November 11, 2009
Dear Parents and Families,
On Monday we will have a visit with the Boxford Fire Department. They will come to Cole School
instead of having us walk to the fire station, therefore, parent chaperones will not be necessary.
On Tuesday, Nov. 24th for the "C" session and on Wednesday, Nov. 25th for the "D" session, we will
be celebrating Thanksgiving. Our Room Parents will be contacting you to let you know what kinds of
things and support we will need for our celebrations.
During the past month we have had just a few days in each class where the entire class has been
present. Your support at home, by playing games and providing practice opportunities, is greatly
appreciated as we try to increase students' fluency with letters and their corresponding sounds.
Activities that also focus on segmenting the sounds of a word and listening carefully to beginning
sounds and ending sounds support classroom activities. Boggle Jr. and Scrabble Jr. are commercially
made games that your child might also enjoy at home in addition to playing at school.
During our Writer's Workshop, lessons are focusing on why it is important to "revisit" your writing.
Kindergartners are encouraged to take their finger and point to their "words" and "read" them aloud.
Asking whether your work makes sense encourages children to think critically about their own work.
Currently we are working on placing spaces between our words to help us read back our work.
Much time has been spent recently administering our math interim assessment. The assessment is
given individually as well as some parts being given to the whole class at the same time. Data
collected from the assessment will help guide our instruction in the next few months. Your child's
performance will be shared with you at our upcoming parent conference.
Parent conferences will be scheduled before the Thanksgiving break. Please be thinking ahead about
your schedule on Tuesday, Dec. 8, Wednesday, Dec. 9 and Thursday, Dec. 10 as these are the
scheduled conference days. (Tuesday and Thursday will be early release days with noon time
dismissals. Wednesday is a full day of school. A substitute teacher will be hired to teach the class as I
will be conferencing with parents.) I will be making quick calls home next week during the evenings
to schedule your conferences.
Thanks as always,
Mrs. Walker
October 27, 2009
Dear Parents and Families,
Next Monday your child will be bringing home his/her "respect and responsibility cards" for the
months of September and October. These are the cards that document your child's behavior at
school. As I mentioned at our Back-to-School Night for parents, the numbers indicate how many
times/day during the month your child may have turned his/her card. (1/green = still ready to learn,
2 and 3/yellow = slow down and think, 4/red = stop, think about how to change behavior) Our jar of
little green stones is also growing as children are overheard using kind words and seen showing
kindness to others. You can help your child by reviewing our class rules which include: using an
indoor voice, keeping your hands and feet to yourself, walking in the classroom, treating others
kindly and trying your best.
Halloween celebrations will take place for both classes at the end of the week. The "C" session will
have a party on Thursday at 12:20 and the "D" session will walk in a parade followed by a Halloween
snack before going home. The room mothers (Aileen and Steven's moms for "C" session and Jessica
and Samantha's mom for "D" session) are aware of our party needs (supplies and volunteers.) We will
have a number of fun events throughout the year so please don't be disappointed if your help is not
needed at this time. We'll be sure to ask again!
We are continuing to be vigilant about hand washing in the classroom (after using the bathroom,
sneezing or coughing on hands -as opposed to elbow/bent arm, fingers in ears, eyes, noses, and
pants) and appreciate your donations of cleaning wipes for tabletop surfaces in the classroom. Both
kindergarten classes have been experiencing illnesses that have created daily absences for several
weeks now. As much as we miss those children who are unable to be with us, I thank you for
adhering to our school guidelines regarding ill children and attendance at school. Work missed for
extended absences will be provided for children to complete at home with parent support when
possible. Drawing pictures that tell stories, writing letters to represent sounds heard, letter
identification games are all beneficial as are supervised sessions at the computer for readiness
activities on sites such as www.pbskids.org and www.starfall.com.
Thank you for your continued support,
~Mrs. Walker
October 25, 2009
Dear Parents and Families,
Our field trip tomorrow to the Boxford Fire Department has been postponed by the fire dept. As soon
as a new date is confirmed, a new permission slip will come home for your signature.
Room Parents will be contacting you about our Halloween Parties this week. The "C" session will have
their party on Thursday at 12:20 and the "D" session will have their party on Friday immediately
following the Halloween Parade.
Several more articles of clothing are heading to the Lost and Found in the Cafeteria as no one is
claiming them from the closet floor. Please take some time this week to label sweaters, sweatshirts,
jackets, boots, hats, etc. as it helps your child take responsibility for their belongings.
