It's a Girl! - Harper Kate Snodgrass

I had my little girl, Harper Kate on September 9th at 11:11 pm. She weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces. She's growing quickly and it's so fun to see all of the things she is learning to do. She rolled over tonight from her tummy to her back! I'm enjoying every minute of being at home, but I also miss teaching my class. It was so fun to go and visit. I've visited the classroom three times now and took Harper Kate to visit one time. The boys and girls were excited to see her and it was fun to see their expressions when they met the little girl that was "making my belly so big."

I know your children are doing wonderful with Ms. Powers and Mr. Linzell and I will be back soon!

Open House

We will have Kindergarten Open House on Monday, September 12th from 5:00 to 6:00. This will give you the opportunity to see your child's classroom and learn about a couple of things your child has been doing. :) I plan to be present unless my doctor says otherwise. Ms. Powers, the long term substitute will also be present for you to meet her. Can't wait to see all of you there!

What a Great Class!!

The class is doing great! We have been working on writing our names and they have really been making great improvements. They have also been getting along well with each other and I'm so excited to see all of the gains this class will make! :)

Great First Day!!

Today was a great first day!! The students were excited and eager to learn new things and to play in the classroom. Everyone made new friends and enjoyed their day. I know tomorrow will be even better!!

2011 - 2012 School Year

If you have not registered your child for Kindergarten, please go to the school and register as soon as possible. Also, please sign up for a time to attend the Kindergarten Kick Off on either Friday, July 29th or Monday, August 1st. This will give us a wonderful opportunity to get to know your child and for them to begin to feel comfortable in their new school!

Also, please attend the Back to School Orientation on August 4th at 6:00. This will give you the opportunity to meet your child's teacher. Also, feel free to bring your child's school supplies to minimize first day jitters.

I look forward to meeting you!!

Thank You

Parents:
Thank you so much for all of your support this year. Your child has made excellent gains because of your help at home!! :) I know your child will do excellent in first grade and I will miss them next year! Please feel free to allow your child to email me over the summer - katie.snodgrass@fayette.kyschools.us . I would love to hear from them!! Thank you again for all of your help!!

Mrs. Katie

Trip to Kenawood Park

We will be walking to Kenawood Park on Friday, May 20th. We will have a picnic lunch. If you checked on the permission slip that your child will be bringing a lunch from home, don't forget to send their lunch with a drink included in a bag that can be thrown away (no lunch boxes, please). Also, here are a few other things to remember:
- Dress your child appropriately according to weather predictions.
- Please dress your child in tennis shoes for our walking trip--- no flip flops or sandals, please.
- If you would like your child to wear sunscreen, please put it on them before they come to school.
- Please dress your child in their blue "Kindergarten Kiddos" t-shirt. If you cannot find your child's teacher, you can dress them in a blue t-shirt.
Thanks so much! We are looking forward to this fun trip!

Testing

Our class finished MAP testing today. They did wonderful and made huge gains!! :) We are so proud of them!! The other students are still continuing to test.

The intermediate students are working hard on their KCCT testing. Due to their testing, our specials schedule has changed. Some days we do not have specials at all and other days, our specials time is cut down to 25 minutes instead of an hour. We understand that specials is a very important and exciting part of our students' day. They often start their day by asking, "Where do we go for specials today?" Due to this schedule change, we have been trying to work in more breaks such as outside time and movies. We have been staying with the curriculum, but we also feel that these breaks are necessary. We have also been using the outside time and movies as a reward for their hard work. This helps the students to not feel as anxious and helps minimize behavior issues and concerns. This also allows them to continue to try their best on any activities throughout the day without feeling tired.

Thanks for your support in this decision.

Upcoming Dates

Please make sure to view the upcoming important dates on the May/June calendar. We started MAP testing today and the kids did WONDERFUL!! We will finish MAP testing next Wednesday. We will also be walking to Kenawood Park on May 20th. Field Day is scheduled for May 27th.

