is completely optional and only helps your student master the skills we have already learned. If they earn a certain number of points, they get to pick from the treasure bag.

Don't forget to be reading and filling in your reading charts! For every 15 minutes you read with your child they get to color in 1 snowman. If they read for a total of 4 hours this month, they get a coupon for a free pizza to Pizza Hut.

This Wednesday, December 9th, we are having an author come to our school to share her new book. Everyone is welcome to join us. Am is at 9:30 in the library and Pm is at 11:30 in our room. It is sure to be a fun and exciting day!

Keep up all the great work at home! If you have any questions, please contact me.

ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us

Mrs. Wright's Class

We had a wonderfully busy, but productive, week. The kids amisdt the holiday excitement were fantastic and continue to amaze me in their abilities. Keep up all of the hard work kiddos!

Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes! It was a super day and I must have recieved over 100 hugs from my sweet students. I appreciate all of your thoughfulness. The cards, gifts and well wishes were WONDERFUL!

I hope everyone has a restful weekend...see you back to school on Monday for another fun filled week!

Ms. Wolters' Class

Good Afternoon, We have been working hard on our songs so we can perform them for our families. All family members are welcome so please let them know. We would like to sing to you in our classroom on December 18th at 9:15. We will have a winter party following our performance. It is a short day so I hope you all can make it and then we will be dismissing about 10:50. Our wonderful room moms, Mrs. Broschinsky, Mrs. Baez and Mrs. Harris will be organizing our party again so thank you to them in advance!!!!
Ms. Wolters

Mrs. Wright's Class

This post is long overdue and I apoligize! These past few weeks have been busy. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday break and were able to spend some quality time with family. My family traveled back to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving and had a great time. It was nice to have the change in weather too! Anyhow with only 3 weeks left until our Winter Break things might get even more busy...Watch Out!

We are finishing up the alphabet and are learning the last 2 letters (Q & U) this week. Please reveiw all of the letters at home and continue to play games in which your kindergarten student has to come up with words that start with a specific letter or sound. In math we finished Chapter 1 and are on to Chapter 2, Graphing and Patterns. This is a fun chapter for the kids, look for some fun math projects to come home soon. We will be learning about different holidays families celebrate throughout the month of December and started decorating our classroom this week. You will all have an opportunity to see the "Winter Wonderland" during an upcoming Holiday Party. There will be more information on the party to come soon.

Since the weather is cooling off and most mornings are quite chilly it is recommended that all students come with jackets or sweatshirts. We are still doing morning recess before school starts and the kids get cold without proper dress. Thanks for your help with this! Also, tonight is our school-wide curriculum night focusing on science. We hope to see you there.

A homework packet went home on Monday that is due Friday. If you need some extra time,feel free to keep the packet over the weekend and send it in on Monday. We did not have a homework packet last week. I am sorry that most of you saw very few books come home last week too. With me being out of town I did not get the chance to read with the kids. Everyone who brought a book back received a new one yesterday. The kids continue to be excited about reading so keep it up! Your children are doing wonderful and it is a pleasure to have each one of them in class. Thanks for all of your support and hard work!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Happy December! This week we will be learning about the letters Z and Q. We will also be doing some fun December and holiday projects. We have a busy three weeks coming up. Make sure you check the calendar for upcoming events. We will be having our holiday party on Thursday, December 17th if you are able to come and help at the party, please let me know. My fabulous room Moms are helping to plan the winter parties this time so please look for calls, emails, or notes home from them about what you can bring or help with.

Please continue to read those little readers. Everyone is flying through them, I cannot believe how well everyone is doing. If your child does not have a book yet, please continue to work on the letters and letter sounds at home.

In the next two weeks, everyone is going to be tested for the second time on DIBELS. To help your student get ready for this you can be practicing taking apart words hop h-o-p. As well as sounding out and decoding nonsense words like woc. I am confident that everyone will do a lot better from the first round of testing.

New homework packets went home on Monday. If you did not get one, please let me know. Another homework packet will go home on Friday.

Have a great week!

Mrs. King's Class

Today was an absolutely fantastic day. A big thank you to the parents who came in a helped us with all of our Thanksgiving Activities. A special thanks to Mrs. Foster and Mrs. Wright who did most of the prep work for today. You are AWESOME!

No stickers were put on Behavior Charts today we were just too busy!! Homework packets will come home on Monday-sorry I didn't want anyone worrying about homework over the holiday-except don't forget to READ! I will also collect the November Reading Charts and handout the Book It Coupons on Tuesday of next week.

The new Scholastic Book Order Forms have gone home-remember you can also order online. Last day to Order is December 8th so that the order will be back before Christmas. There are some great bargains perfect for stocking stuffers-some books less than a dollar!

A new snack list is will be e-mailed out today. I will sent hard copies home to anyone who might need them-just let me know if you don't get the e-mail.

I hope everyone has a great, safe Thanksgiving Holiday! See you all on Monday!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This is a very short and exciting week in kindergarten. We are working hard on learning about the letter Y as well as lots of fun turkey projects to help decorate your house! We just finished up chapter 5 in math, numbers through 31 and we took our math test. Many of us are still struggling with counting, remembering our numbers and which order they should go in. Please continue to work on this at home. Next week we will be jumping back to chapter 1, patterning and sorting.

There is no homework packet this week, please look for a new packet on Monday the 30th.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is our turkey trot. Remember to wear closed toed shoes.

There is no school for PM kids on Wednesday and AM kids get out at 11am, not the normal 10am.

Everyone is doing a great job on those little readers! If your child does not have a book yet, please continue to practice doing letters and letter sounds at home.

I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving break! If you have any question, please contact me.

Kindergarten

A huge thank you to Mrs. Wright and Ms. Trowbridge for setting up our fish field trip. We had a scientist from Sharing Tails come to teach us about six native Arizona fish. We had so much fun making the puppets with matching colors and learning about their habitats. We all got a fish as a souvenir too!! Thanks again Mrs. Wright and Trowbridge!!!

Ms. Wolters' Class

We are almost finished with the alphabet; we just have q and u to go. We have been doing our reading groups the last 2 weeks. The kids are really doing great sounding out words and reading!!! I will start to send books home today with some of the students. In math we have been sorting by one or two attributes, i.e. "circle all the squares that are yellow." They have also been working hard in their journals. Next week is only 2 1/2 days so we will not be assigning homework. Please just read with your child and if they haven't mastered all the letters and sounds, continue to work on that. I am really pleased with the progress I am seeing with our class. It is so much fun watching them read!!! We are practicing some holiday songs which we would like to perform for you. I haven't chosen the date yet put it will be the last week before the December break. Tuesday is the turkey trot so PLEASE make sure the kids have proper shoes. The last few weeks we have not gotten our touchdown in P.E. because someone is wearing flip flops. We also have P.E. the fourth Wednesday of the month so if the students come with tennis shoes on Tuesday and Wednesday we will always be fine. Have a great weekend and thanks for all you do!!!
Ms. Wolters

Mrs. King's Class

Hello All,
As you may have noticed Progress Reports did not come home with your child today. Sorry that was my fault. I wanted to put together some of their work and an Orchard report to go with them and I did not get them all done before the end of the school day. They are now all complete and ready to go so they will be in folders tomorrow. So please look for them. The Orchard Report has a section for Phonemic Awareness and this was used as part of their grade. They should have mastered all 24 sections on this skill tree. Congratulations to those that have finished it. Those who have not will continue to work on it until it is completed. I will be changing some of the seating arrangements in the lab so that those that are struggling will have a chance to be more successful. Keep in mind also that Math scores may also be down a bit-that Chapter 5 was very difficult and the test is also included in the packet.

We are almost finished with the alphabet-just y and z this week and q and u next week. YEA! A few little books have begun to be sent home. I do stretch them out a bit the first couple of weeks because I don't have enough books of everyone to have those first few levels. If you child hasn't brought home the bag yet-not to worry they will soon.

We have finished chapter 5 and are going back to chapter 1. This is an easy chapter the introduction will come home tomorrow-it's about placement words, above, below, on, under, in and sorting.

