Welcome to Kindergarten! :)

I hope you are having a terrific summer! I can’t wait to meet you and hear all about it! I have been spending lots of time with my four children, my husband, and my dog.  I have also been very busy getting our classroom ready for the school year and planning many fun things to do together.

I am looking forward to meeting you on September 2nd, 3:00 - 4:00. This is a great chance to meet some of your classmates, find your cubby, and drop off your classroom supplies. Below is a list of the classroom supplies that you will need each day!

These items will be community supplies – please do not label with your child’s name: 2 Boxes 24 crayons 12 sharpened yellow #2 pencils 1 Pink Eraser 2 Boxes markers (boys) 2 Boxes colored pencils (girls) 10 large Elmer’s glue sticks 8 dry erase markers 1 4-pack play dough (optional)

Please label the following items with your child’s name: 1 pair of scissors 2 laminated 2-pocket folders (pockets on the bottom) 1 Primary journal (Mead Brand - vertical pages and has primary lines with a place for a picture on each page)

This blog will be updated weekly once school begins. Please bookmark this site and check it throughout the school year. In an effort to save paper, I will not be sending home weekly newsletters.  Thank you for your support.  I am looking forward to a great year!  Enjoy the rest of your summer :)

Sincerely,
Mrs. Eileen Browne :)

June 16th

Thank you so much for attending our Kindergarten Graduation.  We hope you enjoyed our songs and treats. The children were super excited and did a terrific job!  They have been singing their little hearts out each day. :)  Also, thank you to all of the families that donated  treats and supplies to make this event special. 

We are truly in the 'homestretch' of the school year.  I am currently organizing pictures and reflecting on the children's work from this year.  I can't help but notice how much the children have grown ~ in every single way!  Some are missing teeth, some have shorter hair and some have longer hair, and they all have simply stretched out and lost that 'preschool baby look'.  These kids are readers, writers, poets, scientists, and mathematicians.  They are loving, kind, polite, and filled with growing confidence.  Please know how very proud I am of each and every child.  They have all come so far since our early days of September and are now ready to rock First Grade!

During our final days we will spend time reading, writing, playing, and getting ready to be First Graders.  Eagle's Field Day is Friday, June 20th.  Please have your child wear his/her orange graduation shirt, socks, sneakers, & sunscreen to school on this day.  Water bottles and baseball hats are also great ideas...especially if the weather is sunny & hot!  The children will participate in many different fun activities during the day.  The main goals are teamwork, cooperation, following rules, and having fun!

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Eileen Browne
PS  I hope your families have a wonderful 'Father's Day' and enjoy the project that your child made for your family. 

Welcome June!

Wow!  We are truly getting into the final stretch of our school year.  We still have many fun activities planned to help us learn, play, and grow each day. 

Our graduation t-shirts are here! Please check your child's backpack on Monday for his/her t-shirt.  The children should wear their t-shirts to school on Friday (for Kindergarten Graduation) and the following Friday (for Field Day).  The children are very excited to sing some songs and share some treats next week with family and friends.  Please send back the purple note if you haven't already done so.  It helps us with planning and setting up seating for Friday's celebration.  
 
On Tuesday we will be starting our Kindergarten Countdown to the end of the year. We will have fun counting the last 12 days of school. Each letter in the word KINDERGARTEN will represent an activity for the day.  A copy of the activities for this countdown will be sent home on Monday.  Tuesday is the first day of our countdown.  It will be K day, which will be Kindness Day. We will be showing kindness to our 4th grade buddies by making them thank you cards for a great year! Most of these activities will be done during the school day.  You do not need to worry about sending anything in from home, but we wanted you to be aware of our countdown. Be sure to ask your child all about it!  

Throughout the remainder of the school year we will be reading and learning about different sea creatures.  We will also continue to practice our Heart Words as we read and write each day.  During math we are working on sorting objects and identifying different types of shapes and patterns.  The end of the school year is approaching, but we are still learning each day!

Thank you for all of your support.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Eileen Browne :)

PS...  As the weather gets warmer, please feel free to send in a water bottle with your child each day.  The children may keep their water bottles at their tables.  Please fill all bottles with water only.  Thank you!

May 26th

I hope you all had a wonderful long weekend with your family and friends.  It's hard to believe that we are in the last week of May already!  The end of the school year is approaching, but we will continue with our kindergarten learning each day.  We have so many different fun topics to still learn.

