Congratulations Kindergarteners! Thank you for a very exciting year!
I
hope you enjoyed our end of the year celebrations.
AWARDS DAY
Perfect attendance
Math awards
Pow Wow
SUPER SLIDE AMUSEMENT PARK
I can hardly wait to see you next fall!!!
THE END IS
NEAR!! We
areat
the end of another school year, but not the end of our learning.
Please look into summer school if you haven't already done so.
Statistics say kids lose an average of two months of learning during
the summer vacation. We have a number of kids that really took
off in the last couple of months. I would hate to see them lose
what they worked so hard to gain. Besides, summer school is less
stressful than a regular school day. It is half of a day of
academics and half of a day of fun! And it's FREE childcare!
Spring concert - In case you missed it, here is a little example of our
buggy concert!
Awards/Pow Wow Day On Monday, we will be
celebrating all our achievements with an awards ceremony and a Pow
Wow. Stop in and join us to
honor your child!
Super Slide Party Tuesday we will be at
the Super Slide Amusement Park for some fun and a picnic. Watch
for weather reports. Send your child in layers if necessary.
Early Release
We will be releasing students at 1:30 on both Monday and Tuesday this
week.
Happy Mother's Day! I hope you all enjoyed
your breakfast in bed! To celebrate Mother's Day, we read Monster
Mama. The mom in this book is a monster who loves her
little boy. She stays out of sight so as not to scare his friends
and teachers. She also teaches him how to do all the things she
can do, but to always use his powers for good, not evil. One day
she sent him to the store to get some strawberries so that they could
make a strawberry dessert. A couple of bullies came along and
took his bag. He tried to put a spell on them, but could
not. When the bullies tied him up and took his cap, Monster Mama
heard the ruckus and came to the rescue. She made the boys pick
up the trash they had thrown on the ground and get her son's hat back,
then she invited them to join them for dessert. The boys all
agreed that his mama was a very cool mom. As a mom of four, I
have felt like a monster mama many times. However, seeing now,
that my kids have all grown up to be very productive, responsible
adults, I know that sometimes you just have to let the monster
out - as long as your love goes with it!
Don't miss the music concert!! The program will be on
Thursday from 1:30-2:30.
MAPS testing We will be testing on Tuesday
and Wednesday of this week, so we are again asking you to make sure
your kids get to bed and have a good breakfast. These tests are
long and tiring. We need them to be able to stay focused through
the whole thing.
Congratulations are in order!
A poster contest was held in health. The students created posters
that describe the Seven Sacred Teachings. Charmaine won the
kindergarten level!! Congratulations to her!
Mini Relay For
Life Complete This
week
TJES will be performing our spring program. You will be
getting a note with the following picture on it. Look
closely. On the bottom of the page it asks you to SIGN AND RETURN
it.
Mini Relay For Life We will be joining the campus-wide Relay for Life
March at 1:00 on Tuesday. Our banner is made and pennies have
been collected. (But we'll take more if you have any to
donate.) We are ready! Come out and support the Relay for
Life March!
We have some beautiful weather coming! This
is
when we usually start losing the attention of the kids. I
can't say I blame them, but we need them to hang in there for a couple
more weeks. I will do everything I can to make things interesting
and keep them focused. Please do what you can to get them here
well rested.
One fun little thing I've found in the last couple of weeks...
I have a couple balls in the room that I used to use as chairs.
One morning, I had a very sleepy group of kids in the room, so I took a
ball down for one student who was working very hard and let him sit on
it. Suddenly, they were all awake and working. Now when we
get through our morning work, I have a hard time picking which three
were my leaders and get to sit on the balls. The rest know that
even if they didn't get the ball right away, they can steal it by
working harder than those who earned them first. Sometimes we
have so many hard workers that we just have to switch off every so
often.
Happy Easter! We have had a lot of tired and sick kids these last
couple of weeks. I hope this long weekend will give everybody a
chance to rest and recuperate.
