Blog Archives

Newsletter for the Week of Oct. 1

9/28/2018

Morning Meeting

Greeting: Pass the Hello
Sharing: All About My Family Projects
Activity: Apple Song and GoNoodle

Second Step (Social Emotional Learning): Self Talk for Staying on Task

Calm Classroom (up to 3x/day)

Literacy
Sight Words: the, is
- We will use our sight word in sentences and learn sight word songs - be prepared to hear these songs and they will stick in your head
Who Let the Letters Out? song
No More Letter of the Week program
- This goes over one letter and its sound each day. This week we should get to Z, short A, long A, H, and B. Students will list words beginning with those sounds to add to our reading wall.
We will be rotating between our three centers: read to self, read to someone, word work and we will be adding in Teacher Time center this week.
Phonemic Awareness
Predictable Sentence: The apple is _____. This will come together as a class book.

Theme
Apples
Parts of an apple
Apple Germ Experiment
Apple Volcano
Magic Apple Writing
Apple Sink or Float?

Writing
We will continue to independent journal this week. We start with how to make a WOW Picture and come up with a list of topics to write about. Students are encouraged to draw very detailed pictures and the students who can write words/letters are encouraged to do so.

Math
Math Survey
Math Journal
Quick Looks
Five Frames
Number Books
Graph Ways to Eat an Apple
Centers
- Apple Measuring, Apple Spin and Tally, Exploration
  
  Closing Circle
- Each day three students will be asked to share something they liked that day and someone who was nice that day.
- Good bye song.
- Secret Student
Previous Sight Words: I, like

Snack: Boys donate this month. Please make sure to send a whole class snack (21 students) one day this month.

Upcoming Important Dates:
Week of Oct. 1 - Bring in one or two apples. Any color will do!
Monday, October 8 - No School in observance of Columbus Day
Tuesday, October 9 - Picture Day
Tuesday, October 16 - Field Trip to County Line Orchard
- Chaperones will be contacted soon
- This is a regular school day
Warrior Wednesday - Every Wednesday students should wear Ray gear or green to show their Warrior pride!
Wednesdays - Library books due!
Reminders:
Please check regularly and use the Things To Be Working On At Home link on the blog.
Every Friday morning is the Student Town Hall Meeting. They will be escorted into the school (auditorium) by support staff at 8:45 for the Town Hall Meeting. They will then be escorted to the classroom at 9:15 a.m.
Homework is given on Monday and due on Friday.
School starts promptly at 8:45 a.m. Dismissal is at 3:45 p.m.
Student folders are to come back and forth from school each day. Folders should be emptied out each night and anything that needs to be returned to school should be placed in the left side. Students have the responsibility of turning their folder in to me each day.
You may contact me at rmaltz@cps.edu or by calling the school. My blog address is rmaltz.weebly.com. Check my website often for updates. Please look around my website and the Ray School website; questions you have may be answered on them.
Room 101 loves having volunteers, however I will not be asking for volunteers until October/November. You will need to fill out a volunteer packet and follow any directions given in that packet. Information about volunteering at Ray is on the Ray School website.
We will be having monthly birthday celebrations. You will receive a letter the month of your child’s birthday with all the information. July and August birthdays will be celebrated in June.

Apples, Apples, Apples

9/26/2018

Next week (Oct. 1) we will be starting our theme study of apples. We will continue with this theme for nearly three weeks and it will be incorporated into our literacy and math times. We have so many fun activities planned with apples and even some great science experiments. Please help out our activities by sending one or two apples with your child to school starting the 1st. Any color will do!
Happy Apple Picking,
The Kindergarten Team

Newsletter for the Week of September 24

9/21/2018

Morning Meeting

Greeting: Hello Neighbor
Sharing: All About My Family Projects
Activity: All of Me Poem and GoNoodle
Second Step (Social Emotional Learning): Following Directions
Calm Classroom (up to 3x/day)

