Please scroll down to see previously sent home newsletters!
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April 30, 2010
Dear Parents,
Yeah!!! We have butterflies!!!
Almost all of our butterflies emerged from their chrysalises. It was so
exciting! We were very lucky to actually see 3 butterflies come out of their
chrysalises while we were at school! We were writing sentences when I saw a
one chrysalis begin to shake. The class came and sat around and we actually
watched the butterfly break through its home! When it first came out, its
wings were all wet and crumpled up like a piece of paper. We watched it
slowly unfold its wings and start to walk! It was so cool to watch. This
class is so lucky, we actually watched caterpillars disappear into its
chrysalises, and then we watched a butterflies emerge weeks later! The class
not only learned about metamorphosis, and a butterfly’s life cycle, but they
actually got to see it happen !! WOW!! We will keep our butterflies for
about one week. We will be set free next week in the Hynes School
Courtyard.
Alphabet
It seems like yesterday that we began learning the letters and sounds of the
alphabet. If you can believe it, we finished learning about the last letter
of the alphabet last week! Your child should now be an ABC whiz! We learned
to recognize all 26 letters of the alphabet, write all 26 capital and
lowercase letters of the alphabet, and identify as well as produce all of
the sounds in the alphabet – phew! WOW!
Your child now has all of the tools to be able to sound out and blend words
together to read! Most of the children can read complete sentences, sight
words and sound out smaller words. The room is buzzing with excitement as
each child realizes that they can read new words on a daily basis! The
students love books, love to read to me and Mrs. DuChateau, and to one
another! Please continue to read to your child at home each day, however,
put aside some time for your child to read to you!
Writing/Reading
We started a new “big project” this week! We are making an A-Z book with
beautiful handwriting and “kid spelling” along with beautiful illustrations
to match! Each day, we will work on creating a sentence, spelling it, and
making an illustration to match our words. I think you will be very
impressed with the outcome of your child’s book. If you’re wondering why
your child is not bringing home a lot of school work, it’s because we are
keeping it in school until it’s completed! The children will try very hard
to make their books special, something you may want to keep forever! It’s a
great way to end our alphabet study and show that we are ready to be 1st
graders!!
Have a great weekend!
Miss Reinish
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March 25, 2010
Dear Parents,
Spring Berak is here!
There will be no school next week!
School will begin again on Monday, April 5th.
Science
Each year, Hynes School has a Science Expo that all of the grade levels
participate in. Our class will have our very own display at the Expo! We
will have a very special delivery the week we return from spring break! We
will have a new and changing addition to our class! 10 caterpillars will
arrive to our class for us to watch grow while we make observations!
SSShhhhhh….(don’t tell your child, it’s a surprise!)
For the month of April, we will learn all about how caterpillars grow and
change into beautiful butterflies! We will also learn different facts about
insects, their body parts, where they live, and what they eat. A lot of the
school work your child will complete about caterpillars will be kept in
school in order to be displayed at the Expo. Therefore, you will need to ask
your child what he/she is learning in school because their work will not be
coming home immediatly. We are slightly “bugging out” at the idea of
watching the caterpillars change into butterflies and hope you will be able
to come to the Expo! It will be at Hynes School in the evening on April 21st
Field Trip
We will be going on a field trip to Kohl’s Children’s Museum on Thursday,
April 22nd . I will send the permission slips home the week we get back from
spring break and let you know who the volunteers will be. We will not be
buying food or eating in the lunchroom. We will be eating in the classroom!
****Please make sure that your child brings a HOME LUNCH on the 22nd !***
Spring Break Homework Journals
Your child’s spring break homework is in his/her folder! Please make sure
you read the attached letter, it will explain how to do the work! Also,
please have your child continue practicing the letter sounds, reading aloud,
and adding numbers during spring break!
I hope you and your children have
a nice Spring Break together!
