The NEW home page for SECOND SEMESTER can be found here!

Week 20 This is the week before winter break. The first few days are for end of semester assessments followed by our classroom party on Thursday hosted by Maria Osorno, Pam Foley and Myra Lee. All are welcome to participate. Monday we will make latkes with Mrs. Grabel and learn about Christmas trees around the world from Mrs. Smith (Ashby's mom).

**Week 19 The theme is Christmas Around the World. The traditions we will learn about include: Mexico, Denmark, Russia and the US. We will also learn about Kwanzaa. Ask you child if they know what a Kinara (kee-nar-a) is. If you have a tradition you would like to share just let me know when you can come in. Just keep in mind if you are not a 'trained volunteer' you must come at the 1:45 pm reading slot. This was the week of the media center's gingerbread man hunt. We gathered in the media center early Wednesday morning and were introduced to a very festive looking gingerbread boy and girl who sat on a shelf as we listened to the traditional story read by Mrs. Briggs. To our surprise at the end of the story the boy and girl had run away and we had to go wround the school looking for clues! In the end they had led us on a wild goose chase because we found them in the media center and Mrs. Briggs had cookies icing and candy waiting for us. We decorated the cookies and devoured them on the spot. FYI - Students are very wound up this week. Try to remind them they only have to behave for 5 more days! It's a crazy time of year in any elementary school.

Week 18 So what do pockets have to do with change? Just reach in your own pocket or pocket book and I'm sure you will find some coins jingling around. Change is the topic and this week we will talk about words that have two meanings in addition to change. I will be sending a note home requesting that each student fill a baggie with three small items someone might carry in their pocket. We will discuss and compare these items on Friday. We will also talk about change over the years. If students have a baby picture to share they can bring one (only one) to share any day this week.

Week 16 & 17 Good News! You can now learn about polar bears from your kids on-line. Just go to my classroom podcast site by clicking here . Fellow teachers are telling me they really did learn something by watching this first video podcast. I plan to ask the Cheetah Channel to play it one morning this week for the entire school! Some students also had the chance to type their facts into the class blog. Please ask them to read what they wrote as it may be a little difficult for you to decipher. I plan to incorporate more blogging in the new year as Tiffany will be with us for Language Arts and she'll be able to supervise this activity. I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving and time with your families. Our Language Arts them this month is change. Brown bears hibernate. This is a change! We dress more warmly for winter, this is a change. We look different from the way we looked last year. This is a change. This week we will be talking about and learning about bears. Polar bears do not hibernate in the same way other bears do, but because we have a bear theme this week we are also learning about how they live. We have been trying to spot a polar bear using this web cam from the San Diego Zoo. Maybe you'll see one from home! This month we have so many topics to cover including Kwanzaa, Hannukah and Christmas. If you celebrate another holiday at this time fell free to schedule a time to come in and share it with our class. We like learning about other cultures.

Have a great weekend! If anyone is interested in my technology conference, you can catch my podcast here: http://sendkathy.podomatic.com

Week 15 What a great feast! If you'd like to hear the audio from the feast just click the small voices button below.

Week 14 The Feast is rapidly approaching and the children have been practicing a little play. I recorded their lines so they can act it out even if they forget what to say! In case you can't make it, or just for fun click this link to the small voices podcast page. This is the week I attend the GaETC, Educational Technology Conference. I look forward to collecting and implementing some new ideas. We will continue our work making numbers to 20 with manipulatives. You would be surprised to learn that even children who can count to over 100 still have trouble creating a variety of set pairs equal to one number. For example, there are many diferent ways to represent the number 10. It begins with a group of one and a group of nine, then a group of two and a group of eight. They will learn to see the patterns in making these number sets.