Another week done. I
was
looking through the schedule for the rest of the year. It's
hard to believe how close we are to the end. Especially, since we
have two short weeks coming up, followed by a couple days set aside for
the spring state assessment, a couple days set aside for the talent
show, a field trip, a pow wow, RIF day and an awards ceremony, all in
the last month! It's going to be BUSY! Please make sure
your kids are still getting plenty of sleep so we can finish up strong!
We ended this week with a visit from Jerry Pallotta, a children's
author from Boston, MA. He has written many alphabet books,
number books, shape books and informational texts. Many of his
books were written to get boys interested in reading, but our girls
often enjoy them as much as the boys do. Mr.
Pallotta started by telling us that although he writes mostly
informational texts, since visiting a skeleton museum, he has thought
about writing fiction. He asked the students what they thought
about a character with a human body and cougar skull for a head.
(The kids loved the idea!)
Then he
showed us how some of his books started and how they ended. He
also talked about doing research for his books. In the picture to
the right, he was showing us how a 1st grader would look if he had a
killer whale fin on his back.
In the next picture, he was
comparing a kindergartener to a bat. We found out that we have a great
deal in
common! Later, Mr. Pallotta ask a
group of kids to stand by the screen in the front of the
room. He held his projector and so that he could move the picture
of the bee to chase the kids around the room and "sting" them.
I'm proud to say that the only student that didn't scream or run away
was a KINDERGARTENER!!!
Spring is close, but
it
hasn't arrived yet! We have quite a few kids shivering through
the morning and noon recesses. Please make sure your kids are
still dressed for the cold mornings. Layers are great. We
can always remove a few if it warms up.
We had a bit of a Leprechaun invasion on Tuesday. Unfortunately,
we were unable to catch any of them or find their gold. Maybe
we'll be luckier next year.
Spring
Break! Enjoy a few days off! Even the weather
seems to be cooperating so get out and relax for awhile. When we
come back, we will be jumping
right back into our very busy schedule, so enjoy some free time while
you can. TJES is
participating in another fundraiser. We are taking part in the
Relay for Life along with UTTC. Each class will be trying to
raise a little money to help the cause, so if you have any spare
pennies, nickels or dimes to throw in our jar, stop by or send them in
with your child. It's a biiiiiig jar! We're going to need a
lot of help to fill it. We will also be having another field trip the first week
we get back. Ag Day will be held in Mandan on that Thursday, so
we will be going to learn about cows, pigs, ducks, sheep, rabbit,
chickens, horses and whatever else they have to teach us about!
Watch for pictures of all the excitement!
It's
Reading Week!
March
2 is Theodor Geisel's birthday, which is why we celebrate Reading Week
during the first week of March. As a school, we will be
celebrating by dressing up everyday. In kindergarten, we will
also be reading several Dr. Seuss stories and enjoying some activities
that go with them. This is always a fun week. Check out the
note on the left to get started.
THANK YOU
to all the rest of you who made
it to your conference this week. It was good to see all of you
and meet some of you for the first time. Thank you for your time.
Mrs. Brazell's coming back!
We will be together for one
more week, but will get back to some divided classroom activities
after spring break.
Back to a normal week.
For the first time in
weeks, we will be back to a five day week without any parties, field
trips or interruptions. Well, the students will be. I am
taking off Friday to judge the State Gymnastic meet, but I have a sub
coming in that I think the kids will be happy about. He has been
in our school before and the kids seem to really like him
We also have another set of parent/teacher conferences on
Tuesday. If you missed your conference last week, stop in Tuesday
evening, any morning before school starts, after school, or call the
office to reschedule. A huge
THANK YOU
to all of you who made it to your conference. Life is so much
easier when I don't have to track you down!
Because of conferences, we will NOT be having after school groups on
Tuesday.
Always something exciting! On Monday, Feb. 16th, we will be celebrating President's Day, so we will
not be having school! Enjoy the day with your child!