The Scholastic book order is on it's way. Sorry there was a technical problem when I submitted it online and I didn't know it. I have everything worked out and it should be here shortly. Thanks for your patience.

There will be no homework on Friday-for the week of Thanksgiving-except to keep READING!!!

Don't Forget the Turkey Trot here at school on November 24th and November 25th is a half-day. P.E. on Friday this week!

Mrs. Wright's Class

This is just a reminder that today is the last day to order books from Scholastic. There will not be another order until January, so if you are planing to get books for the holidays do so quickly. I will be sending the order Wednesday morning. I also want to remind everyone that there is a food drive going on at school for families who may need some extra help with a Thanksgiving meal. Any canned food or boxed food items will be appreciated.

We are having a super week...keep up the great work students!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This is a busy fun filled week! Remember, tomorrow, the 18th is our "field trip" at school. Both classes need to come from 8-10am. The students are really excited about this and can't wait to find out why they made fish sticks last week.

This week we are learning the letters J and E, we are also doing lots of fun turkey, Pilgrim, and scarecrow activities. I am also hoping to finish chapter 5 in math which is the conclusion of numbers through 31. Most of the kids are doing a fantastic job of counting all these numbers but there is still a few who are struggling. Make sure you are still practicing at home.

If you have not done so already, please return your family turkey project. They are hanging on the wall already and it is so neat to see all the great fun ideas that everyone came up with to decorate their turkeys.

Scholastic book orders were due yesterday, if you did not get a chance to order or send in your order, please do so ASAP or let me know if you are planning on sending in an order so I can wait to put yours in as well.

Next week is also a busy week, PM only has school on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, only AM comes from 8-11am. There is no school Thursday or Friday. Since it is such a short week, there is no homework packet going home. A new homework packet will be sent home Monday, November 30th.

Please continue to bring in those canned foods. Our school food bank has no food left on the shelves due to these hard times and we really need to work together to fill them up again. Anything you can donate would be appreciated, even if it is just a couple of cans!

I hope everyone is enjoying the little readers at home, the kids are so excited to read them to me and get a new one. If you have not received a little reader book at home yet, it is because your child still has not mastered their letters. Please work everyday with them on this task, everyone needs to know all their letters by winter break in order to be on track to first grade.

I hope everyone has a fabulous week! If you have any questions, please contact me.

ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us

Mrs. Wright's Class

We had such a busy week last week that I had little time to post about all of the fun we were having in class. As you probably have already found out our letters we learned were J and E. The kids are able to brainstorm tons of words that begin with each letter and are constantly finding words in books and around the classroom that begin with our letters of the week. This week we will focus on letters Y and Z. We are nearly finshed with learning the alphabet. The kids definately have the letters mastered which leads me to say that the little books are going great! Everyone is anxious and willing to read and I have been receiving them on a daily and weekly basis. Thanks for your support with this!


In math we started a new chapter, position and sorting. We will get through this chapter quickly and will soon get on to exploring patterns which the kids love. Since we will be working with numbers throughout the year please continue to practice number writing and recognition at home. Thanks!

We have been talking about Thanksgiving and the many things we are thankful for. Our classroom is full of turkey birds and colorful fall art. We will be having a day of Thanksgiving exploration and crafts. Please feel free to join us on Monday, November 23rd at 1:00 pm for lots of fun. More info will be going home soon about this. A great week is in store for your child. Thanks again for your help and support!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This week we are focusing on the letter V and doing some fun family activities. You may have noticed a new sheet in the homework packet this week, a questionnaire about your family, please fill that out and return it whenever you get a chance. Each student will get an opportunity to come to the front of the class and share that paper about their family. We will also be making family trees this week so practice with your child how to spell their siblings names!

Remember, tomorrow is Veterans day and there is no school. Next Wednesday is our "field trip" everybody needs to come to school 8-10am.

All this week and next is our non-perishable food drive. This food drive will directly help our community. All the food gets split up among families in our district. If you are able to donate any non-perishable foods for the food drive, please send them to school with your child. Non-perishable foods include peanut butter and jelly, cooking oil, tomato sauce, mac n cheese, not just canned items. Anything you can donate will be appreciated.

Yesterday, a turkey pattern went home. This is a fun family craft that is fun for everyone. You and your child are responsible for decorating your turkey in any way you see fit. Please return your decorated turkey by next Monday, the 16th so we can display them and get them home for you to display before thanksgiving. I am really excited to see all the great ideas everyone comes up with.

New Scholastic book orders also went home yesterday. This is the last book order until after Christmas break. Remember, books make great presents and stocking stuffers! Don't forget, you can order your books online. These are due back to me on the 16th.

user name: trowbridgekinder
password: scholastic

I hope everyone has a fabulous week, if you have any questions please contact me! Keep up the great work at home.

Ms. Wolters' class

I am continually amazed at how awesome all of our parents are!!! We have had so many things going on and all of you just keep sending in donations, donating your time and supporting our classroom over and over. I can't thank you enough!!! We are working hard on our letters and blending the sounds to form words. Soon I will be sending home decodable books for you to practice reading at home. This week we are working on the letters J and E. We are doing great at spelling our color words; you have probably heard your child singing some of our color songs at the dinner table. In math we are working on some basic vocabulary such as: top, bottom, under, over, left and right. We should be able to fly through this chapter and get to sorting and patterning soon. We are working hard on writing in our journals and sounding out words. Thank you again for all your support.

Ms. Wolters

Mrs. King's class

Hi parents, it's been a bit of a long week this week. You may have noticed a few more green lights come home this week. We have been a bit chatty and hyper most of the week. Very typical for the week after Halloween in Kindergarten. Something about all that extra sugar. Hopefully we will settle down and get back to our great behavior habits next week.

We have been working very hard on those pesky teen numbers, as well as numbers over 20. They are starting to get it. We will probably try to get our Chapter 5 test in next week. We will continue to work on these numbers during large group and center time throughout the year as this is one of the most important things we learn in Kindergarten. We are almost finished with the alphabet. We have just a couple more letters to go. I will be starting the Book in the Bags the week of November 16th for those that have mastered on the sounds and are beginning to blend the sounds together. A letter will come home with specific instructions with the bag.

A big thanks to all of you who participated in collecting donations for the Juvenile Diabetes Walk and also those who came and walked with us. It was a fun event. We will be participating in the Turkey Walk here on our campus on November 24th.

Next week is also Character Always week at school. They are asking students to wear different colored T-shirts every day. The colors represent the pillars of character that we are working on. Monday is Green for Responsibility. Tuesday is Yellow or Gold for Respect. Thursday is Blue for Trustworthy. Friday is Orange for Fairness-or they can wear their favorite sports team shirt. There is a contest to see who can have the highest percentage of students from their class in these colors. So wear Green on Monday!!!

Don't forget the Veteran's Day Holiday on Wednesday next week. There will be no school that day. I will also be in Florence helping to facilitate a Reading workshop on Tuesday and Thursday next week. The same sub will be here for both days to help provide as much consistency as we can. I am sure that they will do a good job for her. I will be back in the classroom on Friday.

We will also be having an On-Site Field Trip here at school on Wednesday November 18th in the Library. It is about all about fish and should be a great learning experience for all of us.

Hope you all have a great but safe weekend and see you all on Monday!

Mrs. Wright's Class

Today Scholastic Book Orders will be going home. The books included are great books to build your child's home library and most are catered to the beginning reading levels. I would encourage you to pick out a couple and give them as gifts for upcoming holidays or just as a token of love. There is one book featured for $1.00 in each of the orders and many are under $3.00. My kindergarten students love our classroom books and each time I put a new group of books out they are so excited to read them. Remember you can either send your paper order in with a check or order online. The following information is needed to log in to our Scholastic Ordering Site...

Go to: www.scholastic.com/clubsordering
Class User Name: twrightsimontonkinder
Password: Stallions

The order forms sent home have a due date of 11-10-09, since I did not get the orders out as soon as I wanted I will extend the due date until 11-17-09. Every time you order books our classroom gets to choose some free books as well. Order today!

