January 15, 2010

Dear Parents,

We’ve completed our reading theme test.  Once again this test was taken with full support.  I’ll send it home in your child’s next Friday folder.  Next week we will begin a new reading unit called “Sharing Time.”  It includes stories called The Doorbell Rang, The Little Red Hen and Flower Garden.  Also poems such as “My Mami Takes Me to the Bakery,” “Together” and “Flowers.”  Enclosed are the new vocabulary words for this unit.  Please take time to review these words with your child.  Over the next few weeks, you will see four books come home: I Like Cats, A Big Help, Great Frogs! and In the Cow’s Backyard.  These books will include the new vocabulary words.

Students will begin spelling next week.  Your child took a spelling assessment.  Your child’s assessment is enclosed.  Please practice these words, because this test will be given again at the end of the school year.  Your child should know these words by the end of the year.  Our class average was 43 words out of 90, or 49%.  Any misspelled words were added to your child’s spelling list.  Words are added to your child’s list from the spelling assessment and his/her daily writing.  Each week I will choose five words for your child. Students will bring home their spelling list on Mondays.  On Wednesdays your child’s homework will be to practice his/her spelling words.  The test will be given on Thursdays.  The first list will come home next Monday.  Please note that we will have spelling words next week, but the following week (January 25-29) we will not have spelling words due to the teacher in-service on Monday, January 25^th.

Mrs. Niederstadt's Class Page

The Main Elementary Page for 2009-2010

 It’s war!  We are having a box top label war from kindergarten to 12^th grade.  I have a “good” and a “bad” container in my room to help sort the labels.  The “good” labels are box tops because they add points.  The “bad” labels are Campbell, Tyson and Spartan labels.  They subtract points.  Enclosed in another sheet reviewing the information, but here are the highlights.  It ends on March 22, 2010.  The winning grade gets an ice cream party.  The school benefits because all the labels collected at the end of the contest are used to purchase many of our recess equipment: basketballs, footballs, rubber balls, jump ropes, hula hoops, etc.  As of yesterday, here are the scores: K – 499, First – 503, Second – 1635, Third – 2655, Fourth – 2394, Fifth – 4118, Sixth – 0, Seventh - -44, Eighth – 6, Ninth – 2158, Tenth - -10, Eleventh - -1, and Twelfth - -1.   We are in sixth place.

The following are dates that you may want to add to your calendar:

• Good Behavior Ski Day paperwork due – January 21

• Teacher In-Service (No School) – January 22 & 25

• Onekama Public Library – January 28

• School Store – February 5

• Good Behavior Ski Day – February 9  (1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd)

• Valentine’s Day party – February 11 at 11:45 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

• Winter Break (No School) – February 12 & 15

Warmly,
Shantel