Next Thursday, Feb. 19th will begin our parent/teacher conferences. If you haven't
already gotten a letter it will be coming soon.
Next
Friday, we are having another field trip! The culture committee
has organized this trip for us to attend a play. I really don't
know anything about it other than what the flyer to the right tells us. It looks like a lot of fun!
Later in the day, we will be celebrating with our 2nd Trimester Awards Day.
Check your
child's backpack this week for more info on that.
Another Holiday (or 2) to look forward to!
Valentine's day is just around
the corner. I have all the information you need written out on a
note that I forgot to pass out. Sorry. But here's what you
need to know. -
We will be celebrating on Friday afternoon with treats, a movie, and
the sharing of valentines. If your child would like to bring
valentines, please have them bring enough for 22 classmates. Your
child should sign each one so the others know who to thank. The
note mentioned above, with the names of all the students, will be sent home next week. You don't
have to send bags or a box. We will provide those.
We have already been asked about treats. We will have a snack
time, but as always, we usually have more than enough in the way of
treats. If you would like to add to that anyway, please keep it
to something small, as we often see most of the treats in the garbage
if we get too many.
The following Monday, Feb 16th
is President's Day, so we will
not be having school. But on the 19th we will be starting our
parent/teacher conferences, so be looking for a letter on that this
week.
A Few Reminders
It's Heart Health month!
Send in your spare change to help out with the fundraiser.
The next Family Night is coming up this week. If you signed up
watch for the note coming home.
On the Friday, the 6th of Feb., we will be taking a field trip to the
Bismarck Gymnastics Academy to work on our heart health. There
are a few rules we have to be prepared
for.
1. In order to participate, the kids can't be wearing pants with
a zipper, snap, or button on the waist. There is a locker room to
change in if needed.
2. Long hair needs to be in a braid or pony tail.
3. Jewelry isn't allowed. Your child MUST return a
signed permission slip in order to participate. Check his/her
backpack or stop in the office for a copy.
Just a couple
announcements.
On Wednesday, Jan. 28th, we are
having a teacher in-service, which means your kids get a day off.
Hopefully, the weather will hold and you can all enjoy the day outside!
Because of the in-service on Wednesday, we will NOT have
after-school
activities on Tuesday.
The dental care mobile will be on campus this week. If your
children need dental care and you have not filled out the forms, dig
through their backpacks, fill out the forms and return them right away.
Welcome
baby Addison!!
Mrs. Brazell had a beautiful baby girl on
Wednesday morning. The kids have been missing her and asking
where she is so this is her reason for being gone. We have a
couple of weeks without her, but we have others filling in and a lot of
excitement planned, so tell them all to hang in there. She will
be back!
Almost back to a regular school day.
With all the new kids coming in last week, life
felt really chaotic. We were scrambling to find desks, chairs,
school supplies and all the paperwork that's needed for a new
student. This week was much more calm in that area, but then we
had teachers missing due to illness, so we were scrambling again to get
areas covered. A big THANK YOU to all
those who jumped in to help out with kindergarten.
No more chaos!! It's time to get back to a nice, quiet, normal
week of school. That being said, this next week is going to be
anything but normal. But at least we are prepared for it so
hopefully we can have the "nice, quiet" part. On Monday, school
will be out early so that we can celebrate MLK day. (Ask your
kids about him. We talked about MLK this week.) Then on
Friday, we are celebrating our 100th day of school - always an exciting
day in kindergarten!
Happy New
Year!!
I hope you all enjoyed the break! I was
impressed with how many of the kids came back ready to work. It
usually takes a day or two to get back into the swing of things, but
most of them seemed to pick up right where we left off without too much
trouble. The cold made things a little difficult. We
haven't been able to get out to get some fresh air or to get our
wiggles out. Plus, we've added a couple new students, so the
classroom is a bit crowded. Thankfully, the kids are adjusting
beautifully and showing a lot of patience as we stop to introduce our
new students to our old procedures and help them learn their way around
TJES.