~Mrs. Walker
October 18, 2009
Dear Parents,
Who would have thought it would be snowing in October? This is a great time to take out your
child's outerwear and label it with his/her name (coats, hats, boots, gloves, mittens, scarves, etc.)
Every year children look at the clothing that they wore to school and tell me with confidence that it
doesn't belong to them as we prepare for dismissal. Often new clothing looks unfamiliar. Please
help your child by labeling their clothing so they are best able to care for it. Should your child
return home with missing articles of clothing, please check for it in our school's "Lost and Found"
located in the cafeteria.
Our kindergartners are definitely beginning to take more risks as they engage in written language
activities. Every child is encouraged to listen carefully to the sounds they hear as words are
stretched out slowly. Letters with corresponding sounds are then recorded to create print. I will be
sending a set of alphabet cards home with students who may benefit from additional exposure to
letters and corresponding sounds at home. Research indicates that children benefit from practice
where the mneumonic (picture cue used to connect to the letter) remains the same. (If you don't
receive a set but would like them, please let me know and I will send a set home with your child.)
The support of our classroom volunteers is greatly appreciated. As the children become settled in
their Literacy Workstation routines, volunteers are using an interactive phonemic awareness
program to practice skills of rhyming and matching beginning sounds. You can also practice at
home by playing "Eye Spy." Simply say, I see something that begins with the /t/ sound. (Don't use
the letter name - actually make the letter sound.) Your practice at home is sure to enhance your
child's skill development.
In the area of science, we are learning about the characteristics of living things which is sparking a
lot of discussion about living things (ex. animals), non-living things (ex. plastics) and things that
may have been living at one time (ex. the logs in a log cabin.) The characteristics of living things
include: the ability to grow and change, the ability to move independently and to reproduce, being
made up of cells, the need for water, and to excrete waste. Encourage your kindergartner to make
connections to their learning as you engage in "fall clean-up" in your own yard, take walks or enjoy
the seasonal changes.
Math activities continue to focus on building number sense and concepts of measurement this
week. We'll be using items from David C's garden as well as data collected from our pumpkin
picking adventures at Ingaldsby Farm in our investigations.
Thanks for all your continued support,
Mrs. Walker
October 12, 2009
PLEASE NOTE THAT DUE TO FORECASTED RAIN FOR TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13TH, THE "C" SESSION
FIELD TRIP TO INGALDSBY FARM HAS BEEN CHANGED TO TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20TH. THIS DATE WILL
BE RAIN OR SHINE.
October 7, 2009
Thank you for all your very generous offers to chaperone our class trip to Ingaldsby Farm next
week. For this trip, our chaperones for the "C" session will be Aidan's mom, Ryan's mom and
Richard's mom. Our chaperones for the "D" session will be Bailey's mom and Jessica and Samantha's
mom. Please meet us at the farm by 9:20 and pay your own admission of $7 inside the farm. To all
of the other volunteers, we'll hope you can join us on another trip.
~Mrs. Walker
October 6, 2009
Dear Families,
Please be aware that the "boxfordschools.org" mail system has not been working since some time
last week and I may have missed mail from you. You may also reach me by phone 978-887-2856
x209 or by email at hegwalker@yahoo.com. Sorry for the inconvenience.
~Mrs. Walker
September 30, 2009
Parents of "C" Session students,
You are welcome to come with your child to school on Friday at 1:30p.m. for a
school presentation by an astronaut. The presentation will be held in the
school cafeteria. I recognize that this is not your regular school day,
however, I do want you to feel welcome to join us.
~Mrs. Walker
September 27, 2009
Dear Families,
We have had a busy start to school. Children are learning daily routines and
expectations for academic activities and behavior as well as getting to know
each other and me.
Each day thus far I have chosen a student to be the "Special Student of the
Day." This is an opportunity to highlight each child, one at a time and get to
know more about him/her. We are playing a game with the letters in that
child's name, chanting and re-sequencing the letters and then tracing the
letters as we create a special book with illustrations created each child
depicting new friends.
We are also creating predictable charts such as "I can ____." and "I like
____." As we create them, we are learning about letters, words, the spaces
that go in between each word, and reading left to right and top to bottom.
Throughout the week, we are practicing reading our sentences aloud, playing
games and creating predictable books where we cut apart our sentences and put
them back together with matching illustrations. These books will make their
way into each child's home and should be returned on the next school day for
another child to take home. We hope you will enjoy having your child share
them with your family.