Mrs. Wright's Class

What a busy week it was last week, I still feel like we are on full speed. I guess it will be like this until after the holidays...we are having fun all the while. Thank you to all of the parents who graciously donated their time to our classroom this past week. Our "Read to Kids Day" on Wednesday was a huge success and our classroom had 38 readers. Thank you to each of the moms, dads and aunties who read to our class. Our party on Friday turned out wonderful as well! Our room moms did some good party planning and organizing and the many helpers (and hands) we had made everything run very smoothly. Without your help with donations and your time I could have not pulled off either event so...THANKS!

This week we will be learning letters V and X. In math we are just about done with Chapter 5 so we will be taking our test on Friday. For the month of November we will be talking about Thanksgiving and what things we are thankful for. We have also started our "Book It" program with Pizza Hut. Each month that your child meets our classroom reading goal (on the reading chart) they will earn an individaul pan pizza coupon good at any Pizza Hut. Keep up the great reading you are already doing. Well, as I said before the weeks ahead are busy, busy. Keep checking the blog for updates and information. One last thing...tomorrow is picture re-takes.

Thanks again for all of your help and contributions to our classroom!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Happy November! Can you believe October is already over? This week we are working on the letters W and X. We are also learning about shapes and where we can find them around the classroom. I am also hoping to finish up our math chapter about numbers. Please continue to work on numbers through 31 at home since there are still students that are getting confused.

A lot of students also got little readers home today, the little orange books. This is the beginning of our students learning to read. Please remember to read the story 3 times to make sure they are able to read it fluently. Some of them might be too easy for some so please don't hesitate to send it back quickly. If you have any questions on the reading program, please let me know. If you did not get a bag home today, your student is not quite ready to start reading, please continue to work on the letters and sounds at home so they can start reading as well.

We have lots of exciting things coming up in November including a "field trip". Notes went home today about it today, AM and PM will come to the morning session from 8-10am on November 18th.

This Friday, November 6th, we have our juvenile diabetes walk. Please return your yellow fundraising packets by then.

Tomorrow, November 2nd, is picture retakes. If you want your child's picture redone, please send the packet back to school with them.

Hope everyone has a great week! If you have any questions, please email me, ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us

Mrs. King's Class

I just want to say a quick thank you to my room mom's ANNA WRIGHT and JENNYFER FOSTER. Today was AWESOME!! The kids had a great time and it was all thanks to them and our other parents helpers. Thanks a bunch for helping make it such a great day!! Homework went home today but I did not due character stickers-we had a great day. They were so busy they didn't have time to misbehave!!

I hope you all have a great Halloween!! Please be SAFE! I will see you all on Monday!

Thanks again to all of you for today!!

Mrs. King's Class

First of all thanks to all the parents who came in and read to us for Read to Kids Day. We had over 36 people come read to us that day. WOW! That means we will get 36 new books for our classroom. YEA! Thanks again for coming in and reading!

Tomorrow we will have the annual Simonton Character Parade at 1:30 pm. Please feel free to join us to watch the parade you may want to get here a few minutes before then-sign in and then go to the fence between the playground and the big field. That is the area that is being reserved for parents to observe the parade. We will then come back to our classroom to finish our day.

Costumes for tomorrow: Please remember NO MASKS, WEAPONS of ANY KIND, TOY OR ACCESSORIES. They should really only have a costume on nothing carried in their hands. It should be a character from a book or a famous person. Absolutely no BLOOD or SCARY type items or costumes. I would prefer that they come dressed in their costumes unless they can slip the costume over their clothes. We will not have time for 25 children to completely change their clothes in one bathroom. So please either send them in something that they can wear all day or something that can easily be slipped on over clothes.

I have also sent home in folders a new emergency paper. It is white. Please fill out this new form and send it back in your child's folder. I realize you might have just filled one out at the beginning of the year, but they want another one filled out so that we are sure we have current working phone numbers and addresses. Thank you to all who have already sent them back I do have about 10 already returned. Yea!

A big thanks from the PTO to all of those of you who volunteered, helped and attended with your children the Fall Festival. It was a great time and the PTO and school really appreciates all the support!

I will be collecting the October reading charts through Monday-our Bookit Packets and certificates have arrived so every student in the class that returns their October reading chart filled in will receive a coupon for a free personal pizza from Pizza Hut on Monday. I will be send new charts home for November so if you didn't make the goal this month there are still plenty of chances to earn those pizza certificates!

Again thank you so much for all you do at home to support your children's learning and our efforts here at school. You are a great group of parents and have been so great and so supportive and it really makes my job easier! THANK YOU.

Ms. Wolters' Class

Thanks to all of you who donated your time and items for the fall festival!! You are all awesome! We still need more readers for Read to Kids Day on Wednesday. Please let me know if you can come in to read. For every reader we have, we get a free book!! Thanks so much for your support!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This week we will introduce the letter O. Please make sure you are practicing writing and thinking of words that begin with O. We will also be continuing our pumpkin activities. We have a very busy week this week.

Tuesday is the math curriculum night, come to the multipurpose room between 6 and 7 to see a fun math bingo game that you can play at home to help practice those tricky teens!

Wednesday is read to kids day, if you did not get a chance to sign up to read, please send me an email!

Thursday is our pumpkin investigation with the other kindergartners. We will be doing a candy sort, a bat project, and a pumpkin dissection.

Friday is our fall harvest party, I am still in need of parent helpers on this day, please let me know if you will be able to make it to our party to make sure it is successful. Make sure you are sending the donations needed for the party by Wednesday at the latest, that way I know what is still needed before the party!

Next week, book in a bag will go home with those who I talked with about it at conferences. Please remember to read the book at least 3 times and then send it back for a new one.

October is almost over! Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks for your support!

Mrs. Wright's Class

We have had a great week and boy it went by fast with only 4 days. This week we spent time reviewing all of the letters and sounds we have learned thus far. The kids have mastered most of them and you should have all seen a "Book in a Bag" come home. Information went home about how the program works, however, I ask that you work with your child at home to practice reading the book nightly and turn it in when your child has mastered it. While every student is at a different reading level, as a class we are ready to "go to town" with reading! Thanks in advance for your support with this!

Next week we will be focusing on letters O and W. Please reinforce mastery of these letters at home by "quizzing" your child about words that begin with a specific letter or words that have a specific beginning sound. We have also started to learn a sight word once a week. This week we learned the word LIKE, ask your child to give you a sentence using this word. We have spent a lot of time this week working on skip counting by 2's and 5's. Please review this concept at home. Don't worry if your child is a bit confused. We will work on this skill for the remainder of the year during calendar. In math we will spend the next 2 weeks finishing up Chapter 5. We have spent a lot of time on numbers 0-30. Hopefully your child is able to recognize these numbers and is starting to write them as well.

Next week is full of "Harvest Fun". Wednesday will be our "Read to Kids Day". We still have openings if you would like to attend. Thursday all kindergarten students will be doing a pumpkin investigation with lots of pumpkin tricks and treats. Finally, Friday will be our Harvest Party. Thank you to all of you who have donated items. I will be collecting until Wednesday, so if you have not had a chance to bring something in, don't worry. For our party we will be doing pumpkin tasting, fall crafts and will show off our costumes in the school parade at 1:30 pm. You are all invited to attend! Please remember that costumes should be a historical figure or book character. There will be no scary masks or weapon props allowed.

I hope to see all of you at our Fall Festival tomorrow. As always thank you for your support with our class!

Mrs. King's Class

Just a quick note about the "Character Parade" and Harvest Celebration next Friday.

Children will be allowed to wear costumes that represent book characters or famous people in history. We ask that you steer clear of scary things like vampires, witches and other more scary type costumes. A few absolute NO's:

No Masks
No Weapons (swords, guns, light sabers, knives, water guns or other items that could be used as a weapon)
No Blood or Makeup resembling blood or fake bloody body parts.

The school wide parade will begin at 1:30 pm and parents are welcome to attend.

The rest of the "Celebration Information" will come to you from our Room Moms-so watch folders and e-mails for that information.

Thanks for all your support.

