Mrs. Stephens' Kindergarten

Thank you,
Office Staff                                                                                                                             
 
                                                                                                                          2-1-12
Dear Wise Guys, 

Thank you to all families for sending in food items/needs for our 100th day of school celebration.  It was a huge success!  I would also like to thank each of you for allowing your child to participate in the Math Marathon.  It was a huge success for the entire school.  Even though the Marathon has ended, please encourage your child(ren) to continue using this wonderful Math resource to practice math problems at home throughout the school year.  Don't stop now.

Tomorrow, your child will be coming home with a "Valentine's Day" letter to address any questions regarding Valentine's Day cards/containers and you will receive a class list of names.

Will the Ground Hog see his shadow tomorrow morning?  Stay tuned to see if our predictions were right!

Have a wonderful evening,
Deborah Stephens
                                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                          1-23-12

Dear Wise Guys,

Today we began writing our Valentine's letters to friends/family. Please be sure to speak to your Kindergartener about their letter and who they would like to address it to. Please send in the address for your child's letter to be mailed ASAP.

Congratulations Wise Guys for winning the cookie cake for the first week of IXL.

Thank you

Mrs. Stephens and Mrs. Villalta

                                                                                                                                     1-18-12
Dear Wise Guys,

Rest Mats have been sent home to keep.  We are finished with rest time as we are preparing the kids for becoming future first graders.  We are excited about what the second half of the school year has to offer!

IXL is the word around school these days.  Keep your little one trying new tasks and reinforcing those math skills.  They are off to a great start!

While "shopping" for just right books this week, we added the category of "interest books" to their list.  So, your child shopped for 5 books that are "just right" and 3 "interest" books.  Some nights, they might choose to bring home one of their "interest books" (which will most likely be too difficult to read on their own, but they can gain information from reading those books along side of you.)  

Also, I will begin reading assessements to see where the students are in their own reading very soon.  I will be updating you on their reading progress.  Look for new "strategy sheets" to come home with your WISE guy in their Overnight Reading Folders (the yellow ones.)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Stephens
       
                                                                                                                          1-10-12
Dear Wise Guys,

Today, I signed up for our class to have a story time and book checkout in the media center TOMORROW!  Yikes!  So, if your child has a book at home that is ready to go back to the library, send it in and he/she may check out a NEW book tomorrow.

Good Evening,
Mrs. Stephens

                                                                                                                           1-3-12
Dear Wise Guys,

I hope everyone is enjoying this time of winter break with travels, family, and friends.  I have told so many wonderful stories about our class and families to my family.  I feel truely blessed to have each of you in my life.  Thank you all so very much for my birthday and my Christmas gifts.  You all have been very generous this school year!

I wanted to let you all know that I have been updating the webpage, so check out the announcements, calendar, field trip, and memory (photos) pages.  I miss you all and cannot wait to see what you have been up to these past couple of weeks.  We have many things coming up in January, so be ready for some excitement!

I wanted to let you know that we are also very excited to be getting a student teacher from KSU in January.  She will be joining me on Jan. 9 to get acclimated with the classroom and she will be with us on the first day back from the break.  I anticipate that she will be introducing herself to you through a letter and she will be excited to meet you as you come by the class for centers, lunch, and visiting.  I had previously told the children about her upcoming arrival and they have been excited to meet her.  I think it will be a great adventure for all!

See you in a few more days,
Mrs. Stephens
 
                                                                                                                     11-17-11
Dear Wise Guys,

A huge thank you to all families for supporting our class in so many ways these past couple of weeks.  Thank you for joining us for our Thanksgiving Feast this morning...the children loved performing for you and for having your company in their classroom!  It was an amazing morning and our room was filled with love!  Thanks for being so willing to send in items for the feast and for the Fair Oaks Thanksgiving basket.  

Also, big thank yous go out to: 
Abbey's family for our new animals and their babies books.
Reagan Claire's family for the popcorn from our "Wish list".
Brooks' family for the "happy Fridays" and the owl post its.
Susan, Mollie, and Beth for planning the Fall/Halloween centers at the end of October!
Daniel's family for the DD and Caribou coffees.
All parents for food items sent in.
All families for making Conference week so successful!