Literacy
Sight Words: I, like
- We will use our sight word in sentences and learn sight word songs - be prepared to hear these songs and they will stick in your head
Who Let the Letters Out? song
No More Letter of the Week program
- This goes over one letter and its sound each day. This week we should get to long I, P, D, L, M. Students will list words beginning with those sounds to add to our reading wall.
We will do numerous readings of Brown Brown, Brown Bear What Do You See?, and complete activities to go along with it.
We will continue read to self and read to someone.
We will start our new literacy center - word work.
Phonemic Awareness
Predictable Sentence: I like __(color)__. This will come together as a class book.

Theme
Colors and Shapes
Color songs and read alouds
A few different color experiments
Color Mixing
Watercolor portrait
Shape Pizza
Remember that the students should dress in our colors of the day
- Monday: Yellow and Blue
- Tuesday: Red and Purple
- Wednesday: Pink and Green
- Thursday: Orange and Brown
- Friday: Rainbow
  
  Writing
  We will continue to independent journal this week. We start with how to make a WOW Picture and come up with a list of topics to write about. Students are encouraged to draw very detailed pictures and the students who can write words/letters are encouraged to do so.
  
  Math
- Math Survey
- Marshmallow Stamping ABAB Patterns
- Fruit Loop ABC Patterns
- M&M Graphing
- Shape Robot
- Shapes
  - Oval, Hexagon, Trapezoid, Diamond/Rhombus, Square, Circle, Rectangle, Triangle
- Centers
  - Explore classroom manipulatives
    
    Closing Circle
  - Each day three students will be asked to share something they liked that day and someone who was nice that day.
  - Good bye song.
  - Secret Student
    
    Snack: Girls donate this month. Please make sure to send a whole class snack (21 students) one day this month.
    
    Upcoming Important Dates:
  - Warrior Wednesday - Every Wednesday students should wear Ray gear or green to show their Warrior pride!
  - Wednesdays - Library books due!
    
    Reminders:
  - Please check regularly and use the Things To Be Working On At Home link on the blog.
  - Every Friday morning is the Student Town Hall Meeting. They will be escorted into the school (auditorium) by support staff at 8:45 for the Town Hall Meeting. They will then be escorted to the classroom at 9:15 a.m.
  - Homework starts this week. A packet is given on Monday and due on Friday.
  - School starts promptly at 8:45 a.m. Dismissal is at 3:45 p.m.
  - Student folders are to come back and forth from school each day. Folders should be emptied out each night and anything that needs to be returned to school should be placed in the left side. Students have the responsibility of turning their folder in to me each day.
  - You may contact me at rmaltz@cps.edu or by calling the school. My blog address is rmaltz.weebly.com. Check my website often for updates. Please look around my website and the Ray School website; questions you have may be answered on them.
  - Room 101 loves having volunteers, however I will not be asking for volunteers until October/November. You will need to fill out a volunteer packet and follow any directions given in that packet. Information about volunteering at Ray is on the Ray School website.
  - We will be having monthly birthday celebrations. You will receive a letter the month of your child’s birthday with all the information. July and August birthdays will be celebrated in June.

Colors Week

9/20/2018

Dear Kindergarten Families,

Next week we are learning all about COLORS! We will be learning songs, reading great books, and doing some wonderful color experiments. We want our kindergarten kiddos to stand out so, we will be dressing for the color of the day too. Make sure your child dresses in the color that we are learning about each day. Here is our schedule for next week…

Wear the following colors on the given day.
Monday: yellow, blue
Tuesday: red, purple
Wednesday: pink, green
Thursday: orange, brown
Friday: rainbow

Activity Wish List for each class:
Chocolate M&Ms
Large Marshmallows
Fruit Loops

If you can donate any of the above items, please fill out and return the bottom part of this paper.