This next week we will be completing our second round of MAPS
testing. Please do whatever you can to get your children rested
and get them a good breakfast. (Breakfast at the cafeteria begins
around 7:45) This is a loooong two day test that they all need to
complete. Thanks for your help!
Wishing you all a
very Merry and Restful
Christmas!!
And looking forward to seeing
everybody back in 2015!
Cold and flu
season has arrived.
The Kindergarten class has been
hit hard. We have had quite a few kids really suffering. We
are practicing our healthy habits, but seem to be losing the battle and
we don't want to see anybody having a lousy Christmas vacation because
of a cold or flu. Please help us out. 1. Remind your kids
to wash, wash, and wash some more! Help us get them into the
habit of getting rid of those germs rather than sharing them. 2.
Stick a tissue, or two, or three, into their pockets so they have them
when they need them. In the classroom, we have them available,
but when they go outside or to lunch, there's not usually anything
available. 3. Remind them that it isn't healthy to chew on
pencils, glue sticks and other shared supplies that don't get cleaned
everyday. 4. And of course, help us work on covering our mouths
when sneezing or coughing, or at least, turn away. We see kids
sneezing right into other peoples' lunches and every once in awhile we
hear, "Oooh, gross! He sneezed right in my face1" We
understand that sometimes a sneeze sneaks up on you, but let's keep
working on catching that sneeze in a tissue, a shirt collar, an elbow
or at least turn away from friends.
On a cheerier note(s)
Congratulations to
Gabriel! He earned a Pizza Hut pizza for reading and returning 10
books this month. You have one more week to get them in. It
doesn't matter when they came home. Just read, sign and return 10
of them for your child's pizza.
Thursday will be a day of celebrating. We will be having RIF
(Reading is Fundamental) Day in the afternoon. Each child will be
able to choose a new book to keep FOREVER.
We will also be celebrating with our Christmas party. WE WILL NOT
HAVE A GIFT EXCHANGE, but we will be making gingerbread cookies, eating
and relaxing! We will also have our regular healthy school snack,
so please don't feel you have to send anything. All we need is
your child.
Another holiday, just around the corner.
That means a few extra events
coming up. Thursday, December 11, the class will be performing in
the TJES Christmas Concert. The program is scheduled for
1:30. We hope to see you there.
On Thursday, December 18th we will be having RIF day and on Friday,
December 19th we will have an early dismissal. We will also be
having a classroom Christmas party, but plans have not been finalized
yet. Watch for more information on these 3 events later.
70 days done!
When I was young, my mom
used to say, "Time flies when you're having fun." I never
understood what she was talking about. No matter how busy we
were, or how much fun we were having the days seemed to reeeeeeally
draaaag along. Especially when I was looking forward to
something. When I got to college, I started understanding.
All of a sudden, there wasn't enough time to do all the things that I
wanted to do. It seemed like time was speeding up
immensely. Then, I had a family and started working.
Somehow time sped up even more. As I've aged, it seems to
continue to speed up every year. I'm sure the kids are saying,
"Only 70 days done.", but my mind is saying "Only 100 days left!
So much to do and so little time!!" I don't know about the kids,
but I am having SO MUCH FUN!!
December is going to fly by. With the extra activities,
celebrations, and concert, we will be very busy. So please
continue to do what you can to see that they are well rested.
Also, we still have kids coming to school in light weight jackets when
the temperature is very low. Please, see to it that they are
dressed appropriately before sending them off in the morning.
Thanksgiving is coming.
Wednesday will be a short
day. We will be dismissing at noon. Have a great
Thanksgiving!
It's that time of year!
The snow is here along with
the low temps. We've already had complaints of fingers
stinging from the cold. We did have some gloves and hats to share
with your children, but I think they have all been claimed, so we don't
have anymore to offer. Please be sure your
child is dressed appropriately for the weather.
