COVID Preparation (Just in Case!)

Dear Kindergarten Rolling Hills Families,

Like many districts in Idaho, Rolling Hills is assessing our alternative learning plan in the case of a prolonged school closure due to a community health or weather emergency. Currently we are planning for response to COVID – 19, should it affect our education setting. Through on-line learning resources, our teachers are equipped to provide an alternative educational experience for your child(ren). Parents, please see your child’s homeroom teacher for necessary passwords and access to the websites. 

Please reply to this email if your student does NOT have access to a home computer. 

While at school, we are continuing to practice common sense hygiene, including frequent hand washing and classroom sanitization. Should you have any questions about Rolling Hills’ response to this evolving situation, please contact Mr. Pratt, 208-939-5400 or e-mail spratt@rhpcs.org

Regards,

Shane Pratt and Michelle Korn

January News

REPORT CARDS

You should have found your child's report card in their Friday Folder. Please take a look at it and if you have any questions PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!

FIELD TRIP

Thanks to the PFA, we are so lucky to be able to enjoy a second field trip this year! We will be heading to THE BOISE WATERSHED on Friday February 7. You should see a yellow permission slip in your child's Friday folder. Please sign and return both pages before Wednesday Jan. 29. Also, we can only take 8 parents on this field trip, so those will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis. Please contact me immediately if you are interested. Reminder, if you would like to chaperone, childcare should be found for siblings. 🙂

PARENT COMMUNICATION

If you are need of information or would like more opportunities to know what it going on in our classroom, please see the following resources:

• Kindergarten Website (weekly schedule, important dates, sight word lists, etc) https://rollinghillskindergarten.blogspot.com/ 
• Seesaw App (quick updates/reminders, quick contact, student work/classroom activities) https://app.seesaw.me/s/282-662-980 

CURRENT VOLUNTEER SCHEDULE

If you would like to volunteer in a spot that is needed or any other time you are available, please contact me!

Room Parent: Chris and Cassidy Bowman-Prideaux

Art Parent: Mark and Karolyne Gutzwiller and Sarah Dickey

Monday: ___________________(Math Fluency 9:15-10:30)

Tuesday: ____________________(Centers 8:00-9:30)

               Vanessa Vincent (Sight Words 9:15-10:50)

               Jessica Bertagnolli (10:50-12:00)

               Chelsea Chambers (Reading Fluency 1:30-2:30)

Wednesday: Dalece Sardina (Centers 8:00-9:30)

                    Ruth Lynn (Reading Fluency 1:30-2:30)

Thursday: _____________________ (Centers 8:00-9:30)

                 Vanessa Vincent (Sight Words 9:15-10:50)

                 Stephanie Bergener (Math Fluency 9:15-10:00)

                 Kysa Cooper (10:00-12:45)

Friday: ___________________(Sight Word Fluency 9:15-10:30)

            Samantha Osborn (Friday Folders 1:00-2:30)

PACT

NO PACT this Friday January 31. Friday Feb. 7 we will be making marshmallow shapes.

SIGHT WORDS

Since we are half way through the year, it is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that your child PRACTICES SIGHT WORDS EVERY NIGHT for 10-15 minutes. In this last Friday folder, I sent home a list of games you can play to practice. To be ready for 1st grade and to remain confident and successful in their reading, they must learn a minimum of the first 6 lists (120 words). If you need a new list, please let me know or you can find them on the website. The list of sight words that comes home with your child  STAYS AT HOME! I have flashcards in the classroom that are used when assessing them. This way they can't just memorize the order 😋 and they really have to know the words. When practicing sight words, remind them that some do not make any sense to sound out and that is why they have to learn them from sight. I do not assign additional homework as this should be a priority!!!