Have a colorful day,

The Kindergarten Team

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Student’s Name: _________________________________________________________

Item to Donate: __________________________________________________________

Email: _________________________________________________________________

*Please do not bring in the item until the teacher has confirmed with you.*

Newsletter for the Week of September 17

9/14/2018

Morning Meeting

Greeting: Name Chant
Sharing: Favorite Food and Why
Activity: GoNoodle

Second Step (Social Emotional Learning): Focusing Attention

Calm Classroom (up to 3x/day)

Literacy
Who Let the Letters Out? song
No More Letter of the Week program
- This goes over one letter and its sound each day. This week we should get to T, short O, long O, K, short I. Students will list words beginning with those sounds to add to our reading wall.
Read Alouds
Read to Self - We have met our goal of 15 minutes!
We will start working on our next center: Read to Someone

Theme
All About Me and My Family
Rainbow Me
Read How Full Is Your Bucket? For Kids then complete a sorting activity and talk about what a bucket filler looks like, sounds like, feels like

Create an How to Be a Good Friend anchor chart and make a We Fit Together puzzle

Writing
We will continue to independent journal this week. We start with how to make a WOW Picture and come up with a list of topics to write about. Students are encouraged to draw very detailed pictures and the students who can write words/letters are encouraged to do so.

Math

Math Survey
Foot Measuring
Count and Sit Game
Various Graphing Activities
Letters in Name

Closing Circle
Each day three students will be asked to share something they liked that day and someone who was nice that day.
Good bye song.
Secret Student

Donor’s Choose: You did it! Thank you so much for helping to get the project funded.

Snack: Girls donate this month. Please make sure to send a whole class snack (21 students) one day this month.

Upcoming Important Dates:
Wednesday, September 19th - Scholastic Book Orders due. Please consider ordering books from Scholastic as all books bought earn points for me to get books and resources for the classroom.
Friday, September 21st - All About My Family Project due
Warrior Wednesday - Every Wednesday students should wear Ray gear or green to show their Warrior pride!

Wednesdays - Library books due!
Reminders:
Please check regularly and use the Things To Be Working On At Home link on the blog.
Every Friday morning is the Student Town Hall Meeting. They will be escorted into the school (auditorium) by support staff at 8:45 for the Town Hall Meeting. They will then be escorted to the classroom at 9:15 a.m.
We have not started homework yet, but please get in the habit of or continue reading at least 20 minutes a day with your child.
- Your child will have time to free draw on scratch paper throughout the week. They will be reusing old paper. This is not homework to be turned in, I will let you know when homework starts.
School starts promptly at 8:45 a.m. I will pick up the students on the north playground at the spot labeled 101.
Dismissal is at 3:45 p.m. I will dismiss the students at the wall near the doors of the north playground. If your child is going home with someone new, please send a note or email letting me know.
Students may bring water bottles to keep in the classroom. They must have a secure lid that students can open and close to prevent spills. Only water may be kept in the water bottle in the classroom.
Student folders are to come back and forth from school each day. Folders should be emptied out each night and anything that needs to be returned to school should be placed in the left side. Students have the responsibility of turning their folder in to me each day.
Accidents happen. It is preferred that students keep an extra pair of clothes at school.
You may contact me at rmaltz@cps.edu or by calling the school. My blog address is rmaltz.weebly.com. Check my website often for updates. Please look around my website and the Ray School website; questions you have may be answered on them.
Room 101 loves having volunteers, however I will not be asking for volunteers until October. You will need to fill out a volunteer packet and follow any directions given in that packet. Information about volunteering at Ray is on the Ray School website.
If you would like to go paperless with my weekly newsletter, send me an email to let me know.
We will be having monthly birthday celebrations. You will receive a letter the month of your child’s birthday with all the information. July and August birthdays will be celebrated in June.