Special thanks to Susan Leingang, Jenn Brennan, and Rachel Sun for covering my class while I've been in the Columbia training sessions this week...your kids are loving what I'm learning and doing with them!

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy your week away from school.  Keep reading!!!

Love, Mrs. Stephens
                                                                                                                       11-9-11
Dear Wise Guys,

Check out our "Announcements" page for our invite/agenda for the Thanksgiving Play & Feast.  Also, I have FINALLY updated the most recent photos of our wonderful class memories.  Please check them out.  I will be sending another NewsFlash of updates and big Thank You's to some very important WISE guy families tomorrow.  Thank you all so much for supporting our school and our wonderful class.

Love to all,
Mrs. Stephens  

                                                                                                                  10-25-11
Dear Wise Guys,

I have enjoyed the first couple of days conferencing with you and bragging about the wonderful things your children are learning and doing in class.  As I've spoken with you and told you about the wonderful things your children have been doing in Readers Workshop (Columbia Training) and Math (useage of the new Math lab) please note the other wonderful things that have made learning more exciting for the teachers and students.  Your help with the Capital Campaign really DOES make a difference in your child's life at school.  Check out some of the wonderful opportunities that your child has, as a student of East Side Elementary, courtesy of parent/buisness donations to the East Side Foundation:

 

 

Please consider making a donation today.  It makes a difference!!!

Sincerely,
Deborah Stephens
                                                                                                                    10-22-11  
Parents,

1.  The "Bert Show" on the radio announced several weeks ago that they would like to collect letters to send to our troops that are stationed overseas for the Thanksgiving holidays.  We have hundreds of thousands stationed around the world trying to keep us safe at home.  Our students have been writing "Thank you" notes and "Happy Thanksgiving" notes as morning work some days and we've even written with our book buddies.  As a homework challenge, I challenge you and your family to write one or more letters to send to the troops.  It can be as simple as "Thank you Dear Soldier" or "Someone is Thinking of You today."  Have your little kinder draw a picture to add some color and to give someone very deserving a giant smile.  

The letters have to be on 8 1/2 X 11 copy paper.  No staples, glue, or tape.  Please send in any letters or pictures you may draw by Wednesday, Oct. 26th.  Thank you so much!!!

2.  Don't forget that this coming week, Oct. 23-Oct. 27th, is early release each day.  Dismissal will begin at 12:10 each day.
              
                                                                                                                     10-14-11
Parents,

1.  Monday, Oct. 17th will be the first day of Red Ribbon Week (drug awareness), if possible, please dress your child in a red shirt or red clothing.  They will come home with a red ribbon at the end of the day.  Each day during the week there will be a different theme.  I will keep you posted on our Announcements page.

2.  Please help your child pick out and bring to school ONE pumpkin pie pumpkin from the store or local farmer's market.  We will be using the pumpkins to make a pumpkin patch for math and science.  Your child will be measuring, investigating, and writing about pumpkins during the next couple of weeks.  At the end of the month, the children will return home with their decorated pumpkin.

3.  If you haven't already, check out the East Side video/blog on the CCSD webpage.  It features some of our WISE guys!

4.  Thank you to Susan & Ethan Leingang, and to Bettina Davies-McIntyre for being our most recent mystery readers.  The kids are enjoying the variety of readers visiting our class.
Thank you parent-center volunteers: Mrs. Patel, Mr. Tong, Mrs. Davies, and Mrs. Cushing.
Big thank yous for spoiling me with Starbucks and chocolates- Mrs. Cushing and Mrs. Leingang & to Ella's family for the precious "owl" notepad.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Stephens
                                                                                                                               10-4-11
Parents,

Here are a few updates from our class and/or school:
1.  We will have Open House for the 60th Anniversary of our school on Oct. 6th, from 6:30-8:30 pm.