Look at our sweet
girls! Getting all those clothes tied, zipped, snapped and
buttoned can be difficult, but a good friend can help to make life
easier.
Awards Day
On Friday,
we celebrated our first trimester awards. Charmaine, Chiefy and
Keoni all received attendance awards for being in school on time everysingle day. Congratulations to each of them!!
And a big Thank You.
To all that made it in for the conferences, thank you for taking the
time. On Tuesday, we will meet with the rest of you. If you
can't make it at your scheduled time, stop in whenever you can or call
to reschedule.
Keep in mind, there are no after school activities on Tuesday because
of the conferences. We will be back to our regular schedule
starting with our Thursday Science club.
Just a few notes.
* No School on
Tuesday due to Veteran's Day
* No after
school activities for kindergarten this week
* Parent Teacher conferences on Thursday, Nov. 13 and Tuesday, Nov. 18
And a little excitement!
This week we had some visitors from Ely, Mn. They showed us
pictures and told us about dog sledding all the way to the north
pole. It sounded like quite an amazing adventure.
TJES held a RED RIBBON walk to remind us to say "No" to
drugs and alcohol. It was a chilly day, but we enjoyed gathering
with the other grades for the walk and chants!
It's also HALLOWEEN!
And it was RIF day!
RIF is an acronym for Reading Is FUNdamental! The local Kiwanis
organization sponsors our school by donating a huge variety of books
three times a year.
The
kids all go to pick out any book that they want to keep FOREVER!
If you know any Kiwanis members, please thank them for their time and
effort.
We had an exciting week at TJES!
On Tuesday, we attended a full
school assembly to talk about fighting bullying! Each student
pledged to not bully others, received an orange ribbon, got to see
Thunder and enjoyed a couple of skits to help know what to do if they
or anybody else is bullied.
On Thursday, we enjoyed the CHILD FIND Carnival! We had a LOT of
fun playing all kinds of games!
Halloween is coming soon!
On Friday, we will be celebrating
Halloween at TJES. The students may wear their costumes to school
if they are comfortable doing so. If not, we will be changing
into costumes after lunch. We will trick-or-treat throughout campus, so please have your
child wear shoes that they can walk in for a long distance. When
we return to our classroom, we will be having some snacks. If you
would like to send snacks, please send enough for 20 students, but
don't feel that you have to bring anything. We get enough treats
during our walk to fill us up!
Just one quick reminder.
Each week, I send several
books home with a sticker attached that reads "I read to my
____". If your child returns 10 in one month with the signature
of the person he/she read to, I'll send a Pizza Hut certificate home
for a free personal pan pizza. We already have three boys who
have earned their pizzas. Congratulations to Chiefy,
Gabriel and Billy! We still
have two weeks for everybody else to get theirs signed and returned!
Let's try that again!
We were able to reschedule our field trip! We will be trying
again on Friday, Oct. 17th. We are hoping for much better
weather, but please watch the forecast and have your child ready for
that day.
A couple of notes:
1. Library books are now being sent
home. Please remember that they are due back on Friday every
week.
2. Up to this point, most of the paperwork we've done has been
done together. We will now be having your children doing more on
their own. If you get a paper with TIC written on the top, it was
done "Together in class". Not all the papers we do together will
be marked in this way, but if we want you to know that your child was
helped on something in particular, it will be labelled.
3. On Oct. 8, we will have the fire safety house on campus.
The firemen will talk to our kids about what to do if they were ever
caught in a fire. Then, we go into a small bedroom in the fire
safety house. They fill it with fake smoke so the kids can see
what it actually looks like in a fire. They are taught to check
the door, which will be warm, so they have to crawl to the window and
get out. They then go to a phone to practice dialing 911.
In order for your child to participate, you MUST
sign the PERMISSION FORM which was sent
home today. Please check backpacks and get those forms returned
before Wed.
4. Our field trip was cancelled because the wild and crazy
wind. We are working on rescheduling. Please watch for more
information later.