Week 13 A big thank you to Mrs. Lee for coordinating our Fall Festival booth and to all the people who manned the table! Doesn't it seem like time is speeding up? There are so many things to do this time of year. The newsletter covered the main points. We will be focusing on letters g, h, w, v and b. In addition to these consonants I will begin to expand the students knowledge of short vowel sounds. Word families: /ot/, /it/, /et/, /un/, and a review of /at/ and /an/. I am very please with the sound spelling progress I'm seeing in class. At home you can encourage you child to help write a five item grocery list for you, to write a note or an email to the grandparents or other relatives. In the stories you read ask your child to count the words in a sentence or the number of sentences on a page. In the Math department, counting to 30 by winter break is our goal. If your child is already there or beyond, practice counting by 2's, 5's and 10's using coins. Being able to count-on is a difficult concept and should be practiced often. As an example, if a child has 19 pennies, ask them to group them into stacks of 5. Ask them to count by fives and they get 15, but they are not certain how to count the rest. We're working on this. Naturally we are studying Thanksgiving and also nutrition. Ashby's mom came in on Wednesday to do a fun food sorting activity with real fruits and vegetables. Nicole's mom came in last week to volunteer as did Suhas's mom. Thank you so much for your time. Julia's mom will be supplying the special snack on Friday. The feast will be next Thursday and it is best to sign up in advance. Next week I will be spending a day at the Ga Educational Technology Fair to see what's new this year.

Week 12 We are all looking forward to our assembly today. It's That Puppet Guy! He uses marionettes and single handedly created an hilarious show full of props, scenery and captivating puppet personalities. www.puppetguy.com. His theme is Circus Under the Sea. Be sure to ask your children to tell you all about it. Yesterday they acted out a folktale. They created masks using construction paper and each table divided the parts and acted out the story as I retold it. Speaking of storytelling, Mrs. Lee visited us Tuesday and read Hooray for Wodney Wat! Thank you for the animated reading! They were able to say the lines if they remembered them. They did a great job so we will be doing more of this in the future. Tuesday also yielded and unexpected competition. I gave the students each 2 small colorful paperclips and asked them to create a small chain. I supplied more and more and then tables started to combine their efforts to create very long chains. They were very industrious and worked well together, helping and taking turns. In the end we combined both chains to make a very long chain. Backtracking, on Monday students memorized the first stanza of "There was a Little Turtle". They used hand motions and self created illustrations as strategies to help them. This month will be over before you know it. NO SCHOOL next Tuesday, Elelction Day. Then in two weeks we will have our Thanksgiving Feast. Plan to spend an hour at school eating with our class and joining us back in the classroom after lunch for a brief Thanksgiving presentation.

Week 11 Creating audio clips can be a motivational force compelling students to read. I purchased an desktop mic with a donation and it works well. Just as an experiement I asked students if they would like to be recorded reading one of our emergent reader books. Several of them sifted through the books, studied them and announced they were ready to read! Here is one example. The week of October 23 is full of themes. Instead of Red Ribbon week we will focus on Hand Washing Week! A nurse will be joining us Monday afternoon to explain why it is so important to wash your hands. Check your flyers for the various theme days like 'hat day'. Monday is Bus Driver Appreciation Day and we have made beautiful cards to deliver on the way home from school. Remember EARLY RELEASE is on Wednesday. Teachers will be engaged in extensive planning until 4:15 pm with a working lunch FYI! Thursday and Friday I will have a substitute as I will be visiting my sister and her new twins in Philly. It's probably best not to tell the children because they may become anxious. They will be in good hands. This week we continue our pattern work, sentence building and reading skills. The Promethean board is useful for this because of the drop and drag capability. I can post the words and the students can arrange them to form sentences. Each day 2-4 students use the board to explore and draw. It's a popular center. I also want to share with you an observation Mrs. Foresman made recently. She said that our class is a pleasure making crafts with because they listen, take pride in their accomplishments and are appreciative of new projects. I almost forgot to mention...this is letter 'd' week for dinosaurs, dogs and do. More importantly it is also BOOK FAIR week. We are scheduled for Monday but I will schedule so I can get notices home. Grandparents are welcome to have lunch with their grandchildren on Friday and shop with them at the book fair.