MATH

We just finished up our teen numbers unit. Ask your child to explain to you about place value, focusing on a group of ten and some more (10 and 4 make 14). For additional practice, offer writing practice, making sure they write their numbers the correct way. Next, we do a short unit on shapes. This will include 2-D/flat shapes (square, triangle, circle, etc.) and 3-D/solid shapes (cube, sphere, cylinder, etc.). Many of your children can already recognize and name these shapes but we will focus on how many corners/vertices, sides and functions each have. We will also practice building and drawing them. 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

This month we focus a lot of time of different digraph sounds (th, ch, sh, wh, ph, ng) and vowel team sounds (ee, ea, ou). Our focus on single letter names and sounds gets reduced quite a bit. Please review these often with your child, as well as ask them to write the letter that matches the sound. We continue to read our leveled readers and are becoming more fluent. Please take time to read with your child every night. If you are in need of any beginning reader books, please reach out. I will also begin sending home short passages (as needed) for your child to practice. 

WRITING

We just completed our narrative writing unit and you can see their stories hanging outside the classroom (some are still working on theirs but should be complete by the end of the week). Students are focusing on different goals in their writing. Most goals include handwriting, adding more detail, becoming more independent, remembering spaces and proper capitalization/punctuation or just getting an idea on paper. We will move into February focusing on letter writing.

GRAMMAR

You have probably seen many half page papers sent home over the last few weeks. These are part of our grammar units. Students have learned what a noun and verb is and are beginning adjectives this week. They are also beginning to learn parts of a sentence (subject). Can you believe that this is happening in kindergarten? It is so exciting to see them work on these difficult concepts!

SPECIALS

If you have questions about science, computer, music, P.E., Library or Wellness, please reach out to their specials teachers. You can find them on the Rolling Hills website, their report card or email me.

September News

KINDERGARTEN SPECIALS SCHEDULE

Monday: 11:20-12:00-Science

                 12:45-1:30-P.E.

Tuesday: 11:20-12:00-Computer

                 12:45-1:30-Music

Wednesday: 11:20-12:00-Science

                 12:45-1:30-P.E.

Thursday: 10:00-10:30- Library

                 11:20-12:00-Computer

                 12:45-1:30-Music

Friday: 11:20-11:50- World Studies

BOOK ORDERS

This last Friday, you should have seen your child's first book order form. Please go online and make your orders before next Friday (Sept. 20). I attached a sheet with directions how to do this. If online isn't your thing, please follow the instructions how to send your into me.

PACT (Parent and Child Time)

Friday Sept. 13- Math art project

Friday Sept. 20- Read Alouds

Friday Sept. 27- NO PACT

ELA (English Language Arts)

We have now mastered all of the lines that we use when writing letters. This fine motor skills can be quite challenging for kids, so it has been important that they learn the language I will use when teaching them how to write letters, as well as practice making those lines. On Monday, we will begin learning letters and will focus greatly on letter sounds. The idea of learning sound before names will help them transfer over to reading more quickly. Each unit focuses on 8 letters, where we learn how to write the letter, what the sound is and how to use them in words. Over the next few weeks, you will begin to hear a lot of sounding out. For students who are already reading, they will begin literature circles!

MATH

Your students are now able to write, use, manipulate, subitize (ask them what this is and if they don't remember I encourage you to look it up. This is such an important skill)...numbers 0-5. On Friday, we will begin Unit 2, sorting and classifying. Throughout the next few months, you will see activities that continue allowing them to practicing writing numbers. Reversals happen a lot, which is normal but it is helpful to correct them as you see them. 

WRITING

ILLUSTRATORS!! Your child has been busy learning how to tell a story using pictures. Their goals include:

• Showing stamina in writing (writing/illustrating the entire allotted time. We are up to 15 minutes)
• Using different writing tools (crayons, markers, pencils)
• Telling a story using pictures and labels
• Using detail in their stories (more than 2 colors, adding a background, character, etc).
• Retelling their story (sometimes to me, a friend or aloud)

They have learned what a rubric is and I am able to discuss and give feedback to individual strengths and opportunities. Most of our writing and rubrics are in our writing notebooks. You are always able to view them, we will look at them at parent-teacher conferences and they will go home with students at the end of the year, so you can see their progress.

L​ITERACY NIGHT

There have not been any formal flyers sent home, yet, but please keep your calendars open to join us for our Title 1 Literacy Night on Monday, Sept. 30 at 5:30. More info to come.

Alright, I think that is enough for now. If you have any questions, please ask!!