Final Post :)

Better late than never? haha

Thank you all so much for a wonderful school year. I feel blessed to have had such a nice class of students and parents, and it was great to see so many of you on the last Friday of school celebrating the end of the year with us.  Also I’m grateful to all of the hands that helped surprise me with the class gifts- no one has ever done that for me before and I felt very loved and appreciated. I’ve already started using the bags too!  Thank you 🙂

Here’s our class slideshow that I showed in the classroom. You can view it by just clicking play below and you can download it using the link below that. Let me know if you have troubles.

 

Kinder Slideshow 2016-2017

Lastly I wanted to share with you that I will not be coming back to Camarena next school year. I recently accepted a job teaching 3rd grade DI in Poway Unified. I feel ready for a new chapter in my career, but I will miss being a part of the Camarena community and seeing all of my former students grow up. I will do my best to come around and visit!

Thanks again for all of your support! I hope you have a great summer!

Pizza Update for Friday!

Hi everyone! 2 more days!

Here’s a quick update on the pizzas that we need for Friday’s picnic in the park:

• Mia’s mom (Monica Fraijo) offered to place the order and pick up all of the pizzas from Dominos to make it easier for everyone (THANK YOU!)
• If you would like her to order your large pizza, please pay me or her $8 by 8:15 on Friday morning. 
• We still need 2 more people to sign up and bring pizza (or pay the $8) so here is the sign-up sheet to do that: Sign-Up

Thanks for all your help making this a success!

P.S. Tomorrow is pajama day in kindergarten!

A Look at Next Week

Kindergarten has a fun-filled last week of school! Please make sure to sign up for the end of the year picnic. Here is a summary of what we have planned-

Monday (5/29): No school

Tuesday (5/30): Field Day

• Morning filled with outdoor games.

Wednesday (5/31): Game Day

• If you would like you can send a board game to school (no electronics please).
• Your child must know how to play the game.
• Please write your child’s name on the game.

Thursday (6/1): Movie and Pajama Day

• Return permission slip to watch movie.

Friday (6/2): Last Day Celebration!

• 8:30 – 9:30 Kinder show in auditorium. Bring the whole family!
• 10:30 – 12:00 Picnic in the park. Families welcome to join.
• Return permission slip by this Friday.
• Please sign up to bring an item for our end of the year picnic here.

Zoo Field Trip Tomorrow!

Sorry I just realized I didn’t post this… so better late than never?

We are so excited to explore the zoo tomorrow! We have learned so much about animals this year. Now we can put our knowledge to the test!

Students~

• Arrive at school at 8:15 am (Dismissal will be at 2:30 pm, usual time)
• Wear tennis shoes, a sweatshirt, and comfortable clothing for walking.
• Bring a water bottle and a snack (put snack in your lunch bag)
• Bring a paper bag lunch  (with your name on the bag)
  • I will be getting a school lunch for: Milania, Kayden, Isabella, Axel, Vicente, Nethanel. The lunch consists of a sun-butter sandwich, carrots, chips, and milk. If your child will not like this, please opt to bring a sack lunch tomorrow. It is a long day without food.

Chaperones~

• If you plan to follow the bus, we will leave Camarena at 9:00 in the morning.
• We will meet at the San Diego Zoo at 9:30 am (your child needs to be at school at 8:15 am). We will be in front of the front entrance in class lines.
• Find our class and check in with me. We will all enter together.
• Bring a backpack to hold lunches, water bottles, and sweatshirts for your buddy group.
• Complete assignment with your group.
• We will leave the zoo at approximately 1:30 pm. Students will return on bus.

Here is the list of chaperones and buddy groups:

Chaperone	Student	Buddy
Marisol	Milania	Isabella
Erika	Johanna	Alan
Melinda	Mariah	Vanessa
Penney	Kayden	Giacobbe
Guillermo	Aiden	Rafael
Ileana	Nadia	Ximena
Chris	Nolan	Vicente
Monica	Mia	Lyla
Yeli	Ricardo	Nethanel
Joshawa	Kiliana	Keira
Chrissie	Matthew	Axel
Rahel	Leah	Nicolas

This Week in Kinder

Hi all,

First I would like to say thank you for all the love during teacher appreciation week! I am grateful to have such a supportive group of students and parents. It’s been a fun year 🙂

We’re in the final stretch, and it feels a bit crazy. Here’s a glimpse at what’s going on:

Homework

We are done with homework menus!! Yay! On Friday we sent home a project to complete with your child about their favorite part of kindergarten. It was sent on a yellow piece of construction paper. Please work on this over the next two weeks and send it in whenever you finish. Each child will share their work with the class.