Mrs. King Class

Just wanted to thank all you parents that have so graciously donated games for Fall Festival Basket. You are all wonderful and it is greatly appreciated. A couple of little things for the rest of this week.

Pictures went home in folder today. Please check your child's folder tonight and pull those out so they don't get ruined. Also a note about helping out at the Fall Festival if you have any extra time on Saturday.

Wrist bands will be on sale through the end of school tomorrow at the reduced price $6. I had a lot of people out the day that information went home so if you are planning to attend the Fall Festival the wristbands for playing all the games and doing the activities for the students are $6 through tomorrow and $8 at the door on Saturday morning. Be sure to let me know how many you want if you chose to buy them tomorrow.

Also today we had an assembly about Juvenile Diabetes. We got to see a video of a six year old little girl who has the disease explain it in her own words and the students were quite impressed. We are doing a fundraiser and walk here on campus for the next two weeks. The fundraising information will come home tomorrow in a yellow packet-students do not have to collect any fundraising dollars to participate in the walk in November. I will tell you that we do have several students here on campus who do have Juvenile Diabetes, one in Kindergarten, so if your family or friends are willing to donate it is a great cause!

We are review all the letters that have been taught this week and we added Kk today. New homework will go home tomorrow-don't panic if last weeks isn't finished just send it in when it is complete.

Keep up the great work at home and have a fantastic weekend!

Kindergarten Team

Wednesday, October 28th is Read to Kids Day for Kindergartners. Please email your teacher to sign up for a convenient time!!! The more books we read, the more books we earn for our classroom. Please show your support by signing up and sharing your favorite story with us!!

Ms. Wolters' Class

I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable fall break!!! I can't wait to see your children and hear what they did on their break. Thank you to all of you who came to conferences. I was excited to share all the positive things your students are doing and celebrate their successes.

We have a lot going on when we get back. Our fall festival is this Saturday, October 24th from 9:30 to 1:30. October 28th is Read to Kids Day for Kindergarten. Please let me know if you can come and read with our classroom. The more stories we read, the more books we earn for our classroom. Email me and I will put you on the schedule. The kids love having mom or dad read to us so I hope you can make it in. Thanks again for all your donations for the baby basket and for the book fair books for our classroom!!! You are all so supportive and generous.

Our PTO meeting is Tuesday, October 20th at 6:30 in the multi-purpose room. Our PTO has been working so hard this year to help all of us so please come and join us if you can. Math Curriculum night is Tuesday, October 27th from 6-7 P.M. Please come out to see what we are learning in math!! We will be having a fall party and parade on Friday, October 30th. The parade will begin at 1:30 so please send your child in a story book costume. The party will follow in our classroom. If you would like to donate any goodies for the party, it would be greatly appreciated!!

This week is Red Ribbon Week!! This is meant to inform the students of the dangers in using drugs and encouraging them to "Say No to Drugs".

Tuesday-red hat day
Wednesday-red socks/shoes
Thursday-red jewelry/accessories
Friday-red shirt

Wow!! I hope you are all rested up and ready to go!!! :-) I look forward to a great week!!!

Ms. Wolters

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Welcome Back! I hope everyone had a great break. Thank you to everyone who came to fall conferences, I had a great time getting to share the wonderful accomplishments each student has done. If we did not get a chance to meet, please contact me with a time that works best for you. We have lots of fun activities coming up in the month of October (what is left of it) so please make sure you are marking your calender with all these fun and exciting activities.

This week we will be reviewing our letters and starting our reading groups. I will be implementing a new dibels board in our reading groups in order to practice the skills that are assessed on our dibels. We will also be focusing on fall and pumpkin activities as well as diving into our math books with the tricky teen numbers.

This Saturday, October 24th, is the fall festival. This is a great family fun festival with games, bounce houses, face painting, food, and a craft fair. This is a great way to support our school and our PTO since all the money earned comes right back to the school. Wristband envelops went home on Tuesday, if you want to order your wristband ahead of time they are 6 dollars, if you buy your wristband the day of the festival it is 8 dollars. Only children who want to participate in the games or bounce houses need a wristband.

On Tuesday, October 27th, we will be having our math curriculum night in the multipurpose room from 6-7pm. Come to this exciting night to get new and fun ways to help teach math at home.

On Wednesday, October 28th, we are having a read to kids day. For each person that comes and reads our class a story, our classroom receives a free book from the united way. Everyone is encouraged to come and read - moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends, grandmas and grandpas. The more readers, the more books! Please email me at ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us with a time you would be able to come read. We will have readers all day long at all times so whatever time works for you... works for me! Please help support our classroom by coming and reading to our class.

On Thursday, AM class will be joining all of the kindergarten classes for a pumpkin investigation. If you would like to help on this day please let me know.

On Friday, October 30th, we will be have our fall harvest party. Students are welcome to dress up as their favorite story book character or hero. Please no scary items or scary masks. Lots of parent volunteers are needed to make this party successful. On Tuesday, I sent home a party information sheet with a donation needed for the party, please return this slip as soon as possible if you are NOT able to donate the item. Donations are needed by Wednesday the 28th. Everyone is welcome to come to the party, the more helpers, the better the party with be! AM party is from 9:30 - 10:50 PM party is from 1 - 2:50. PM will be in a parade at 1:30 with the entire campus.

October is an exciting month for kindergarten filled with a lot of fun activities. Please email me if you will be able to read to us or help at any of our activities. If you have any questions, please contact me!

Mrs. King's Class

Hi everyone!! I hope you all have had a great break and that everyone is rested and well for school tomorrow! I have had a great break and am ready to get back to our kindergarten work!



A big thank-you parents, we had 100% attendance for Parent/Teacher Conferences! I really enjoyed meeting with each family and discussing their child's progress! Keep up the good work at home.



We will be working on the letter "K,k" and reviewing all the other letters we have already introduced this week. We are also beginning to work with our first and last names and really concentrating on the numbers 0-20. We will be doing a morning activity everyday to help us practice these two areas. We started our handwriting program before break and will continue to really concentrate on forming the letters and writing them appropriately with the correct stroking motion. Please remember when practicing at home that we are using the D'nealian handwriting that is most like cursive writing and makes the transition much easier. Homework will come home tomorrow-less papers because it's a short week. If you don't get it all done by Friday-don't panic, you can always send it in next week.



I will be sending an e-mail reminding you about "Read to Kids Day". Please reply to the e-mail with a time you would like to come reading to us on Wednesday, October 28. We will receive a book for each adult that comes to read to us, so please try to work us into your schedule.



Also don't forget about Fall Festival on October 24, 2009. The presale for the wristbands for the kids activities is available this week, be sure to take advantage of the cheaper price. There will also be plenty of food, a silent auctions and lots of fun for all.



We have P.E. twice this week on Wednesday and on Friday so don't forget those tennis shoes both days. It is also Red Ribbon Week. Tomorrow is "Wear Red on your Head" so a hat or something fun in your hair that is red-just no red bandanna's because of the gang affiliation with the colored bandannas. Wednesday is "Wear red on your feet" so shoes, socks or other fun ideas.

Thursday is "Wear red accessories/jewelry" belts, ear rings, bracelets, rings, necklaces-home made stuff would be great. Then Friday is "Wear a red shirt or skirt" so wear as much red as you can!



Next week will be crazy with all the activities that will be happening so it will be frantic but lots of fun!!



Wednesday, October 28-Read to Kids Day

Thursday, October 29-Kindergarten Group activities in the AM

Friday, October 30-1:30 is the Character Parade and the Harvest Celebration to follow

See you all Tomorrow!