Week 10 Friday we made our annual visit to the smoke house. It was seasonably cool but unexpected and we were a little chilly. We had several treats today. Mrs. Holz brought a 'nest' treat for the letter 'n', we made patterned fruity cheerio necklaces and Hannahs mom dropped of chocolate coated pretzels. A special thank you to Ashby's and Brant's parents for adding to our technology. We have two new nice headphones and a gift card for Best Buy to purchasae several more with some to spare. The only disappointment was not getting to take home the fire hats. They will come home on Monday. This week I have started using visual prompts for journal writing. In the past I used word prompts. Now students are challenged to decide what they have to say about a picture. For example, in preparation for the Smoke House, Friday, we watched a short video from United Streaming about a visit to the Firehouse. Some students chose to write about the boy wearing the big hat. Others were reminded that firefighters also resuce cats from trees (in the movies anyway). Once students for their thoughts we brainstorm ways to spell words they can use. Patterns are everywhere! Animal fur, leaves, rainbows, numbers, and more. I introduced the pattern unit Monday. Tuesday our Peer Facilitator from AHS presented her lesson. From this brief clip I think you can tell she was well prepared and provided good instruction. The 30 second clip will download. You will need Quicktime Player to view it.

Week 9 Check out photos from our ANT project today!
This was short 'a' week. We talked about and made all kinds of short 'a' words. On Friday we like to do a project based activity so today we focused on ants. Monday and Wednesday I met with all of the parents in our classroom! It was so nice to see everyone and I am encouraged by your impressions of our classroom and how well your children and doing. We
finished our unit on measurement by experimenting with weight. As I've said before, much of our math is learning vocabulary to apply to concepts and testing the knowledge we take for granted. Heavier, heaviest, lighter and lightest are new terms to use instead of big and little. Next week we begin a 3 week unit on patterns. Tiffany our High School peer facilitator will be helping to introduce our unit by incorporating the Promethean Board, using manipulatives and ActivVotes. We have been enjoying our Star students. We had Varshaa last week and Julia this week. It's fun to have the parents visit the classroom. Speaking of parents, Mrs. Holz provided another special snack! This week we had apple trees. Check out the pictures to see how we accomplished this. We also had an inruder drill. This is the easiest drill because we just sit quietly in the classroom with the door locked and window covered.

Special Announcements:

This Friday 10-6, we will have our annual evacuation drill. Students must wear comfortable shoes because the entire school walks all the way down Webb Bridge Rd. to the Animal Hospital and back. We try to make sure everyone has gone to the bathroom prior to leaving because the drill lasts about an hour. We have a special event coming up on the 19th. The smokehouse will be visiting. Even those who have been through several times enjoy the opportunity to learn more about fire safety. The week of 10-23 begins with Bus Driver Appreciation Day. We will make cards in class. It is also Red Ribbon Week. Monday wear RED, Tuesday wear your shirt backwards, Wednesday wear a hat, Thursday wear yellow & black, and Friday wear a team Jersey. Wednesday is also an 'EARLY RELEASE' day so plan ahead for child care. I haven't posted any pictures this week because my Compact Flash card has finally had enough! I need to get a replacement, hopefully this weekend.

Week 8 Time is flying by and it's almost conference day! I am looking forward to seeing parents and discussing your students progress. If you haven't made an appointment, please email me after checking the schedule. This week in math we are experimenting with volume and capacity. Students used spoons to measure rice into film canisters to see if both canisters held the same amount. They discovered that the number of spoonfuls is determined by the amount of rice in the spoon. They realized that the canisters were actually identical but the measuring was different. Tuesday we used water (yes it was a little damp in here). Students had to determine which container had the greatest and least volume. In LA we are working on word families and sound spelling. I mentioned this in the newsletter too. It is so important to let the children tune their ears by selecting the sounds they hear from the words and writing them down to form their own version of the word. It shows me which sounds and letters need more work. Can you read this? I like bsktbl an tns. My gmpa is cmn to vizt. This kind of writing is a critical developmental step. Don't worry, they still may win the 4th grade spelling bee!