Library

We are done with library visits for the year! The upper graders are using the library space for testing. Please turn in your library books to the red basket in the classroom sometime this week so Mrs. Murphy can get all of her books back. Thanks!

This Week

Wednesday- We will have a substitute in the morning, and I will be pulling the students to the hallway to take the reading test in a quiet environment 🙂

Thursday- The Kindergarten teachers have collaboration in the afternoon so the students will be with their art, music, and dance teachers.

Friday- All of the Kindergarten teachers will have substitutes because we will be testing the incoming kindergarteners all day (Remember that from last year?)

Zoo Field Trip 

If you were chosen to chaperone the zoo field trip on May 16th, please confirm with me that you still want to go and who will be going for your family. Here’s the most recent update I have:

The four students whose parents can come for free are:

• Miliana
• Kayden
• Ricardo
• Mariah

The four students whose parents can come for $10 are listed below. Please pay me before we go!

• Mia- confirmed!
• Aiden- confirmed & paid!
• Nolan- confirmed!
• Nadia- confirmed!

Thanks everyone! Hope you have a great week.

Mistake on the Lottery :(

I’m SO sorry!! I made a mistake and pulled 5 parents free and 5 for $10 when it should be 4 parents free and 4 for $10.

 

I did the lottery again for each group so it would be 4 and 4. I will email you if you were affected by the change and I sincerely apologize.

The four students whose parents can come for free are:

• Miliana
• Kayden
• Ricardo
• Mariah

The four students whose parents can come for $10 are listed below. Please pay me before we go!

• Mia
• Aiden
• Nolan
• Nadia

Also I have two parents with free zoo passes so you are welcome to join us as well:

• Matthew
• Lyla

Everyone who was not chosen can still come to the park and pay full price. Thank you for your understanding. 

Zoo Update

This is a reminder to turn in your child’s zoo permission slip if you have not done so yet…

And just an FYI, I will do the lottery for parent chaperones tomorrow after school, so if you still have not turned in the form and you would like to be included, you must submit it by tomorrow. I will use the number randomizer online to do a fair lottery. I will post the results on the blog.

There will be 4 chaperones that get in for free and 4 more chaperones that get in at the price of $1. Our chaperones with zoo passes will not be included in the lottery since they already get in for free. If you do not make it in the lottery and would still like to join us on the field trip, you will have to pass the price of admission.

Thanks for your patience in this process!

Save the Dates!

Hi all!

Here’s a look at some big dates coming up in the the final stretch of our kindergarten year!

Testing…

We are testing the students this month on reading, math and writing. The math and reading tests are one-on-one and the writing test will be on May 3rd and 4th. It would be awesome if all the could come be at school those two days if at all possible!

• We will be reviewing skills in class and in the homework these next few weeks. You don’t have to do anything special to “prepare” your children, but reading with them every night is always recommended 🙂

Zoo Field Trip: Tuesday May 16th 

• Permission slips went home in your child’s folder on Friday- please send them back as soon as you can!
• We have a limited number of chaperones per class.
  • Each class can have 4 chaperones at a free price and 4 chaperones at a price of $10.
• Any chaperones that want to come that do not serve in the military or have a zoo pass will be entered into a classroom lottery for the free passes and the $10 passes.
• If you are planning to chaperone you will need your own transportation to and from the zoo.
  • Siblings may not attend.

Last Day of School Celebration: Friday June 2nd

Please plan to join us on the last day of school! Here’s a look at the schedule of events:

8:30 Kindergarten Farewell Show in auditorium

• Each kinder class will sing a song on stage.
• Bring the whole family!

9:30 Individual Certificates in your child’s classroom

• Once the kinder show wraps up, each teacher will present individual certificates to the students in her classroom.

10:30 Parent Set-Up at Winding Walk Park

• We will be asking for donations of specific food and drinks for our picnic as the date gets closer.
• This is a transition time for parents to pick up pizza and set up a spot at the park.
• The students can also change into comfy clothes.

11:00 Picnic at Winding Walk Park

• Each class will walk to the park together with their teacher- we will meet you there!