Open House Information

9/14/2018

Room 101 Schedule 2018-2019
8:45 a.m. – Morning Meeting
9:00 a.m. – Literacy
10:45 a.m – Lunch/Recess
11:30 a.m. - Quiet Time/Math Centers
12:45 p.m. - Specials (Rotate every five weeks, currently we have Library and PE {always T/TH })
1:45 p.m. - Recess/Snack
2:00 p.m - Math
2:45 p.m. -Theme*/Writing
3:30 p.m. - Closing Circle/Pack Up
3:45 p.m. — Dismissal

Drop Off and Pick-Up

Drop Off - 8:45 a.m. at the classroom number (101) on the north playground
Pick-Up - 3:45 p.m. at north entrance playground doors
- More information in the Ray School Student and Parent Handbook: http://rayschool.weebly.com/uploads/3/8/3/4/38342977/ray_school_parent_handbook.2018-19.pdf

Morning Meeting

Builds community in the classroom
Greeting
Sharing
Activity
GoNoodle (Movement Break, involving either yoga or dance)
Morning Message
Calendar

Literacy

Centers - Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listening Center, Work Work, Writing, iPads, Act it Out, Art Center, Teacher Time, Volunteer Led Activities
Small group centers, mini-lessons in whole group
Weekly comprehension skill during small groups and read alouds
Sight Words, Letter and Sounds, Phonics/Phonemic Awareness Program, Sight Word Songs, Predictable Sentence
Reading Level Expectations
- Beginning of the year: Reading Behavior or A
- Middle of the year: B or C
- End of the year: C or D

*Reading levels are based on Amplify Text Reading Comprehension levels.

Social Emotional Learning

Calm Classroom
- Mindfulness-based techniques done up to three times a day
Second Step
- One topic per week that covers each day
- For example: Learning to Listen, Feelings, Caring and Helping, Managing Anger, Solving Problems

Math

Everyday Math
- mini lessons, centers
Small group hands on centers
- For example: Blocks, Magna Tiles, Math Manipulatives, Geoboards, Patterning, Teacher Table, iPad App

Theme (Social Studies/Science)

Weekly and biweekly themes
Topic of theme is incorporated in all subject levels
- For Example: Apples
  - Science: Apple Volcanoes, Apple Germ Experiment, Parts of an Apple, Making Applesauce and Sequencing
  - Math: Apple Graphing, Apple Measuring, Apple Sorting, Apple Patterns, Apple Weighing
  - Literacy and Writing: Sight Word Apples, Read Alouds about Apples, Magic Apples Writing, Apple Letter Sounds
- Aligned with the Illinois Social Studies and Next Generation Science Standards

Link for Social Studies standards: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/ss-stds-k-012716.pdf
Link for Science standards: http://www.nextgenscience.org/sites/default/files/K%20combined%20DCI%20standardsf.pdf

* Examples of Themes: Apples, Pumpkins, Spiders, Bats, Bears, Penguins, Fish, Snails, Snow, Gingerbread Stories, Colors and Shapes, All About Me, Character Education, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Black History, Asian Pacific Heritage, Dr. Seuss, Weather, Five Senses, Plants/Flowers, Zoo Animals, Insects, and more.

Writing

Writing is a progression throughout the year (see packet for more details)
We will start with sight words and first sounds in words
Students are encouraged to spell words phonetically except for sight words
WOW pictures

Closing Circle

Building community in the classroom
Reflect on the day
Goodbye song

Additional Information

Behavior Plans/Expectations

Each student has a “High Five Hand”
- When students are “caught being good” they get a sticker, five stickers gets them a prize
Secret Student

Birthdays

Birthdays will be celebrated the last Friday of each month with healthy snacks and/or non-perishable donations
A letter will be sent home with more information during the month of your child’s birthday
Summer birthdays will be celebrated in June

Classroom Volunteers

We love volunteers but won’t be starting with them until the end of October/beginning of November
If you would like to volunteer, even for one field trip, you must fill out the CPS Volunteer application: http://www.cpsvolunteers.org