Week 7 This week we are reviewing several stories we have read together. They include: The Ginger Bread Man, The Tragadabas, The Three Billy Goats Gruff and Anansi and the Biggest Sweetest Melon. Each student will choose their favorite character and create an in-class project. The essential questions they must consider are as follows: How can I describe something so others will understand? What are the important parts of the story? What is the setting of the story? Who are the characters in the story? and, What happened at the beginning, middle and end? In math we are comparing objects by length, height, capacity and size/weight order. Start asking your child how they can line things up from shortest to tallest, or what things are lighter than or heavier than an object? Our sight words through October 3 are: a, my, the, I, like, go, we, you, have and on.

Week 6 What a great job your children did on the Robot Project! They worked furiously Monday and Tuesday to complete their task and today (Wednesday) they took turns presenting their robots to the class. Each student was asked to identify 2 different shapes such as rectangular prism, cylinder or shpere. They were also asked to describe the jobs their robot could perform. Most robots had wings or rocket boosters. They had special features like recycling abilities to satellite communication. Some were more domestic and helped make beds and clean up the house. Our new GPS curriculum puts a lot of emphasis on oral presentations. Students are expected to develop speaking skills by describing their work. They do this daily when I ask them to tell me what they have drawn in their journals. Students have been introduced to 5 sight words so far. They will have 20 by the winter break. It would be a good idea to make flash cards and practice at home when you have a few spare minutes. Children who are pre-emergent readers may not be able to memorize the words until the become familiar with the shape of the letters, the number of letter in the word and the begining and ending letters. Here are the words so far: I, like, my, a, and the. If your child is already reading we will be working on expanding their vocabulary, reading fluency and comprehension. By December students will also be expected to match all upper and lower case letters. They will also be very familiar with all of the consonant letter sounds. When you read to your child each night you can ask them to point out the words they recognize (listed above). You can even let them read those words with you. our letter this week is the letter Tt. Thank you to Myra Lee, Kaia's mom for volunteering to be our Social Room Mother. Thank you to those of you have agreed to work with her on the parties. I almost forgot... have your children mentioned voting? This week we used the ActivVotes for the second time. They are egg shaped voting devices with the letters A-F printed on the buttons. I pose a question such as, "which shape has three corners, A, B, or C?" The students respond by making their selection, then we analyze the graph which is created instantly. It's amazing how quickly they can look at it and see how many people answered correctly or incorrectly. They can not see how otheres voted, but I can in an excel report generated from the data. It lets me know if there are any areas I need to cover in a new way. Many of you send me emails when you have questions. I appreciate this because I do not have easy access to a phone. Conferences are coming up in a few weeks. I will be posting the schedule I have so far, on the web next week. If you need to make any changes you will be able to see the open time slots.

Week 5 Ok, so I had to be out unexpectedly on Thursday and that threw off the plans. Robot building begins Monday. Today, Mrs. Holz brought apples. She showed us how see the star inside the apple. Ask your child if he/she knows where to find a little red house with no windows and no doors. Timmy explained that apples and honey are a tradition in the Jewish culture to celebrate the new year. We also learned a new song. It begins... "I said a BOOM Chicka BOOM." They may be singing it this weekend. Learning songs and poems is part of the curriculum. We have been working on memorizing a short poem called: Dig a Little Hole. Thank you for dropping off and sending in numerous boxes, cartons and containers of various shapes. Tuesday we sorted all of the shapes and discovered that we had many more rectangular prisms and cylinders than shperes and cones. The students discovered that cups were actually cones by doing the rolling test. You can ask them if a cone can roll in a straight line. They may even be able to tell you that it will roll in a circle. Building will begin today and continue through tomorrow. The children will work in teams of two or three. On Tuesday we also release our first swallowtail butterfly, thanks to Hannah and her mom who brought them in two weeks ago. We are expecting the other two to emerge by the end of the week. I am seeing improvement in all areas including: self control, handwriting, listening skills and responsibility! That's great for only one month in school. Continue to praise your child's efforts and they will continue to improve. A few new photos on A Child's Garden link. This week we will add the computer center to the language arts rotation.