Writer's Workshop is another piece of our day that all of the children appear
to be enjoying! Children are working on drawing pictures that tell a story and
using sounds they know to either label parts of their picture with
corresponding letters or attempting to write words using the sounds they hear
as they slowly say words to stretch out their sounds. Each child is encouraged
to do their best and is supported throughout the process.
Literacy Workstations provide us with small group opportunities to play games
and engage in a variety of literacy activities around the classroom. The
stations that we have introduced include: Phonemic Awareness, ABCs, Word Work,
Pocket Chart, Write the Room, and Magnetic Letters. We will begin using our
parent volunteers during Literacy Workstations during the week of October 5th.
Thank you to those of you who have volunteered. I will be sending home a
schedule with a rotation of volunteers for each class by the end of the week
after checking the CORI status of each volunteer.
Math activities have focused heavily on the concept of patterning and on
counting. We have also been creating simple graphs and using them to discuss
our observations. Vocabulary we are using includes: more than, less than,
same, repeats, and a variety of words to denote location (next to, above,
below, in front of, behind, under, over...)
Our focus in science has been on thinking like a scientist, our five senses
and the seasonal change from summer to fall. Health and social studies topics
include safe play, the class as a community and this week... Johnny Appleseed.
If you have yet to return your child's field trip permission slip and payment,
please do so asap so that final preparations for the trip can be made. School
picture forms have also been sent home and can be returned any day up to the
day the pictures are taken. Children in "C" session may opt to come to school
with an adult for their picture on picture day or wait for the re-take day
which will be scheduled on a "C" session day.
Thanks again for all your support,
Mrs. Walker
September 9, 2009
Dear Parents,
The beginning of the year always brings about some anxiety as students are
learning new routines, making new friends and transitioning between the
classroom, lunchroom, playground and special subject teachers. I'm happy to
say that both classes have had very smooth first days and are off to a great
start. They are learning their classmates' names and making many discoveries
in the classroom.
One thing you can do to facilitate with transitions is to purchase your child
a plastic folder. It should open and have two pockets on the left and right
for papers to slide in from the top (not the sides as our work may be on 9x12
paper which won't fit in the pocket.) You do not need to label the folder. I
have printed labels for everyone's folders and will stick them on when your
child brings their folder to school. If your child does not have a folder by
Monday morning I will provide a cardstock pocket folder. This is the most
important supply for a kindergartner to have as it will bring your notes from
home to me and your child's work and notes home to you.
Thanks for your support,
Mrs. Walker
September 5, 2009
Dear Parents,
It was a pleasure to meet your children at our Kindergarten Orientation. Our
screening has been completed by teams of Cole School kindergarten teachers and
we have been busy compiling the data we received. At the end of September you
will receive a letter regarding your child's performance which may contain
further recommendations to support your child's ongoing development. I look
forward to an exciting year working with your children and hope to see you all
at our Back to School Night on Monday evening, September 21st.
The first weeks of Kindergarten will be a busy time for all of us:) Please be
sure to send a note to indicate if your child will be picked up at the end of
the day. Each child will need either a lunch from home, a lunch ticket, or
cash ($2) to pay for lunch in addition to two healthy snacks (one for the
morning and the other for the afternoon.)
Looking forward to our official start of the school year,
Mrs. Walker
August 19, 2009
Dear Parents,
I'm feeling a bit like the story character "Miss Bindergarten" as I get the
classroom unpacked and organized for the new year. Everything is clean and
back where it belongs. One thing that you could start to do at home in the
next week is work towards set times for your kindergartner to be waking up and
going to bed. This will help as your child transitions into the school year.
It would also be helpful for your child to have a plastic "two pocket" folder
(where papers can slide in from the top.) I will be labeling the inside
pockets of the folder for your child for things to take home and bring to school.
Looking forward to seeing you all on September 1st,
Mrs. Walker
July 3, 2009
Dear Parents,
Our incoming kindergarten students should be receiving an informational
mailing that will indicate each child's classroom and teacher as well as
specific details regarding our Kindergarten Screening which will take place as
the school year begins in September. Our school office is now closed for the
summer and will reopen August 17th. Voicemail is checked on a regular basis
should you need to contact someone in the office.
Please bookmark our Kindergarten Classroom web page on your computer so that
you can return frequently. This will be my primary form of getting information
to you in a timely manner.If you do not have internet access, I hope you will
let me know so that I can be sure to keep you "in the loop." Kindergarten is a
very busy place full of much learning. I look forward to meeting you in the
fall and sharing all about the kindergarten experience at Cole School on the
"Back-to-School Night" for parents which will be scheduled for September.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy summer! I look forward to seeing you in
September!
~Mrs. Heather Walker