Contact

Please check the classroom website regularly for any updates and news
My website is rmaltz.weebly.com
My email is rmaltz@cps.edu
ClassDojo - Please see the paper sent home on how to sign up or email me for directions
- Class announcements/reminders and pictures will be sent through ClassDojo
- Specials teachers are also connected to Room 101 on ClassDojo

Field Trips

Permission slip and fees are required for every field trip
Volunteers are needed
First field trip will be in October 16 to an Apple Orchard

Grading

Report cards are given out four times a year
After first and third quarters there are conferences, report cards are sent home after second and fourth quarters
4 = Exemplary, 3 = Proficient, 2 = Developing, 1 = Beginning, / = Not Assessed

Homework

Homework will be given weekly and is due on Fridays
Family projects are occasionally assigned

Movement Breaks

GoNoodle
Sight Word Songs/movement incorporated into content
We have two recesses a day

Sight Words

Sight words will be given weekly
Please go over them daily with your child
Students should be able to read and spell the sight words by the end of each week

Snack

Parents donate healthy, nut free, and store bought snacks weekly (pretzels, animal crackers, goldfish, veggies, fruits, etc..)
We have 25 students
Snack donation will rotate monthly between girl donating months and boy donating months
Girls are to donate snack in September

Ray Fall After-School Registrations Open!

9/11/2018

Renaissance Knights chess: K-8 grades, Mondays, 4-5 pm, register here.
Artifice Robotics beginner: 4-8 grades, Wednesdays, 4-5 pm, register here.
Artifice Robotics advanced: 4-8 grades, Thursdays, 4-5 pm, register here.

Kids W.A.Y Acting Academy: 1-8 grades, Tuesdays, 4-5 pm, register here, pay here.
Ray Ultimate Frisbee: 3-6 grades, T and Th, no cost, register here.
Latin Matters: M and W, 7:40-8:45 am OR T and Th, 7:40-8:45 am, register here.
We Got Game soccer: K-3 grades, Mondays, register here (new start date: 9/17).

We Got Game basketball: 1-4 grades. Fridays, register here.
Kenwood School of Ballet - Hip-Hop: K-8 grades, Wednesdays, register here.
Kenwood School of Ballet - Acrobatic dance: K-2 grades, Thursdays, register here.
Kenwood School of Ballet - ballet: K-2 grades, Fridays, register here.

Registrations now open for UofC's ArtShould! 1-3 grades, Tuesdays, 4-5 pm,
register here (start date is 10/15).

The following programs led by University of Chicago students will start later in October: Creative Writing (1-8) and Debate It Forward. Stay tuned through the Ray PTO ENews!

See after-school calendar here. Send questions to raylsc.parterships@gmail,com.

Newsletter for the Week of September 10

9/7/2018

Morning Meeting

Greeting: Name Clapping
Activity: GoNoodle
Second Step (Social Emotional Learning): Learning to Listen
Calm Classroom (up to 3x/day)

Literacy
Students will learn the song, Who Let the Letters Out? It is a wonderful letter and sound identification song
We will start our No More Letter of the Week program
- This goes over one letter and its sound each day. This week we should get to R, short E, long E, S, and N. Students will list words beginning with those sounds to add to our reading wall.
Tall, Short, and Tail Letters
Letters or Words?
Read Alouds
We will continue working towards our goal of 15 minutes in Read to Self, which is the first literacy center we are learning. The students were very impressive in read to self week one. Once we meet our goal we will learn our next center - Read to Someone.

Theme
All About Me and My Family
Read Chrysanthemum then make a self portrait
How Many People Live in My House?
All About Me People
Read Alouds

Writing
We will continue to independent journal this week. We start with how to make a WOW Picture and come up with a list of topics to write about. Students are encouraged to draw very detailed pictures and the students who can write words/letters are encouraged to do so.