This Week's News
Item # 1
We are almost into October, so we are starting our Pizza Hut Reading
incentive program. Watch for books with a sticker that says "I
read with my______". Please sign and return any of these booklets
that your child reads to you. When I get ten back in one month,
your child will receive a certificate for a personal pan pizza from
Pizza Hut.
Remember, we are just going through a quick introduction of the
letters, so we don't expect your child to read every word on every
page. Most of them will be retelling rather than truly reading,
but that's ok. Right now, we are working on touching the words as
they read to help them figure out what reading is really all about and
to look at the pictures for clues. They are getting really good
at that. Finally, we are looking at the letters to see if the
word matches what we think the picture is. For instance, if we
see a picture of an item of clothing that is worn on our upper body, we
need to look at the letters to figure out if the word says t-shirt,
coat, jacket, vest, or sweater. We may not know the whole word,
but beginning letters can tell us a lot!
Item #2
On Friday, October 3, we will be taking our first field trip of the
year. K-3rd are going to Papa's Pumpkin Patch! We don't
need anything from you, except to watch for the weather. We've
had years of sunshine and warmth and others where we were freezing out
there. We want your child to be dressed appropriately, so that
they can enjoy the trip. When in doubt go with layers. We
can unwrap a few if we need to, but it's miserable to not have
enough.
One Big
Happy Family!
We are officially one
class! The MAPS testing kept us from adding the RTI section of
our day to our schedule this week, but that will be included in next
weeks afternoons. At that time, we will be dividing the class
into 3 groups so that we can work more intensely on our reading and
math.
Big News
Due to our numbers being lower than normal and
the mix of kids that came into kindergarten, we are going to redo the
setup of our classes. Starting on Monday, September 15th, Mrs.
Brazell and I are going to be co-teaching for most of the day.
The students will start the day in their regular classrooms, but then
we will combine them all into one class at 9:30. In this way, we
will be able to group the students into small groups that better meet
their needs for different parts of the day. This will allow us to
give individual attention to those that need it throughout the
day. It will also allow us to continue with large group
instruction when we are pulling individual kids for testing and
assessments. Also, Miss Williams will join us to help
during the most intense work times during the day. During P.E., Music,
Library, Counseling and Health, they will still be in 2 groups so that
the class is more manageable for 1 teacher.
Other
Important Notes
* On Sept.
16th and 17th, we will be taking the MAPS test. Please be sure
your child gets a good nights rest the night before and a good breakfast those
mornings. (The cafeteria serves breakfast from 7:45-8:15.)
It's a looooong test and they will need a lot of energy to be able to
focus that long.
* Get those ALL ABOUT ME posters back soon. I would like to
get those wrapped up this week. If you need a couple more days
let me know so that I can leave a spot for your child.
* Our after school groups begin this week! The Thur. class
is full, but if you got a note about staying on Tues., we need the note
back ASAP.
IT'S POW WOW WEEK!!
This is always an
exciting week at TJES. The students get excited about going to
the pow wow. They start telling us about who likes to dance, who
has regalia and for those who have it, we often hear about who made it
for them. And of course everybody is excited about an extra day
off from school!
In class, we started learning about our senses. This goes great
with the pow wow, because there's not much more stimulating than the
sights, sounds, tastes, smells and depending on the weather, feel of
the pow wow. This weekend has been perfect. I hope you all
had time to take in at least part of this beautiful celebration.
An Apology (or two, or three)
If you came to
the open house, I told you that I would be using this website for my
communication with you. I also told you that I would post
pictures of our activities if I could remember to take pictures.
Well, this week I had the camera out on my desk all week, but rarely
remembered to use it. I'll try to do better next week.
Also with the week being shorter than normal, it got away from me and I
forgot to send the Nurtured Heart notes home. Look for them on
Monday. I will have them out then.
Then I sat down to update this site on Friday and couldn't get onto it
to do the update. Don't give up on me yet! That one was the
internet's fault, not mine. I try to get on here on Friday
evenings, but there may be weeks that you need to check back
later in the weekend. Thanks for your patience.