Miss Reinish
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February 25, 2010
Dear Parents,
Math
This week in math we’re working on adding numbers! The class is so
enthusiastic about solving the problems and wanting to do more!!!!
Currently, all of the math papers have had pictures on them to help guide
the children to the correct answer. Next week we will begin completing math
papers with few or no pictures to rely on for help. Instead, we will be
using counting cubes to assist in solving the problems. Some of the children
may be able to solve the problem in their heads, some may choose to use
their fingers, while others will rely on the counting cubes to find the
right answer.
For example……. 4 + 2=___
Your child will count out 4 cubes and then 2 cubes….put them all together
and count them to find the answer = 6!
You can make addition facts fun at home! After school, when your child is
eating a snack, say some math problems and your child can use his/her food
(fish crackers, fruit chew snacks) to assist in solving the problems! Math
can be done just about anywhere! Make it fun and your child will want to
succeed! \
Writer’s Workshop
This month in writer’s workshop we will be focusing on writing short stories
about a “small moment in time”. I have explained to the class that in all of
my years of living, in my great big life, I do many things each day. During
one long day, I also do many things. I am choosing to write about just one
small moment that happened during one of those days.
For example…….Mrs. DuChateau’s surprise party, or passing out Valentines, or
sorting my 100’s collection. I would not write about the entire 100th day of
school, that would not be considered a small moment. However, jumping 100
times that day is a small moment that happened during that big day. It’s a
tough concept for children to grasp. Maybe you could help out at home by
discussing some small things that happened during the course of 1 day.
Field Trip
In March we will be taking a field trip to the Morton Grove Fire Department!
Firefighter Bill, who taught us all about fire safety in October, will be
leading the tour! The kids will be so excited to see him again! The
permission slip will be sent home soon!
Pizza Party!
Today’s pizza party was fun and just delicious!!! I always encourage
families to support the PTA and attend their events and meetings. Because
our class had the most families in attendance at the last PTA function at
CiCi’s we gobbled up the free pizza the restaurant provided for us as a
reward! The cheese pizza was yummy, we each had our own bottle of water to
wash down the food! If that wasn’t enough, they sent scrumptious brownies
for dessert! What a great treat it was to “dine” together in the classroom!
It felt like we were dining at “Reinish Restaurant” he he!
There is NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY
Have a nice LONG weekend!
Each newsletter I continue to say
“stay warm”……it’s too cold out there!!!
Miss Reinish
**Please check in your child’s folder for March’s Snack Schedule & Read
Aloud Homework! Mark down the date you need to send snack to school in your
calendar! Remember, we have 26 students! Thanks!
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February 19, 2010
Pizza Party for Miss Reinish’s Class!!!
Dear Parents,
Last December, the PTA sponsored a fundraiser at Cicis Pizza. Because our
classroom had the most families participating,
we have WON a free lunch PIZZA PARTY from CiCis! : )
Next Friday, February 26th, CiCis Pizza will be delivering enough pizza and
dessert for our entire class! The PTA will also be providing bottles of
water for the children to drink and will help supervise the class!
We will be eating our pizza lunch in the classroom!
The pizza will be thin crust cheese pizza (no meat).
If your child’s does not like pizza, please send a home lunch to school that
day and he/she will eat with us in the room!
We can't wait to gobble up the yummy pizza!!
Miss Reinish :)
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February 11, 2010
Dear Parents,
It was so nice meeting with you at conferences last week. I find conference
time to be very beneficial. It is nice to get your in-put and views about
kindergarten and your child’s experience so far. Thank you for coming!
Tuesday was the 100th day of kindergarten! I can’t believe we have been in
school for that long already! The 100th day of school was filled with a lot
of counting, cheering, and more counting! Each child brought in a collection
of 100 objects which they proudly showed the class! The children organized
their collections in groups of tens on special counting mats. Once all of
the collections were counted and displayed on the counting mats, the
children toured the classroom looking at and counting their friends
collections. We called it our “100’s Museum”. In order for the children to
tour the museum, they had to “pay” $100 to enter the room…….wow were they
excited! One of the students wanted to know if the extra large $100 dollar
bills I gave them were real! I wish!