1:00 Dismissal at Camarena!

• We will walk back to the classroom around 12:30 and dismiss from there.

Resources for Break

Thanks everyone for a great round of spring conferences! Here are some resources that I’d like to share for over the break:

Reading

If you choose to practice one skill with your child in these 2 weeks, please choose reading!

Recommended Spanish Books:

A few parents asked me where they could buy beginning reader Spanish books- great question! It’s worthwhile to have a little library of Spanish books at your house. Here are a few of my recommendations:

Cuentos Fonéticos

• These are great, easy phonetic readers made by Scholastic.
• You can search Cuentos foneticos on Amazon:
• The levels are written in the top left corner: Anything 1-16 would be a good level right now, or you can invest in harder levels for next year 😊
• Amazon: Scholastic Cuentos Fonéticos

Here are a few series that I like in Spanish. I added a level of the book next to it so you get a sense of the difficulty (different leveling system then the DRA). Right now, our students are reading between levels 1-1.5 independently. Anything above a 2 will be quite difficult on their own, but good to read together.

I recommend typing in the titles to Amazon and ordering them that way. Some are also available on the Scholastic website.

Bizcocho Readers

• Bizcocho encuentra un amigo- 0.6
• Bizcocho y el osito de peluche- 0.8
• Bizcocho va a la escuela- 0.9
• Bizcocho sale a pasear- 1.0
• Bizcocho- 1.4

Noodle Books by Hans Wilhelm

• No me gusta mi moño- 0.6
• Se me cayó un diente- 0.7
• Yo puedo ayudar- 0.7
• Me gusta mi sombra- 0.8
• Me gusta la escuela!- 1.2
• No quiero compartir

Max Stories

• Max va al doctor- 1.0
• Max va a la escuela- 1.2
• Max va al dentista- 1.2
• Max va a la peluquería- 1.7

Amazon Link: Buy three for $12.45

Non-fiction books (Time for Kids Non-fiction readers)

• La vida marina- 1.6
• La vida de una abeja
• La vida de una mariposa- 1.5
• La vida de una rana- 1.5
• Locos por insectos y arañas- 1.6
• Cosas con alas- 1.6

Amazon Link: Buy three for $14.97

Clifford Readers

• Clifford juega béisbol – 1.2
• Clifford y los dinosaurios- 1.6
• Clifford va al doctor – 1.7
• Huevos de Pascua – 1.8
• El día deportivo de Clifford- 1.8
• La primera navidad de Clifford– 1.9
• La navidad de Clifford – 1.9
• Clifford el dia de la tormenta – 2.0
• El perro que gritó “¡Socorro!”- 2.0
• Clifford el dolor de barriga – 2.1
• Me gusta el invierno – 2.2
• Clifford la semana atareada – 2.2
• Clifford el campeón – 2.2
• Clifford y el gran desfile – 2.4
• Clifford el dia de las sorpresas – 2.4

Math

Fact Facts Addition and Subtraction (1 minute fluency):

Fast Math 1

Fast Math 2

Fast Math 3

Fast Math 4

Fast Math 5

Fast Math 6

Fast Math 7

2D and 3D Shape BINGO (for everyone to practice naming their shapes):

Shape BINGO

Shapes flash cards

Numbers #11-20 BINGO (for number identification):

Numbers 11-20 BINGO

Number Cards 0-20

Writing

Handwriting:

One recommendation I have is to invest in a personal whiteboard and dry erase pen so the students can practice writing their letters and numbers in a fun format. This whiteboard from Lakeshore Learning ($6) has the 3 lines on one side so they can properly form the letters (please check them and support as needed!)

Link to purchase the whiteboard online: Lakeshore Learning Store

Writing Paper for Making a Book (if you want to!):

Narrative Book 

Enjoy the break!!

 

Teddy Bear Picnic!

We have nearly filled our class marble jar! If we fill it tomorrow, (which I think we will 😊), our class will have a Teddy Bear Picnic on Thursday to celebrate! At lunchtime, I will take them out to the grassy field to eat and play games.

It would really help me out of they could bring a sack lunch rather than going to the cafeteria that day. In addition, once they walk all the way there and back they will miss most of the fun!

So on Thursday 3/16 please bring:

• stuffed animal
• towel/blanket for the grass
• packed lunch (lunchbox or paper bag)

Thank you!