Mrs. Wright's Class

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful fall break and is ready to get back to school. We had a wonderful turnout for conferences, thank you for taking the time to meet with me! There was no homework sent home for the break, but the kids will be recieving a small packet to complete this week. Please work on it and turn it in on Friday, October 23rd. We have a couple of dates coming up that you will want to mark on your calendar:

-PTO Meeting Tuesday, October 20 @ 6:30 pm
-Fall Festival Saturday, October 24 9:30-1:30 pm
-Math Curriculum Night Tuesday, October 27 6-7 pm
-Read to Kids Day Wednesday, October 28
-Harvest Party and Costume Parade October 30 12:00 pm

This week in class we will be reviewing letters and sounds learned thus far, we will continue on with numbers through 31 and will finish our exploration on pumpkins and bats. It will be a fun filled "review" week. If you have not had the opportunity to sign up to read for our Read to Kids day, please email me or send a note to class with your child. Also, we will be doing several fun art activities for our Harvest Party and could use some extra hands...if you are able to help out from 12:00-2:30 please notify me ASAP.

I look forward to seeing all of my students tomorrow. Enjoy the last day of your break!

Mrs. King's Class

Sorry for this late post, but things have been a busy with report cards and parent teacher conferences. Thanks to all of you who came and met with me during conferences. I enjoyed sharing your children's success with you.

There is no homework for break! Please continue to read with your children and play at least one game that involves numbers. Also try counting different things up to 20 and writing those numbers. Have fun and enjoy your children!!!

We will be very busy after break with the PTO Fall Festival, Read to Kids day, a Kindergarten Activity Day, and Harvest Celebration and Character Parade. All the times and dates are listed in the Simon ton Newsletter and I will be sending them after break. I am looking for as many Parents as possible to read to the class on Wednesday, October 28th. Just e-mail me at time that you can make it. We are reading as a whole Kindergarten group from 8:15-9:15 and have Lunch from 10:40-11:15 and a Special from 12:30-12:50 and get out that day at 1:20. So pick a time and let me know.

Thanks for all your help.

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This week is off to a great start! This week is going to be a little different since we have such a short week. We are learning about the letter K and about apples. We will even get to do an apple investigation this week! Today we had our bus evacuation, everyone was really excited to get on a bus!

A couple of reminders:

Conferences are this week, hopefully everyone is going to be able to come to their assigned time, if you are not or need to cancel please let me know.

Thursday - school gets out at 11am and there is no school for PM. Please pick up your student at the little gate by the bike rack

Friday - school gets out at 11am and there is no school for AM. PM needs to be at school by 7:55 and meet us on the little playground

Please remember to wash your hands and talk about good hygiene habits, there are a lot of students out sick in our class and we need to make sure no one else gets sick!

We are still in need to 3 ring binders, page protectors, and family friendly magazines!

Thank you everyone for the work you are doing at home with your students it is really showing!

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Have a great break!

Ms. Wolters' class

We had a great time at our pizza party Friday!!! Thanks again for all of your orders. We went to the book fair Friday to preview the books so your child may have a wish list to show you. Davey's family donated several books with CDs and we already listened to one about snakes and the kids loved it!! Thanks so much to Davey's family!!! The book fair will continue through this week if you would like to stop in and make a purchase. This week is the end of the quarter and conferences. I tried to arrange some conferences for Wednesday so I did not have to do 19 on Thursday. That seemed a little overwhelming. Please make sure to send your confirmation slip in so I can complete my schedule. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you. I assessed each child individually for some of their grades and I was very pleased with how well they did.
I would like to start our handwriting centers this week but I will need some helpers. Please send me an email if you would like to help out with this. It will include fun activities like pinching playdoh and making letters in shaving cream. The kids will love it!! Last week we learned the letters B and K and continued learning our numbers up to 31. We have also been working on writing and it is so much fun to see what the kids come up with. Thanks for all you do and I look forward to another great week!!
Ms. Wolters

Mrs. Wright's Class

WE WON!!! Our class celebrated the penny war win today. Our treat from Student Council was doughnuts and milk. YUM!! Thanks for participating and donating those pennies. Our class contributed $40.37 to the $300+ that was collected school-wide. Way to go Simonton Stallions.

The book fair is in full swing. Our class previewed the items in Library on Thursday. Come check out the great selection of books! Thank you to the families who have purchased books for our classroom. Your donation is greatly appreciated and the kids enjoy reading new stories.

Next week is conferences...I look forward to discussing your child's progress with each of you. Until then, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday-

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Donations Needed!

1" 3 ring binders, white with clear sleeve on front cover
sheet protectors
family friendly magazines

Read below to find out why!

We will be starting a new activity in our class to help the students with reading skills. Each student needs a 1" 3 ring notebook, white, with a front clear sleeve. We will be filling the notebook with the fun poems and songs we learn each month. Students will be bringing these notebooks home periodically to share what fun songs and poems we are learning.

We also need clear sheet protectors donated for all of our fun songs and poems to fit into.

If you are able to donate more than one notebook I would appreciated it and then everyone will be able to have a notebook.

We are also in need of family friendly magazines. We do lots of projects in kindergarten with cutting out pictures from magazines and our supplies are running short!

Please look for a new behavior chart and a reading log on Thursday.

Thank you for making our classroom a success!

Mrs. Wright's Class

Where did September go? Wow, I guess time really does "fly" when you are having fun. Having fun...we are! This week we are learning the letters L and K. We are also doing some science exploration with apples. Ask your kindergarten student to tell you three facts that they have learned about apples in class. We are still working on Chapter 5 in math (numbers through 31) and I am amazed how the kids are doing. Usually learning the numbers 12-31 is difficult, but this year the class is really catching on and doing well. Keep up the practice at home, it is proving to be helpful!

The month of October is jam packed with fun. Please mark your calendar with these important dates, you will not want to miss out on:
* 10/2-10/8 School Book Fair...come check out the great books and pick a book to add to your child's library.
* 10/9 Awards Assembly 9:30 am
* 10/24 Fall Festival 9:30-1:30 pm Rides, games and crafts...DON'T miss out!
* 10/27 Math Night 6-7 pm
* 10/28 Read to Kids Day Sign up with your child's teacher to come in and read.
* 10/30 Harvest Party and Character Parade I will need parent helpers...email me if you are interested.

Next week we will begin our science exploration of pumpkins and bats. We will also be learning the letters B & K. Please remember that October 8th and 9th are parent teacher conferences and dismissal is at 11:00 am. Conference slips went home today, so check your child's folder and send the slip back confirming your time. If you need to reschedule, contact me ASAP.

Well, it has been a great month and I look forward to the harvest fun we will be having during the month of October in class. If you haven't got a chance to visit our classroom...stop by. We love to have parents join us!

Mrs. King's Class

We are almost to the end of September! I can't believe how fast the year is flying by! The students are really doing well. I am so proud of the progress they are making on their letters, sounds and numbers as well as behavior and following the rules. We get compliments all the time about what a good class they are and how well they behave and follow the rules. They are all just AWESOME.

I am really looking forward to conferences. The appointment slips went out today. Please check your child's green folder for your letter. Don't panic if you have an appointment on Wednesday afternoon, that is not a mistake. I will be doing a few that afternoon as well as Thursday and Friday. Please keep in mind that I have twenty five families to see in that short period of time and the evening appointment are very limited. If you are not able to attend on the day and time assigned please e-mail me or return the note immediately so we can reschedule. Please send an idea of something that might work better for you. I will do my best to get your rescheduled.

We will start our handwriting workshops next week. I am still looking for volunteers to come in and help with that on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9-10 am.

New Snack Calendars have been sent via e-mail. If you did not get one or need a hard copy please e-mail me or send a note. Also the School Newsletter will go out tonight-if for some reason you don't get yours via e-mail and need me to send it or get you a hard copy please let me know. There is lots of important information about upcoming information in it. October will be a busy month with conferences and the book fair next week. Fall Break is the following week and when we come back we have the PTO Fall Festival on the 24th Math Curriculum Night on the 27th, Read to Kids day on the 28th and our Harvest Party on the 30th. It will definitely be a busy month! More information will come home about the end of the month activities after break!

Everyone has been doing a great job on their homework. Keep up the good work at home!

Thank you so much for all the supplies and paper that have been donated. It is really nice to have such a great group of parents!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend. This week we will be learning about the letters b and h. We will also get to be doing some fun centers like matching games and sorting games. This week I am also beginning my second quarter assessment these assessments will be sent home with report cards the week of October 5th.

