Week of April 15-19,2013

Kindergarten News 

~This week we will be learning the digraph sh sound and will be introducing the two sounds of digraph th.  Digraph th makes a voiced (vibrating) sound as in feather and an unvoiced sound as in thimble.  This will be difficult, so going over daily worksheets to review would be helpful!  Please continue to practice writing and reviewing sounds with your child at home.  There will be NO Show and Tell.

**Word List 23 will be tested on Friday, April 19^th.  Practice daily!!!

~For Reading we will begin Unit 6:  Building Our Homes.  The first story will be titled, “Homes Around the World”.  We will be talking about different homes around the world.  We will be reviewing phonics skills and the comprehension skill, compare and contrast.  Watch for your new Family Times newsletter on Monday.

~In Math, we will be acting out and drawing “some, some more” stories and solving a problem by guessing and checking.  We will identify a cone and sort three dimensional objects. (cone, cylinder, cube, and sphere)  Students will continue to practice counting from 0-20 and identifying numbers 11-30, and we will be identifying the time of day as day or night, and morning, afternoon, or evening.  We will be counting by 2’s and learning about even and odd numbers, as well as acting out story problems for subtraction.  Please review daily practice pages!

~The last round of DIBELS testing will begin in two weeks.  Students will be tested on many of the same skills as they were at the mid-year testing.  Review blending sounds to read nonsense words and break words apart into the individual sounds, or phonemes.

~At the end of April and/or beginning of May the Reading teachers will test each child for an End-of-the-year Kindergarten test.  Children will need to write a dictated sentence or two, recognize, write, and give the sound of every letter of the alphabet, be able to provide a word that begins with every letter of the alphabet, and be able to write as many words correctly in 10 minutes.  (HINT:  word families provide lots of words)  Please try at home to work on some of the areas to be tested to ensure that your child is fully prepared. 

            ~Scholastic book orders for the month are due on Wednesday, April 17^th for anyone interested in ordering.

            ~White order forms for our Kindergarten Graduation DVD were sent home in your child’s folder this week.  Please return it to your child’s teacher no later than Wednesday, May 8^th.  PLEASE NOTE:  NO orders will be taken after this date in order to have the DVDs by the end of school.  **Each DVD will be $10 and checks can be made out to Legal-Eze video.

            ~FYI:  Names of the participants of the READ-AT-HOME challenge (I’m a Reader! Contracts) from Newspaper in Education Week were printed in the Tuesday, April 9^th edition of the Republican & Herald newspaper.

            ~If your child plays baseball for an organized team, then please do not have your child wear his/her team cap to school.  We do not want the caps to get lost or forgotten at school, resulting in your child missing his/her cap for a game.  Thank you!!!

Just a few reminders:

--Entries for the Ashland Borough’s Mothers Day Contest are due by Tuesday, April 29^th.  Winning entries will be read at the ceremony on May 12^th at the Mothers Memorial in Ashland @ 7:00PM.

--Yearbook orders/money will be due soon for anyone interested in ordering a 2012-2013 NSE Yearbook.  Cost per yearbook is $17.00.  **Checks are to be made payable to:   NSE PTO

Monday, April 15^th will be Day 2 – Be sure to wear gym attire and sneakers on Monday!  Don’t forget library books for exchange on Wednesday, April 17^th.