Meet
the
Teacher:
Welcome to TJES Kindergarten!
My
name is Mrs. Meyer. Mrs. Brazell and I teach kindergarten at TJES
with the help of a very talented group of intervention specialists,
aides
and other classroom teachers. Together we are able to offer
small group and individual attention when it is needed which helps our
students achieve
a great amount of success.
Here's my story ...
I am the fourth of 12, so
I've been
helping with "the little ones" for as
long as I can remember.
My husband
and I have four young
adults, one son-in-law and...
one grandbaby!
When my kids were young, I worked as a gymnastics coach
so that I could be a stay-at-home mom most of the day. 8 1/2
years ago, I decided it was time to get a full-time job and started
teaching here at TJES. I am honored that you allow me to be your
child's teacher and thank you for the trust you give me each day that
you send your child into my classroom. If you ever have any
questions, concerns or comments, please feel free to contact me asap at
school, or stop in before or after class. We want all our
students to feel safe and comfortable in our school.
Our schedule usually looks like this -
Date
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
8:25 – 8:55
Flag,
Greeting
& Morning Meeting
PE
Health
PE
Music
8:55-9:25
Music
Flag,
Greeting & Morning Meeting
Flag,
Greeting & Morning Meeting
Flag, Greeting & Morning
Meeting
Flag, Greeting & Morning
Meeting
9:25-10:55
Reading
Core
Reading
Core
Reading
Core
Reading Core
Reading Core
10:55-11:40
Recess
&
Lunch PLC
Recess & Lunch
Recess
&
Lunch Duty
Recess & Lunch
Recess & Lunch Duty
11:40-12:25
Calendar/ Writing
Calendar/ Writing
Calendar/ Writing
Calendar/
Writing
Calendar/
Writing
12:25-1:25
Math
Core
Math
Core
Math
Core
Math Core
Math Core
1:25-1:40
Recess
Recess
Recess
Recess
Recess
1:40-2:30
Snack
Intervention
Snack
Intervention
Snack
Intervention
Snack
Intervention
1:40-2:10 Library
2:30-3:00
Counseling
Science/SS
Science/SS
Science/SS
2:10-2:20
Snack
Art
Wrap up & Pack up
3:00-3:15
Wrap
up
& Pack up
Wrap
up
&Pack up
Wrap
up
& Pack up
Wrap up & Pack up
Flag
& Prayer
The Nurtured Heart Approach
The Nurtured Heart Approach is a classroom management technique that I
have been using for the past two years. This technique is all
about using positive reinforcement and building self-esteem when a
child is showing his/her greatness, rather than pointing out all the
mistakes made each day. When a child realizes they can already do
so many things well and that they can get the attention of others by
doing good things, they have less need for the negative attention that we
often see young children seeking.
If a rule is broken, the student is simply asked to "reset",
which means he/she needs to stop and think about what mistake was made
and how to fix it. Most students can do this without adult
supervision so I have more time in the classroom to teach and they
develop better self-esteem. Of course, if the child does continue
to make poor choices, there are still consequences, however, since
using the Nurtured Heart Approach, I have seen fewer problem behaviors
in my classroom.
I will be sending notes home every so often to let you know what kind
of greatness your child is showing in school. But don't forget to
watch for his/her greatness at home too. They love to hear that
they are showing perseverance, gratitude, respect, self-control,
bravery, intelligence, organization, etc. It's exciting to be
identified with such big, important words!!
The supply list is available in the stores.
Please do not send more than what is on the list. When students
bring extra things it causes several problems. First,
kindergarteners don't usually have strong organization skills, so all
those supplies make it difficult to keep things in order. When
it's time to find something in their desks, it takes way too long, if
it is full of "stuff". Next, the extras become something special
because nobody else has them, so when something gets lost (and they
often do) it can be very upsetting. Finally, when a child is
asked to color a picture red, and they use a marker instead of a color,
it often bleeds through so the back of the paper can't be used.