Fall conferences will take place the week of October 5th. Conference notices will be going home this week. I will be doing conferences everyday in order to try to accommodate 48 conferences, if you are unable to attend your conference time, please let me know as soon as possible so I can try to arrange a new time. Please understand that there is not very much wiggle room to change conferences so please try to come at your scheduled time.

The fundraising order will be delivered on Monday, October 5th, please make arrangements to pick your child up this day so they are not having to carry everything themselves. Also, they typically do not allow items that do not fit in a backpack on the bus, so bus riders keep this in mind.

On Thursday, October 1st, there will be a character counts movie for those students who have received less than 2 yellow lights. This event is taking place for PM students only. PM students are invited to bring a pillow or stuffed animal for the movie. Please look for a permission slip going home soon for your child to attend.

Thank you everyone for your hard work at home as well as your support in the classroom. If you have any questions, please contact me.

Ms. Wolters' Class

I got an exciting email yesterday. We are the winning classroom for the PTO fundraiser!! We had 115 sales. Way to go class!!! Thanks to all of you who placed orders and solicited orders from friends and relatives. Two of our biggest contributors were Hailey with 30 orders and Kaden with 27. Great job!!! Some of you may have placed your orders online so I am unable to recognize your numbers. We won a pizza party so I will let you know when it is so you won't have to send a lunch. The kids are so excited for the pizza party. Thanks so much!!!

Ms. Wolters

Fundraiser Delivery

Good morning,
We had a great response to our PTO fundraiser. Thank you to all of you who placed orders and solicited friends and relatives. Our orders will be delivered on October 5th so your student may need help bringing home all of their items. Thank you all again!!!

Kindergarten Team

Mrs. Wright's Class

Happy Fall! We have been celebrating our new season the last 2 days in class with watercolor leaf art and tearing paper apples. We can't wait to show off our work during fall conferences. October is approaching quickly, so please be watching for information in regards to your conference date and time. They will be held on October 8th and 9th, if you have a scheduling conflict please contact me immediately so we can work something out. I am anxious to meet with each of you to discuss your child's progress. They are doing awesome!

We started our handwriting workshop this week. It went very well and the kids seemed to enjoy it. Thanks again to all of the parents who were able to donate supplies and a BIG THANKS to my volunteers...it would not be possible to have the workshop without your help! I appreciate you both! This week we also started our Star of the Week board. Mrs. Wright is the "Star" this week and the kids are getting a feel for how it will work. Each child will be assigned a week throughout the year to share with the class about themselves. A packet of information will go home with your child on the Wednesday before your child's week. We would love for each family to participate in an activity for their child's "Star Week" as well, so be thinking of ideas!

This week we have focused on only one letter I, but also talked about the word I. Ask your child to brainstorm words that begin with this letter or to use the word I in a sentence. We are continuing on with chapter 5 in math (numbers through 31) and the kids are doing great! It is always helpful to reinforce the learning at home by having your child count and write the numbers 0-31.

Penny Wars are on! Kinder classes are competing against First grade and Mrs. Wright's class is doing well. So far we have collected $6.56, keep bringing in those pennies! All of the monies collected will go to student council which in turn will be used for educational purposes. Any donations help!

To each of you...thanks for all of your help and participation with our class. Each of you are able to contribute in your own way and I appreciate all that you do!

Mrs. King's Class

I can't believe how fast the year is flying by. We will soon be done with September and into October. We have covered letters M, R, S, T, P, C, A, G, N, D, F and are working on I and L this week. That makes 13 letters and we are half way through the alphabet. Keep working on these letters at home: finding pictures that start with them, drawing things, looking on signs anywhere and everywhere be looking for letters and sounds. We have also just about finished chapter 4 and are doing well with numbers 0-10. We will begin numbers 11-31 in chapter 5. This is probably the most difficult chapter we will do-except maybe subtraction in the spring. We will need you to review and review these numbers to get them written correctly and in the right order. So keep up the work at home.

We are now ready to start our handwriting program, so I am in need of volunteers. I need two or three parents on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:15-10:15 approximately to help us do this program. Please let me know if you are able to come in and help. If you can't commit to every week-if you could do every other week that would be helpful also. Just e-mail me with what will work for you. I would like to begin the first full week in October. After break I will also be looking for some volunteers in the afternoons to help with centers so let me know if that works better for you.

Keep an eye out for lots of activities coming in October including: the Book Fair, Fall Break, Parent/Teacher Conferences, Fall Festival, and Read to Kids Day. Dates and times are on their way so stay tuned!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Happy Fall! Can you believe it is the first day of fall? Today we learned our new fall song, see if your student remembers it! This week we are learning the letters I and L, we are also continuing to learn about ordinal numbers through 10. This seems to be a hard concept for them so please practice at home. Some great ways to practice ordinal numbers might be to line up stuffed animals and see which is sitting in the 8th spot, or 6th spot. Or maybe have a race in your family and talk about what position each member came in. They seem to understand 1st - 5th but 6th - 10th is very difficult.

Thank you to everyone who has been working on letters and handwriting at home. Handwriting has improved greatly with everyone! I am still looking for one more parent in the morning to come help with handwriting centers, if you can come every other Wednesday starting tomorrow please let me know ASAP.

Next week we are learning about our color words and the letters H and B if you would like to get a head start on handwriting!

PM class, yesterday I sent home a new specials schedule, please let me know if you did not get one.

Thank you to everyone who donated paper! I'm sure we will need more in a while so please look for the request in the blog.

If you have any questions or concerns about your child or anything in class please don't hesitate to contact me!

Have a great week!

Ms. Wolters' Class

Don't forget, tomorrow is the 4th Wednesday which is P.E. day. Today we have P.E. also and two students are wearing flip flops so they don't get to participate. This is very disappointing for them. Please remind them tomorrow to come to school in their tennis shoes. Thank you!!!
Today we did a fun activity "What can you do with 10 black dots?" They all wrote the sentence and made a picture using up to 10 black dots. Mrs. Baez was here helping us and they all did a great job!!! Thanks to all my parent helpers and for all your donations!!!! You are all so supportive. Have a great afternoon.


Ms. Wolters

Ms. Wolters' Class

I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Thank you to all parents who have donated paper, markers, playdoh and other supplies!!! I really appreciate that and so will the students. The fundraising packet is due today. Please make sure your child remembers to turn theirs in. Thank you to all who have sent in orders. We have had a good response and this will help earn funds for the PTO. We finished chapter 4 in math on numbers 1-10 and will be starting chapter 5 which is numbers 11 to 31 and skip counting by 2s and 5s. This week we will be working on the letters I and L. I look forward to another great week! Thanks for all your support.

Ms. Wolters

Ms. Trowbridge's class

Today we started our handwriting program. All of the kids really enjoyed it! Hopefully this will help improve our handwriting technique.

AM parents, I need 2 parents to help me run the handwriting program every other Wednesday starting next Wednesday the 23rd. It is very important that I have parents helping otherwise I cannot run the program efficiently. If you will be able to help out every other Wednesday from 9-10am please email me.

ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us

Picture day is tomorrow! Remember a nice outfit and your picture money!

Mrs. Wright's Class

Thank you to all of the parents who have donated supplies for our "handwriting workshop". I think we have collected nearly all of the items and will begin next week. I may need some parent volunteers to assist in our workshop, so if this is something you are interested in please email me!

twright@jocombs.k12.az.us

Also, some of you have been asking for ways to reinforce the learning we have been doing in our classroom. The following websites will help with handwriting and letter sound/recognition.

www.starfall.com
www.handwritingworksheets.com

Please utilize these resources at home for extra help and practice.

Mrs. King

Just a couple of reminders-there will be a mass e-mail sent out from the school with this information on it, but I thought I would also put it on our blog.

Fundraising Packets are not actually due until next Monday-September 21. If you sent yours in and are done that is fine I will go ahead and turn it into PTO. If you want yours back because you have more people who want to order things, just let me know and I will put it back in your child's green folder.