We had a blast on Valentine’s Day! Thank you so much for helping your child
make cards for all of the children in the classroom! It was a lot of fun
pretending that we were mailmen and finding each other’s
valentine “mailbags” to pass out our cards! I’m sure the kids loved looking
at all of the cards their friends made them! We ate yummy cupcakes and
frosted them ourselves as well as sorted, counted, & graphed candy hearts!
It was a busy fun day! It was nice to find out how much our friends care
about us!
In reading we have learned many sight words. I am very impressed with the
children’s ability to decode (sound out) three letter words. Please
encourage your child to use his/her sound arm to read as many words as
possible on his/her own! At home, when you are reading a book to your child,
please “partner read” with your child. This means that you will read the
majority of the book, however, when you come across a sight word or a three
letter word your child can sound out, stop and have your child read that
part for you! This type of partner reading builds confidence, excitement and
creates the desire to read independently! ** Please be sure to add these
books to your child’s monthly Read-Aloud homework record sheet!
Have a great LONG weekend!
There is NO SCHOOL on Monday or Tuesday!
Homework is due on Wednesday!
Happy Valentine’s and President’s Day!
Miss Reinish
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January 29th, 2010
Dear Parents,
This Monday, February 1st, we will celebrate Mrs. DuChateau’s 84th
birthday!!! It will be a wonderful day! Each child made her a special b-day
card in class. The children kept it a secret and we will give her the cards
on Monday! Mrs. DuChateau is bringing ice cream and cookies for both
kindergarten classes! We can’t wait to sing Happy Birthday to her! We know
it will be a lovely day; one I know Mrs. DuChateau will remember for a long
time!
VOWELS
Our vowel study was a huge success! The children all seem quite confident
with the long and short vowel sounds! They are able to produce, read, and
write the sounds! Knowing the vowels will help your child’s beginning
reading skills tremendously when sounding out words to read and spell!
Please continue practicing the 2 sounds each vowel makes!
Remember…..
A, E, I, O, U….They don’t make 1 sound they make 2!
A, E, I, O, U…..They’re the vowels. They’re the Glue!
They’re very sticky letters, they stick all words together!
100th Day of School
The 100th day of school is Tuesday, February 9th. We will be doing many
different activities to celebrate 100 days of school. To enhance our
celebration each child needs to bring to school a collection of 100 objects.
The objects need to be small enough to fit into a ziplock plastic bag! These
objects will be used as counting tools through out the 100th day! Some
suggestions for your child’s collection are: Heresy Kisses, M&M’s,
toothpicks, skittles, cheerios, mini-marshmallows, little pennies…..!
Please have all of the 100 objects be the same item.
***Your child needs to be responsible for counting all 100 objects on
his/her own. Have your child count begin counting over the weekend! ****One
suggestion to make the counting process easier is to have your child group
the objects in sets of ten (we call this bundles). Then have your child
count by tens until he/she has 100 objects!***
Collections need to be brought to school
ON the 100th day Tuesday, February 9th !
Valentine’s Day
We are celebrating Valentine’s Day on Friday, February 12th.
On Valentine’s Day the children will pass out cards to each of their
classmates. Please have your child do the writing of their friends names on
the envelopes (don’t do it for them)! This is very good writing and spelling
practice! Also, make sure the names are on the OUTSIDE of the
envelopes/cards! Some valentines leave a space to write the names on the
inside, however this makes it very difficult for the children to read and
then pass them out to their friends!
A list of all of the children in the class will be sent home next week so
your child has plenty of time to write each friends name on the outside of
the valentine card! There are 25 students in the class. It would be fun for
your child to go with you to pick out a box of Valentine cards for the class!