Field Trip - Salato Wildlife Center

The Kindergarten will be taking a field trip to the Salato Wildlife Center in Frankfort on Wednesday, April 20th. If you have not done so, please return the permission slip signed and $4.00 to school. The $4.00 will cover the cost of the buses. The admission to Salato is free. You also need to check on the permission slip if your child will be bringing a lunch from home or if they will need a lunch from school. Please dress your child for appropriate weather. :) We are looking forward to this trip!

Conferences

If you have not done so already, please sign up for a conference for this week or next. If the times do not work with you, I can be flexible. I will be passing out your child's report card at the conference. I can't wait to discuss all of the progress that your child has made!!

Mrs. Katie's Exciting News

I'm so excited to announce that I am pregnant. I'm almost 13 weeks along right now and the baby is due September 20th. I was so excited to tell the kids on Thursday.

Wow!! We have made wonderful gains!!

We would like to brag on our students!! The MAP and DIBELS scores are in and everyone made gains from the beginning of the school year! We are so proud of all of our boys and girls and the progress that they have made. I hope that you enjoyed receiving their test scores in their folder last week. Please discuss these scores with your child.

We will take the MAP and DIBELS tests again at the end of the school year. Here are a few things you can work on at home with your child to help with these tests:
- Time your child to see how many letters they say in 1 minute - ex: M t  d  K p F -- The goal at the end of the school year is 40 letters in 1 minute.
- Time your child to see how many nonsense words they can read in 1 minute - ex: cuz, dib, wej.
- Practice segmenting words. ex: cat = c/a/t
- Practice rhyming words. ex: What rhymes with dog? Do dog and cat rhyme?
- Practice popcorn words and the word bag daily. Return the word bag to school when they know the words.
- Practice writing the popcorn words in a sentence.
- Practice counting to 50.
- Practice writing numbers to 20.
- Practice patterns. Ask your child to identify the pattern. -ex: XOXOXO is an AB pattern.
- Practice identifying the names of the coins and their worth.


Thanks so much for your support at home! It is greatly appreciated!

Thanks - Valentine's Day

Thanks to everyone for providing items for our Valentine's Day party. The students really enjoyed eating their snacks and looking at all of their valentines!

Study Island

Deep Springs has recently acquired a new computer program. The program is called Study Island. This is a great program to help prepare the students for our computerized MAP testing. You can use this program at home!! Simply go to http://www.studyisland.com/. Then, type in your child’s username and password (see below) and select either Reading or Math. Then, select a section you want them to work on and make sure it is in “Test Mode.” This website also includes printable worksheets and games that can be used at home. We will also be using this program at school. Your child will have greater benefits if they are using this program at home AND school. Thanks so much for you help!!

User name: First name. Last name. dse            ex: Katie. Snodgrass. dse

Password: dragon

100th Day of School

The 100th day of school is quickly approaching!! If we do not have anymore snow days, the 100th day of school will be Thursday, February 3rd. We will be doing several activities throughout the day to celebrate the 100th day. We will write numbers to 100, write 100 words, count to 100, and will wear 100 day crowns. Also, we would like for your child to bring in 100 small objects. Some examples are: 100 pennies, 100 pieces of cereal, 100 pieces of candy, 100 buttons, etc. Please send the objects in a plastic bag or container with your child's name on it. You can begin sending these objects in by Tuesday, February 1st. Your child will get to present the objects to the class and we will count the objects as a group. The 100 objects will be returned to you. Thanks and we look forward to this fun day with the students!

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to school!! I hope everyone had a wonderful break.

We have had a great first couple of weeks back. All of the students needed reminders about the expectations and rules, but we are finally starting to get back into the swing of things. It's kind of hard with all of these snow days that we've been having!! :)

We will be doing the MAP and DIBELS tests starting next week. We are so excited for these tests to show all of the great progress that your child is making. They will be tested in Reading and Math. Please make sure that your child is getting plenty of sleep at night and a good breakfast next week. Thanks for all you do at home.