Picture Day is September 17. This is usually the time that they do class pictures and the pictures are on a pre-paid only status. So if you want a class picture please make sure to fill out the information on the envelope-they went home in green folders today-and payment for the package that you have chosen. Keep in mind there are lots of choices and if you don't like the pictures they will come back and do retakes. These are also the pictures that will appear in the yearbook. We are scheduled to take them at 8:30 am.

Mosquitoes have infested our playground. You may want to put bug repellent on your children before school each day. We can't apply it here at school so please if you are concerned apply it at home before them come to school. Mornings and later in the evenings seems to be the worst time for them.

Box Tops: We are collecting box tops. They are the pink labels on General Mills Cereals, Betty Crocker Items and other various manufactures. Just clip them off and sent them into the school by September 25 for this month. We turn them in every month and you don't have to wait you can send them in anytime. I have a little box that we keep them in.

I also sent home a flyer about the PTO Paper drive. The e-mail will also have that information in it.

There is also a PTO Bingo night coming up this week. It will be on Friday September 18th here at the school. A small reminder will go home in folders tomorrow.

I think that is everything-book orders are due next Friday, September 25. We have PE as our special this Wednesday so don't forget your tennis shoes on Wednesday and Friday this week!

Thanks again for all you do to support our classroom!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

I am so proud of everyone and how much their handwriting has improved. We did another handwriting assessment and almost everyone has improved immensely. Great work at home! Please continue to practice writing letters and names at home and all of our language arts grades should come way up. I will be sending home a letter sheet soon that shows all the letters and numbers as well as the correct way to form them. Please keep working with your child at home to help them learn the proper way to write the d'nealian alphabet.

This week we are learning about the letters G and F. We also are starting our journals. Each day we will be writing in our journals and draw a picture. Everyone did a great job today of learning how to use their journal.

Thursday is picture day!! Remember to wear your best outfit. Order forms went home Monday or Tuesday. Bring back the order form on Thursday if you would like to order pictures.

This Friday is bingo night. This is a fun family outing that supports our PTO. A note will go home tomorrow (Tuesday) with all the details.

The holiday fundraiser now ends on Monday the 21st of September. There was some confusion on this date so some of you turned it in already but the note going home tomorrow says that it is due next Monday, the 21st.

We are in need of paper! The school is officially out of paper and we now have to supply our own paper for everything we do. If you are able to donate a ream of paper, we would appreciate it!

Keep up the great work everyone and if you have any questions, please contact me!

Ms. Wolters' Class

On Wednesdays we have rotating specials. The first week is library, the second week is technology, the third week is music and the fourth week is P.E. Please make sure your child has tennis shoes on for that fourth week and every Tuesday. They are very disappointed when they can not participate in P.E. Thank you !!!

Ms. Wolters

Ms. Wolters' class

This week we worked on the letters G and F. The kids are doing a great job learning their letters and sounds. We are continuing with chapter 4 working on numbers 6-10, comparing numbers, deciding which has more or less. You should have received your child's progress report on Thursday. Don't be alarmed if the language grade is a little low. This is just for handwriting and the kids are just learning the proper way to write. They are all making great improvement so I am happy with the progress I am seeing. Thanks to several moms who have been coming in to help in the classroom. This is a huge help to me and the kids love having mom participating in our class. If you would like to come to help out, please email me a time that is convenient. It is great to have help first thing in the morning so I can take roll and get the lunch money tallied up. Thank you again. I look forward to another great week! I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Ms. Wolters

Mrs. King's Class

GREAT NEWS! We had three days in a row with everyone going home with a Sticker!!! Today was one of those days-unfortunately I ran out of time and didn't get the stickers on the charts today. We were trying to get papers, homework and Progress Reports all in our folders and get ready to go, so we ran out of time. Everyone has had a great three days!!! Please look over the Progress Reports, the Skill Sheet and the Orchard Report, along with the Tests and Papers that were graded. If you have any questions or concerns please e-mail or call me. I would be happy to schedule a time to meet with you. I will meet with each of you in October during Parent/Teacher Conferences and you will receive the first Report Card, but please don't wait that long if you are concerned or have questions. I am always glad to sit down with you.

Have a Great Weekend and we will see you all on Monday!

Mrs. King's Class

Our first progress reports will go home on Friday along with a skill sheet and some test and assessments that were used for the grades. The progress report will list a percentage grade for Reading, Math and Language Arts (Handwriting). Keep in mind that grades may seem a little low for some of students who are new to the school environment (didn't attend preschool) . This is to be expected as they are just learning these letters, sounds and numbers. Please don't panic, just look over the skill sheet and look for areas that you can be helping your child at home. The letters that have been introduced are on the skill sheet and we have been working with colors and numbers 0-5. If the letter, number or color is circled that means your child did not recognize that particular one when I assess them. If there are no circles that means your student recognized and knew all the letters, sounds, numbers and colors being assessed. We have also added Nn and Dd this week, but they were not assessed this time. We are also starting Chapter 4 which is numbers 6-10.

I am also sending home a report from our Orchard. We spend about an hour a week in the Orchard lab working on skill trees related to what we are learning class. Right now we are focusing on Phonemic Awareness and introducing and working on the very same letters we are working on in class. Some students have passed us and moved ahead-others are behind and really need to catch up. You can tell by looking at the report and the letter-if it says "Mastered" that means they passed off on that letter on the computer. If it says "Instruction" that means they are still working on that letter and have not passed off on that particular letter. We have working in the Math area a little also along with another Letter and Sounds program. These reports just help us to know how well the students are doing and if they are working hard on while on the computer or if them are just clicking around, when they are supposed to be working.

I finally got the Scholastic Book Order forms together and they are going home this week also. There is also a note about ordering on-line-you are welcome to do that also. There are some great deals and this is a great way to help build a library for your children at home. If you are anxious to get started ordering online here is the information you will need to get your started.

Go to the Web address below and enter our class’s personalized user name and password in the sign-in fields on the right side of the page. Note: You do not need to create your own user name and password.

www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
User Name: KingsKindergarten
Password: kinder

The regular order forms and flyers along with the online information will come home probably on Thursday.

We are having a great time in Kindergarten. I am really impressed at how the students are doing with the routines and all the information that we are constantly giving them. Thanks so much for all your help and donations. We are going to begin our handwriting program in a couple of weeks-I have most of the things needed that are listed on the blog-except I can always use more shaving cream at that is a favorite activity. Also reams of copy paper will be needed throughout the year. The school is very limited with it's supply budget and we have already run out of copy paper. I do have several reams that have already been donated but I might need to ask for additional reams throughout the year. I will also be ready for volunteers in the next few weeks so I will get you more information on the exact days and times I will need your help.

Thanks again for all you do to help me teach your children.

Mrs. King

Mrs. Wright's Class

Hooray for 100% attendance and such good behavior today. Everyone in class earned a green light! Good job kindergarten students! This week you will be receiving your child's progress report for progress 1. There will be grades for Math, Reading and Language Arts (handwriting). Please take into consideration that the grades you see are only a reflection of the first 4 1/2 weeks. All of your kids have made big improvements and are doing super, however, if you should have questions about the grades please contact me.

Oops...I made a mistake and forgot to send homework in the folders on Friday. Many of you were asking about it and I realized that the packets were still in our " To Go Home File". So sorry you lost a couple of days to work on it. If you need to keep the packet through this weekend, that is fine. Please make sure it is turned it by Monday, September 14. Also, I have noticed a lot of paperwork in the "Keep" side of our folders. This side of the folder should be cleaned out NIGHTLY! Everything in the "Keep" side needs to stay at home. There was quite a bit of paperwork that went home today so please make sure you help your child empty out their folder. Thank You!

We are off to a great start this week and it is always a joy to have your kids!

Mrs. Wright's Class

We had a fantastic week! Our class was busy learning about letters A and N, counting from 0-10, doing the DIBELS test and working on being a kid of character. One of our classmates was recognized for being responsible all week long and sat at the "Character Table" for lunch today. Each Friday a new student will be recognized for their job well done! Next week will be a short one, so we will only focus on one letter, D, and will continue Chapter 4 in math; numbers thru 10. Thank you to all of the parents who have made it in to the classroom so far. Your kids love seeing you here and I appreciate the extra set of hands! As you probably have read in a previous post, our class is in need of some donations. I would like to get the handwriting program started before the end of the month, but without the supplies it will not be possible. If you can make the play dough or have any of the items around the house that are not in use...we can use those too. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable weekend and I will see you all on Tuesday ready to learn.