We will be decorating special Valentine Bags in school to hold all of the
cards our friends give us! I can’t wait to see the beautiful bags filled
with cards from all of the students, it’s so much fun to take home so many
cards from friends and teachers and read them all and feel so cared about!
Enjoy the weekend!!!!!!
Miss Reinish
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December 4, 2009
Dear Parents,
I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! The children
all did a beautiful job completing the Thanksgiving fun homework pack. Thank
you for guiding your child with his/her work.
Mrs. Tanaka, one of the kindergarten assistants, made each child a special
turkey treat to eat for Thanksgiving! We gobbled up our turkeys that were
made of rice crispy treats, oreo cookies and candy corn! They were the
yummiest turkeys we’ve ever eaten! (see the picture above)
This week we continued on with the alphabet. We learned the letter Bb, and
next week we will move on to the letter Pp! We learned another new sight
word this week! We learned to identify and read the word like. We read many
sentences using the sight words we already know combined with the work like!
In math we will begin learning to recognize (read) and write teen numbers 11-
20!
It is very important that our home/school connection stays strong! It is
extremely helpful if you practice skills learned in school a few days a week
with your child. Please continue to review the letters and sounds that we
have learned.
Other VERY important skills to review weekly are…………….
Rhyming
Letter recognition
Sound recognition
Sounding out and writing 3 letter words (“at” family)
Reading the sight words (I, my, see, like, a, at, is)
Writing sentences using inventive spelling (kid spelling)
Number writing (1-20)
Number counting (1-100 or as high as they can go…..)
Number recognition (looking at a number & knowing it’s name)
Many children learned their phone number and address after parent teacher
conferences! Thank you so much for taking the time to teach your child this
very important safety information. If your child has not yet learned this
information, please take the time to practice it at home.
I really appreciate all of the time you spend reinforcing skills learned in
school with your child!
Mrs. Hoffman (our room parent ) has begun planning our winter holiday
party! She planned our Halloween party, and with the help of parent
volunteers we had a blast! Our party is on December 18th from 12:45-1:45!
Thank you Mrs. Hoffman for volunteering to organize & run the party! It’s
always a fun afternoon filled with music, games, crafts, yummy food and
smiles!!
Stay warm and have a wonderful weekend!
Miss Reinish
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November 20, 2009
Dear Parents,
We had an amazing time at the circus today! Our seats were amazing! We sat
in the 5th and 6th row! We were very close to the circus rings! We munched
on graham crackers, drank our juice and watched the amazing show! We ate our
lunch in our seats during the intermission!
Some of our favorite acts in the circus were:
Clowns
Elephants
Tigers
Tight Rope Walkers
Flying Trapeze
Thank you so much to the 12 parents who volunteered to supervise the
children! You were a huge help and very much appreciated!
On Monday we will learn all about Thanksgiving. We will discuss how the
first Thanksgiving occurred:
We will learn that:
The Pilgrims sailed on a ship called the Mayflower.
The Pilgrims sailed from England to America.
The Native Americans helped the Pilgrims settle in.
The Native Americans shared seeds with the Pilgrims to grow crops.
The Native Americans helped the Pilgrims build houses, make
clothes, and learn to fish.
The Pilgrims grew lots of crops from the seeds the Native Americans
gave them.
The Pilgrims planned a big celebration and invited the Native
Americans to the feast because without their help, they would not have had
food, shelter or clothes!
This celebration was the very first Thanksgiving!
The Pilgrims shared all of their food with the Native Americans.
Everyone at the celebration was Thankful!
I’m sure the children are looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner with their
families. We will discuss what we are thankful for and I’m sure the children
will have some beautiful ideas to share! Please ask your child what he/she
is thankful for.
There IS school on MONDAY, however…..
There is no school Tuesday to Friday!
Your child will bring home a homework packet today that will be completed
over Thanksgiving Break!(wait till next week for your child to do the work!)
Mrs. DuChateau and I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Miss Reinish
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October 30, 2009
Dear Parents,
Can you believe that next week is November? I feel like we just started
school and yet now we are looking forward to our circus field trip as well
as Thanksgiving! We seem to be flying through the months!