Math
Math Survey
Partner Match
Introduction to Pattern Blocks
Gotcha: A Counting Game
Number Walk
Getting to Know Numbers
Math Centers
- Students will get to explore different activities/manipulatives in our math center
  
  Closing Circle
- Each day three students will be asked to share something they liked that day and someone who was nice that day.
- Good bye song.
- Secret Student
  
  Donor’s Choose: You did it! Thank you so much for helping to get the project funded.
  
  Snack: Girls donate this month. Please make sure to send a whole class snack (24 students) one day this month.
  
  Upcoming Important Dates:
- Thursday, September 13th - Open House starting at 4:30 p.m. During this time you are free to visit your child(ren)’s classroom(s). I will not be giving a formal presentation but there will be a packet of information available.
- Wednesday, September 19th - Scholastic Book Orders due. Please consider ordering books from Scholastic as all books bought earn points for me to get books and resources for the classroom.
- Friday, September 21st - All About My Family Project due
- Reminders:
- Please check regularly and use the Things To Be Working On At Home link on the blog.
- Every Friday morning is the Student Town Hall Meeting. They will be escorted into the school (auditorium) by support staff at 8:45 for the Town Hall Meeting. They will then be escorted to the classroom at 9:15 a.m.
- We have not started homework yet, but please get in the habit of or continue reading at least 20 minutes a day with your child.
  - Your child will have time to free draw on scratch paper throughout the week. They will be reusing old paper. This is not homework to be turned in, I will let you know when homework starts.
- School starts promptly at 8:45 a.m. I will pick up the students on the north playground at the spot labeled 101. If a student is tardy they should go directly to the security desk and obtain a tardy slip. They will then hand that to me when they get to the classroom.
- Dismissal is at 3:45 p.m. I will dismiss the students at the wall near the doors of the north playground. Students are handed off directly to the person picking them up. Students must say good-bye to me and give me a high five before they leave. Adults picking up the children should walk to me, I will not be sending children across the playground or out the gates to someone. If your child is going home with someone new, please send a note or email letting me know.
- Students may bring water bottles to keep in the classroom. They must have a secure lid that students can open and close to prevent spills. Only water may be kept in the water bottle in the classroom.
- Student folders are to come back and forth from school each day. Folders should be emptied out each night and anything that needs to be returned to school should be placed in the left side. Students have the responsibility of turning their folder in to me each day.
- Accidents happen. It is preferred that students keep an extra pair of clothes at school.
- Lunch is free for all students though students may bring a lunch from home.
- Breakfast is served in the cafeteria and is available for free to all students. If a student would like breakfast they should be at the cafeteria around 8:20 a.m. to eat before school gets started.
- You may contact me at rmaltz@cps.edu or by calling the school. My blog address is rmaltz.weebly.com. Check my website often for updates. Please look around my website and the Ray School website; questions you have may be answered on them.
- Room 101 loves having volunteers, however I will not be asking for volunteers until October. You will need to fill out a volunteer packet and follow any directions given in that packet. Information about volunteering at Ray is on the Ray School website.
- If you would like to go paperless with my weekly newsletter, send me an email to let me know.
- We will be having monthly birthday celebrations. You will receive a letter the month of your child’s birthday with all the information. July and August birthdays will be celebrated in June.
- I am really looking forward to a great school year!
- Warrior Wednesday - Every Wednesday students should wear Ray gear or green to show their Warrior pride!

All About My Family Project

9/7/2018

Dear Kindergarten Families,
We are starting our “All About My Family” unit and we want to celebrate what makes all of our families special. To wrap up the unit, students will be creating posters at home with pictures and writings about their families and traditions to present to their classmates at school. Please assist your child in creating a poster to explain what makes your family and/or traditions special and unique. Here are some brainstorming questions as you are creating the poster:

Who are the members of my family?
What traditions or holidays do we share?
What responsibilities do you share with your family?
What are the rules in my family?

Please bring the posters by Friday, September 21st.

Sincerely,
The Kindergarten Team

*Please note you will be getting a paper copy of this letter on Monday