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

Yay! We made it into September, everyone is doing a great job of getting into the routines of kindergarten and the class is almost running itself! "P" homework packets were due today. If you were unable to turn it in today please bring it on Tuesday. "A" homework packets went home today as well. If you did not get one, please let me know so your child can be getting all of their homework points.

Remember, we have no school on Monday and I will not be here on Tuesday either. We will be having Mrs. Banner for our sub. She is an excellent sub and I am completely confident that the class will run smoothly. I will be unable to answer notes or emails until Wednesday morning.

Next week is a short week so we will only be learning the letter D as well as continue learning numbers 6-10. As some of you may of heard, we have been doing dibels testing the last 2 weeks. Our schedule has been super crazy and we have joined other classes for a while. So if your student has been coming home telling you they were in a new class today, that is why. We are hoping to finish up testing today or next Wednesday at the latest.

Please look at the blog posting below. All of kindergarten is starting a new sensory handwriting program. Half day will be doing the program on Wednesday's, so all of Wednesday will be devoted to handwriting techniques and skills. If you are able to donate any of those items it would be greatly appreciated. We will be starting the program Wednesday, September 16th. If you have any questions about the program please let me know.

Remember, scholastic book orders are due on September 11th, this is a great way to build up your reading library at home. Our user name is trowbridgekinder and our password is scholastic. Thank you for your support!

I hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Donations Needed

All kindergarten classes will be starting our handwriting workshop during the month of September. We hope to increase an understanding of sensory approach to writing and develop basic writing skills among the students. We are in need of the following items to make the program a success. If you are able to donate any of the items listed below, please send them to your child's teacher.

-play dough or silly puddy
-chalk (white and colored)
-shaving cream
-mini flashlights
-rectangle baking sheet
-hair gel
-spray bottle
-sand paper
-wikki stix
-washable markers

Each class will need a set of each of the items above. Anything you can donate will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your help-

Simonton Kindergarten Team

Mrs. King's Class

Well we are almost finished with week 5. I am adding a new thing for homework. It is just a way to help you keep track of the time you spend reading. You will find it as an additional sheet with homework, but not attached to the Homework because it will last all month not just a week. Every time someone reads with the Kindergartner for 15 minutes, they can then color in an apple on the September Reading log. The goal for the month is a total of 4 hours or 16 filled in apples. There will be a special prize for all students who turn their reading log in that have met the goal at the end of the month.

Also I will be working on putting together the Scholastic Book order forms that will come home next week. There will also be instructions on how to order books online that will also count towards books in the classroom. We do earn points that allow us to get free books for our classroom for every dollar spent. There are also usually some really good deals-books for a dollar and sometimes even less than that. Scholastic is an inexpensive way to help build a library of appropriate books for reading at home.

The children are really doing well. They have settled into our routines and seem to be enjoying being at school. I will be looking to start with volunteers in the next few weeks so stay tuned for more info on helping in the classroom.

Thanks again for all your help and support!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

This week we are learning about the letters A and N. We will also be starting a new math chapter about numbers through 10. Please continue working on handwriting at home. Handwriting is a grade in kindergarten and a lot of students are having issues with forming the letters correctly. We will also be taking our first math test this week. This seemed to be an easy chapter for everyone so I'm sure everyone will do great! New character cards went home today. Please make sure you are signing off on it each day as well as signing off that you have read the blog. New homework packets went home on Friday. If you did not get one, please let me know. Also, scholastic book orders when home on Friday as well, if you are not familiar with scholastic or have any questions please contact me. Keep up the great work!

Mrs. King's Class

I just wanted to thanks the Fosters for host that wonderful swimming party. The food was great and the pool was a big hit with the adults and children alike. It was a wonderful afternoon! I am sure all that attended had a great time. I know I did. It was great getting to talk to parents and students outside the school environment. Thanks again to all who came a brought food, I truly enjoyed myself as I am sure everyone did.

Fund Raising packets are being sent home today. Children were instructed not to go door to door but to only sell to people they know. This is a huge event for our PTO so please be as supportive as possible. I know not all families will chose to participate and that is o.k. just send me back your packet. If you chose to participate there are snowflakes that are to be filled out for each item sold-you may have to make extra copies if you are great salespeople. The packets are due back to me in two weeks along with all the money. We have a great PTO that is very supportive of the teachers and children in the classrooms. All the moneys earned come right back here to Simonton.

Also be on the lookout for some calendar markers-these are little square cardboard cutouts that have disappeared from my room. They are two sided with a green book on one side and a red apple on the other side and the numbers 25-31 have disappears from my board. I have turn the room upside down, so they accidentally made their way into a backpack at the end of the day and they ended up at home I would greatly appreciate them being returned. I use them for our calendar and the set is no good without the last few numbers.

We have had our first phonics test and will take our first math assessment this week. So make sure you are practicing those numbers, letters and sounds at home. Letters this week will be Cc and Aa (short sound only). We will move on to numbers 6-10 by the end of the week.


Thanks for all your support.

Kindergarten Parents

Dear Parents,

We are noticing that the playground is getting more and more congested in the morning. Since we do have so many kindergartners that have to fit on the playground in the morning it would make it a lot easier if you simply drop off your child at the gate. We are finding that having all of the kindergartners, plus parents and siblings, is making it very difficult for us to supervise. We are also having problems with siblings playing on the playground. For safety reasons, only kindergartners are to be playing on the playground. We appreciate your attention to this matter and understand that from time to time you will need to come into the playground area, but for the most part, please drop your child off at the gate going into the playground.

thank you,
kindergarten team

Ms. Wolters' class

We had perfect attendance at school on Friday. Way to go!!! A few students were out sick this past week so it was nice to have everyone back on Friday. I am sorry I didn't get the homework passed out on Friday; I will get it out tomorrow morning. We worked on the letters P and C this week and we had our math test on numbers 0-5 and ordinal numbers first through fifth. I was pleased with how well the kids did on it. We started the year on chapter 3 to try to follow a more logical sequence. We started with numbers 0-5 and then we will begin chapter 4 on Monday which will be reading, writing and counting up to number 10 and ordinal numbers to 10. We will also be working on the letter A and starting to form short words. Several of you signed up to be parent volunteers in our class. If you would like to volunteer, please send me an email as to when you are available. I would like to make a schedule so just let me know what works for you. Thanks so much!! I look forward to another great week!

Mrs. King's Class

We are already to Friday this week. We have been working hard on numbers 0-5 and the letters Tt and Pp. Next week we will work on Letters Cc and Aa and begin to put sounds together to form simple words. We will finish up Chapter 3 and take a test early in the week. We are also currently doing the DIBELS testing for Kindergarten and those results will be sent home with the first Progress Report.

Don't forget the Swimming Party on Saturday-Please RSVP today to Mrs. Foster. I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as that can come.

We did a guidance lesson with Mr. G our counselor about What Bugs Us. Ask your child to tell you about it.

Have a great weekend.

See you Saturday!

Ms. Trowbridge's Class

As many of you might have heard, one of our kindergarteners, Rachel Allen, passed away over the weekend. She was in our afternoon class for a couple of weeks and then moved to our morning class for a while. The students have not been told about this event so please take it upon yourself if you feel that your child needs to know. The family is looking for donations to help pay for funeral expenses. They have an account set up at desert school credit union. Online transactions are not available at the time so you must visit the branch. Please put Rachel Allen Memorial Fund In the memo section and the account # - 3000014923

There will be a candle light vigil tomorrow, Thursday August 27th outside of the school from 7 – 8pm.

The funeral is on Saturday in Mesa 2220 N. Harris St. The viewing will be from 9:30-10:30 and the funeral is at 11am.

If you have any questions, please contact me ktrowbridge@jocombs.k12.az.us or our school counselor jgrafing@jocombs.k12.az.us