Next week I will send home the list of parent volunteers that will be coming
with us to the Circus to supervise the children!
Our Halloween party was a blast! The children all looked fabulous in their
costumes! We had beautiful princesses, super heroes and so many more cool
costumes! I took some great pictures. They will be posted on my web site
soon! Thank you to our room mother, Mrs. Hoffman for planning a fabulous
party!! Also thank you to the volunteers, Mrs. Khan (Hamza’s mom), Mrs.
Vogelsberg (Lucas’s mom), Mrs. Bank (Maria’s mom) for assisting with costume
changes and helping with the fun and games at the party. Mrs. Hoffman had
the kids make a cute Halloween pumpkin; brought delicious cupcakes that the
kids decorated then gobbled up and planned terrific games. The kids played
pass the pumpkin, did a witch hat toss, and played freeze dance! It was a
fun afternoon! Thank you Mrs. Hoffman and parent volunteers for making the
afternoon a blast for the class! Thank you parents for coming to the parade!
I am glad it we were able to have a parade and the kids had the chance to
see so many familiar faces in the crowd. I hope you were able to take some
good photos of your child!
Also, thank you for sending candy to school! It was so much fun to trick or
treat in our classroom! We had a candy parade and passed out all of our
candy to our classmates while listening to the song “I Want Candy”. They got
their candy!! I have told the children that they are only allowed to eat one
piece of candy at lunch (home lunch), and then one more piece at home, only
2 pieces a day – no more. I hope that helps you out at home so your child
doesn’t have a tummy ache!
Please reinforce the importance of brushing your teeth 2 times a day,
morning and night!
Next week we will be learning a new sight word to add to our list of words
we are able to read by memorization on our own! So far we have learned to
read the words: (I, see) Your child should be able to read these words the
minute they see them! We will add the word My so we will be able to read
longer sentences. Your child has been bringing home small photocopied
stories each week that contain the sight words we are learning in school.
Please have your child read you these books at home. It would be a good idea
to keep these books and review them weekly. You can add the name of the book
to your child’s monthly read-aloud homework!
Please review the letters we have already learned. Your child should know
the letter name, its sound and how to form the capital and lowercase letters
correctly!
The letters are Tt, Mm, Cc, Rr, Ss, and Hh!
I hope you have a great weekend!
Don’t eat too much candy!!
Miss Reinish
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September 11, 2009
Dear Parents,
We had a very busy week at school! We did a lot of fun and exciting
activities. I encourage you to ask your child each day after school to tell
you 3 favorite classroom activities that occurred that day!
This week we finished learning about colors and today we made beautiful
rainbows! At this point, the children should be able to read all of the
color words, which include; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. In
your child’s mail today are color word flashcards. You and your child can
cut them out and practice reading and spelling the words! PLEASE KEEP THE
FLASHCARDS AT HOME!
HOMEWORK
Your child’s homework this weekend is in their folder. Please help your
child complete the homework and return it to school on Monday! You child
should use PENCIL for the writing part of the homework. The home/school
connection is so important. Thank you for supporting your child’s program!
On Monday we will turn into scientists! I’ll read a story called Mouse Paint
by Ellen Walsh. The story is about 3 white mice that jump in puddles of red,
yellow and blue paint. The mice discover that by jumping into the different
color puddles, they could create new colors. After the story I will fill 3
jars with water and use food coloring to change one jar into red water, one
blue, and the other yellow. As the children watch wide-eyed, I will pretend
that the little bottles of food coloring are the mice & have them “jump”
into the colored water. As the yellow “mouse” (food coloring) “jumps” into
the red jar of water, we will watch it change to the color orange!
The children will be amazed! Next we will mix the colors red and blue
together and watch it turn purple, and finally blue and yellow to make
green. It will be a lot of fun! The class will love the activity.