2.  Friday, Oct. 7th, we will have a "Toy Day" in our classroom.  It's the last reward the class earned
     from the Boosterthon.  Please allow your child to bring ONE toy to school (no stuffed animals at 
     this time please-LICE is going around the school and we are trying to be proactive.)

3.  Make sure that if you are bringing your child to school in carpool, you do NOT drop your child off 
     until 7:20 am.  If you are dropping your child off BEFORE this time, they are not being supervised
     and that is a huge concern for me- especially as it is getting darker and colder in the mornings.

4.  Thanks to Mrs. Patel, Mrs. Sun, and Mrs. Leingang for being parent volunteers in the Science
      lab.  Thanks to Mr. Young, Mr. Jones, and Dr. Leingang for being our first parent chaperones
      to Chattahoochee Nature Center.  A big thank you to our moms and dads for starting our year
      off with center volunteers:  George's mom, Ella's mom, Daniel's mom, Meredith's dad, Reagan
      Claire's mom, Brooks' mom, Jack's mom, and Daniela's mom.  Mrs. Peterson read a Soldier story
      to the class and then we drew/wrote letters to the soldiers stationed overseas!

Love,
Mrs. Stephens
 
                                                                                                              9-22-11
Parents,

Just a reminder that we are having our annual Fundations Letter Parade tomorrow morning.  Please help your child get his costume and/or accessories ready for the morning.  The parade will begin promptly at 8:15 am and will go until around 8:40 am.  We'd love for you to join us if you are available.  I suggest you park at the church and walk down to our classroom.  If you'd like, you can come to our room between 8:05-8:10- find a spot outside in the hall, and take lots of fun photos.  Then, you can return to your busy day.

Thanks for your support,
Deborah Stephens 
                                                                                                               9-18-11

 

Thank you for your support of this year’s Boosterthon Fun Run! The program was a huge success, but I need your help.  As a team we finished at $ 49 per lap!  With all the laps we ran, that comes out to $1520 !  If we can collect 100% by Thursday, September 22nd, $152comes directly back to our classroom for me to use on your students.

 

Please help your student get in touch with their sponsors today. Sponsors can pay 3 ways—Cash, Check or Credit Card.  Checks are written to East Side PTA.  To pay by credit card, if the sponsors e-mail was entered at the time of the pledge, they will or already have recieved an e-mail with the option to pay.  If not, they can pay through your child's website at FUNRUN.COM.  Log on using your students access code.

 

Your student went home with an envelope highlighting some key information.  Remember, you can log on to FUNRUN.COM for more information as well.

 

Thanks again for your help and support of our class! Let’s work together to finish strong and reach our goal!

 

Thank you for your generosity and support of our class and East Side!

 

 

Dear WISE Guys Families,                                                                          9-13-11

A few updates:

1.  Parents, thank you for such a quick response to the need for Scooby Doo gummy treats!  We have 
    plenty and the kids are excited about graphing with the treats for math.

2.  On Thursday, Sept. 15th, Kindergarten and 1st grade will be running laps for the Fun Run across the
     street at the Church Soccer Fields.  Please come out and join in the fun and cheer your kinder on!
     Boosterthon provides tshirts for each child and I have them in the room- ready for Thursday   
     morning.  Please make sure that your child is dressed ready to run...tennis shoes please.

3.  Due to changes in schdule because of the Fun Run, grades K-5, the cafeteria will only be serving
     sack lunches on Thursday.  The sack lunch will include a turkey/cheese sandwich, chips, carrots,
     apple, and milk.  If your child prefers something else, please send in a lunch from home on that day.

4.  The students have celebrated their first incentive goal for reaching Boostethon goals with popcorn
     & a movie.  They have now successfully reached goals 2 and 3!  We will be reserving the lower  
     level computer lab for one of the goals and having a "toy" day to celebrate the other goal.  I will let
     you know which days we plan to celebrate.

Also, to wrap up the end of the week and Pet Month, I will be encouraging the students to bring in ONE stuffed animal that could be a family pet.  Examples: fish, dog, cat, bunny,  snake...not a giraffe, rhino, lion, grizzly bear, etc.