This week we will continue to learn about sea creatures.  We are reading many different fiction and nonfiction books to help us with this unit. We will also create some fun projects to go along with our learning. :) 

During math, we will begin a new unit on measurement.  We will work with different types of materials to learn about measuring, weighing, and capacity.  Many of our lessons will involve working with hands on materials each day.  This is usually a fun unit that the kids really enjoy.

During writing, we are continuing our work on persuasive/opinion writing.  We have been reading many different books about taking care of the earth.  As a result, many children are writing letters to friends about the importance of keeping our earth clean and recycling. 

As readers,  the children are working on different Daily Five Literacy Stations each day.  I am currently taking some time to read with the children one on one instead of in groups during our literacy stations each day. 

We have also been reading books and talking about Memorial Day, the American flag, and different symbols in our country.  Tomorrow we will have a Memorial Day Assembly for the children.  If possible, please have your child wear red, white, and blue on Tuesday.

Thank you for your support! I hope you all have a terrific week.

Sincerely,
Eileen Browne

May 10th

I hope you are having a terrific weekend!  The end of the school year is getting closer and many families are very busy!  Below are a few reminders.

~Last week a note was sent home regarding Kindergarten Graduation T-Shirts.  If you have not already done so, please return the form with cash payment or a check made out to CASH. The children will wear the t-shirts for graduation and for our June field day activities.  We will be placing the order on Tuesday! 
~Our last Kindergarten Family Project (timeline of important events) was also sent home and is due May 20th.   The children love seeing pictures of one another!  
~Kindergarten Graduation will take place on Friday, June 13th at 9:45am.
~Eagle's Field Day will take place all day on Friday, June 20th.
~Our last official day of school is Wednesday, June 25th (Dismissal is at 12:10)

As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.  Happy Mother's Day! :)

Sincerely,
Eileen Browne 

Welcome May!

I hope you enjoyed the children's projects from our Dinosaur Exhibit!  We worked so hard and were very excited to show off our final pieces.  Most of the work was sent home on Friday.  The remaining projects will be sent home this week.

During this week, we will continue practicing reading and writing Word Wall words and working in our Daily Five literacy stations.  Thank you for returning the books each week!  It makes tracking our reading groups so much easier :)  As writers, we will practice the different ways to write persuasive/opinion pieces.  Last week we learned that we can write letters, poems, songs, and posters to help convince others to agree with our ideas.  This week we will work on adding more to our writing to make it even better!  The children are enjoying this new unit.

During math, we are working on building numbers 10-20.  We are using manipulatives, drawings, and number sentences to practice reading and writing these numbers.  For example:
10 (part) +5 (part) = 15 (whole) 

This week we will also begin reading books written and illustrated by Eric Carle.  This is one of my favorite children's authors!  We will read several books by Eric Carle and create beautiful projects to go along with them.   We will also read some books about mothers, grandmothers, and aunts as we prepare for Mother's Day! ;)

**On Friday, a note was sent home regarding Kindergarten Graduation T-Shirts.  Please return the form with cash payment or a check made out to CASH this week.  The children will wear the t-shirts for graduation and for our June field day activities.
**Our last Family Project directions was also sent home.  Have fun working on this final kindergarten project with your child.  I know that we will enjoy sharing them. :)

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and have a terrific week!

Sincerely,
Eileen Browne

Dinosaurs!

We have been so busy in our kindergarten classroom learning about dinosaurs.  We have some great dinosaur experts that are keeping me on my toes! :)  We have been reading many fiction and nonfiction books and creating many different fun projects.  On Friday we made dinosaur eggs with our 4th grade buddies.  This was a fun and messy adventure.  We will work on painting our eggs and wrapping up a few more projects before our Kindergarten Dinosaur Exhibit on Thursday, May 1st.    Our exhibit will take place from 2:00-2:45.  There will be a 'sign out sheet' for anyone who will be taking their child home following the exhibit on this day. 

Throughout the week we will continue to work on Word Wall, Writing Workshop, Handwriting, Daily Five Literacy Stations, Math lessons and so much more!  Last week we began a new writing unit:  Persuasive/Opinion Writing!  Our goal is to teach the children that they can use words and pictures to solve problems and make the world around them a better place.  So far we have had some kindergarten writers trying to persuade children how important it is to... put the caps on our markers and glue sticks, to keep our cubby area clean, to take care of our books, and to 'not break apart lego structures' that kids are working on.  We are off to a great start with this writing unit.  I am so very proud of the children's hard work and their growth in writing.

I am looking forward to seeing you on Thursday! :) 

Sincerely,
Eileen Browne