The children will learn about primary and secondary colors.
The students will be exposed to the 3 primary colors:
Red
Yellow
Blue
The students will also learn that if you mix the primary colors together,
you can make the 3 secondary colors:
Orange
Green
Purple
In order to make a rainbow, all you really need are the 3 primary colors……
mix them together to make the 3 secondary colors and now you have all 6
colors in the rainbow!
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple!
Next week we will learn about shapes. We will discuss squares, circles,
triangles, rectangles, ovals and diamonds. We will learn that squares have 4
sides that are all the same. As an activity, the children will build square
frames to take home. Hopefully you can find a nice spot to display the
project in your home!
In Math next week we will begin discussing and creating patterns. The
children will be able to make a repetitive A, B, pattern. An A, B, pattern
is made up of 2 items that switch back and forth from one another such as…
bear, fish, bear, fish, bear, fish. Have your child practice making patterns
at home using household items!
Don’t forget to read to your child EVERY DAY!
Please write the names of the books on the
September READ ALOUD LIST
that is due at the end of the month!
The COLOR homework is due on Monday!
The children will get a prize from my treasure chest if they try their
hardest to do nice work!
Have a nice weekend!
Miss Reinish
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Sept.4, 2009
Dear Parents,
We have had a wonderful first 2 weeks of kindergarten! The children are all
so sweet and eager to learn the rules, school routine, and new things each
day! We are going to have a very exciting school year! The past 2 weeks we
concentrated on learning the jobs we need to do each day and feel
comfortable with the morning routine.
Daily Routine
1. When the children arrive at school they need to put away their lunch in
their locker.
2. Next, each child needs to check their folder for any notes form home and
place their folder in the “folder holder”
3. The kids then put away the rest of their belongings in their locker.
Please do not have your child bring any toys, or trading cards to school.
Toys are only allowed once a week on Fridays when we have show & tell. It
must fit inside your child’s backpack.
4. Once the children’s belongings are all put away, they need to put up
their lunch clip to signify what they will be eating for lunch that day.
5. Finally, each child needs go to the Are You Here Board and put up their
school bus nametag showing that they are in school.
Once all of these “jobs” have been completed the children can silently read
a book on the carpet until we are all ready to begin the school day! This is
called Super Silent Reading.
Colors
This week we began learning about colors. We learned about red, orange and
yellow! We will continue the following week with the rest of the colors in
the rainbow! As we learn a new color each day, the children will be taught a
song to help them learn how to spell the color words. Ask your child to sing
you the color songs!!! Each song is short and sweet and is a great
reinforcement for spelling! I will put the words to the songs we learn in
your child’s mail (folder) each day!
Some of the stories we read and enjoyed this week were:
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
*Franklin Goes to School by Paulette Bourgeois
Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready For Kindergarten by Joseph Slate
*When you go to Kindergarten by James Howe
*Off To School Baby Duck by Amy Hest
*David Goes To School by David Shannon
*No David by David Shannon
Folders
Each day your child will bring home schoolwork as well as notes from school.
The office sends home information each day you may be interested in. Every
other Friday I will be sending home a newsletter. All of these materials
will be in your child’s folder. Please check your child’s folder EACH DAY
and remove whatever is in it. Your child should always have a folder in
his/her backpack. You can send me notes and other information using this
folder. Your child should check inside his/her folder each morning upon
arrival to see if there is something from you to give to me. If you ever
send me anything, please make your child aware that it is in his/her folder
and to give it to me. This will take some practice.
It was so nice to see so many of you on Thursday at Open House. Thank you
for showing your support by coming! If you ever have any questions or
concerns, please do not hesitate to call me at school!
The children are off to a great start! I am really looking forward to a
wonderful school year with this class. This is going to be an exciting year
for you and your child! It will be wonderful to watch your child learn and
grow each day!
Have a nice weekend!
*Please review the rules and routines before sending your child off to
school each morning!
Miss Reinish