Also, those that use red-orange instead of red keep us guessing about
whether or not they actually know their colors. For these
reasons, if your child brings extra supplies, I will send them back
home and hope that they will continue their learning there.
Checking
Backpacks
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE,
PLEASE check your child's backpack EVERY
day.
(If your child
doesn't have a
backpack, he/she will be bringing home a plastic bag.) There are very
few days that you won't find something new in there. Most days
he/she will be bringing home things that we've done in school.
You don't have to spend hours discussing it. Just check it out
and let your child know that you are proud of all the learning that is happening. This is
especially important, if he/she brings home a paper that was
difficult. Those days are frustrating, and your child needs to
know that those papers may cause trouble today, but with a little practice it will
become easier.
We also send home many notes about special events that you and/or your
child are invited to attend. Sometimes permission slips need to
be signed, before your child is allowed to attend a special field
trip. Other notes involve after school programs that are limited
in number. If your child doesn't return the note within a day or
two, it is often too late.
Finally, watch for the
booklets that have a sticker on them that says, "I read to
my____". When these come home, your child is expected
to read them to whomever they choose. After the booklet has been read, the listener signs the
sticker so that your
child can return the booklet for a small prize. From
October through March, your child can earn a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for each month in which
he/she returns 10 signed booklets.
Once we get started, I usually send 3-5 booklets home each week.
They don't have to be returned by any certain date. Just sit down
and enjoy some snuggle time with your child for awhile. After the
booklets come home the second time, I suggest you find a container,
perhaps a shoe box, to store them in. By the end of the school
year, your child will have a small library of books that they can read
by themselves.
Don't miss our
OPEN HOUSE
Tuesday, Aug 26
3:30-5:00
It's
STAR STUDENT week!
Watch for our STAR STUDENT posters to be coming
home on Monday. Your child can fill it out alone or you can
help. Sometimes we get them back with crayon drawn
pictures. Other times they have all kinds of
embellishments. Once I got one that I was very tempted to keep,
because I'm quite sure whoever helped complete it will someday be a
famous artist and it will be worth a lot of money, but I did return
it. You don't have to put that much work into it. Just have
fun spending some time with your child!
When the poster is completed, send it back to school. The first
one to bring one back will be our first star student. We will
continue in the order that they are returned. I would like to
have all the students done within the next two weeks.
P.S. - If you don't have a pet, you can leave that spot empty or fill
it in with a wished for pet.
Expectations:
The following posters, by Mrs. Ashley Nichols at
The Polka Dot Patch,
are visuals I use in the classroom to help the students remember our rules. We
review these rules, with actions, almost everyday during our morning
meeting. By the end of the first week of school, EVERYBODY knows
our rules. Then it's just a matter of remembering to follow them
- even in those emotionally energized moments. Sometimes that's
difficult so we keep practicing all year long.
As you walk through TJES, you will find these posters. They have been provided
by the behavior committee to remind all our students of
what is expected of them.
ds loved the idea!)
out that we have a great
deal in
common!
It's
Reading Week!
On Monday, Feb. 16th, we will be celebrating President's Day, so we will
not be having school! Enjoy the day with your child!
. 
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE,
PLEASE check your child's backpack EVERY
day.
(If your child
doesn't have a
backpack, he/she will be bringing home a plastic bag.) There are very
few days that you won't find something new in there. Most days
he/she will be bringing home things that we've done in school.
You don't have to spend hours discussing it. Just check it out
and let your child know that you are proud of all the learning that is happening. This is
especially important, if he/she brings home a paper that was
difficult. Those days are frustrating, and your child needs to
know that those papers may cause trouble today, but with a little practice it will
become easier.
booklet has been read, the listener signs the
sticker so that your
child can return the booklet for a small prize. From
October through March, your child can earn a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut for each month in which
he/she returns 10 signed booklets. 