Week 4 Our theme is apples, our letter is 'S'. In LA we are talking about action words. You can point out the action words in the stories you read to your children. We are reviewing position words in Math, as they apply to locating numbers. For example: Which number come between 3 and 5? Students use a number line to find the answers. Ask your child to describe or explain the location of something on the dinner table using words like: behind, in front of, in back, underneath and in between. If they know their alphabet, ask them 'Which letter comes after/before C?' for example. Letter and number formation is a skill the students practice daily. Reversals are common in the first 6 months of the year. If your child has excellent hand writing, they will be modeling for their peers during center time in our words and pictures center, using the Promethean board. The board is very helpful for those who are more comfortable with their gross motor skills because they can use larger movements to create their letters. On the Neos the children are practicing the alphabet and once they have mastered it they are typing an upper case letter followed by a lower case letter: Aa Bb Cc Dd. We had a very good week. Our lines were straight, the students were quiet and respectful of others in the hallways, and students took pride in their work! In addition to the position words I mentioned, they learned the difference between above and on top of and the meaning of beneath and below. Building vocabulary is a critical skill so continue to reinforce these new words at home. They earned POPC (part of the word popcorn) and will probably finish the word next week and receive a Friday popcorn party! Check the Child's Garden Link to the right for new photos. Remeber to collect items that can be used to make ROBOTS and send them in next week. We will sort the shapes as they come in and share them all so send in more than enough for your child in case someone forgets! Thank you.

Note: I know all of you are very busy but you still want to be involved in our class in some way. One way is to send in the ingredients for a special class snack. Typically the snack is a small project which follows our theme for the week. If you would like to participate please email me and I will forward your emails to our Academic Room Mother, Mrs. Fralick. 100% of parents signed up to attend our three class parties but I have no Social Chairperson! Planning the parties requires coordinating the activities with other parents. It's like a very low key birthday party. There are usually 4 stations set up in the room. They may be a game, a story, a craft and a make-a-snack. The students rotate every 10 minutes and this may be followed by a whole group activity or game. Parents plan everything and they really enjoy doing it. The PTA provides you guidelines to follow. It works best with two parents managing each party. If you and another mom would like to team up to organize one party, please contact me. Party 1 is a holiday party just before winter break. The next party is a Valentines Day Party and then a year-end party.

Week 3 Our theme is apples, our letter is 'M'. Thank you for coming to Curriculum night. I hope it was helpful. Last week we spent time reinforcing our classroom procedures and rules. It is important to note that the children's behavior is also monitored by special's teachers as well as by the parapros in the cafeteria. Lunch can be a quiet relaxing half hour if children take their time. Please stress the importance of eating their meal. They are much happier when they have food in their tummies. Keep in mind that cafeteria time is only supervised by two parapros. They each cover one half of the cafeteria which holds up to two hundred students. Your children may get help opening a milk carton or juice box, but no one will be reminding them to finish eating. They must also remain in their seats for the duration. Any disruptions are unwelcome and students will be reprimanded. They get three chances and if they chose to ignore the rules they will have silent lunch. Students are well aware of the consequences.

Mrs. Fralick came in to share her butterfly collection. Click the image for more pictures. Mrs. Fralich has also agreed to be our Academic Room Mom!

Curriculum Night for our Class is this Thursday evening from 6:00-7:30. I look forward to seeing you and answering your curriculum questions. By the way, the cafeteria is now allowing parents to join their students for lunch. If youdecide to come in for lunch you must sign-in at the front desk and arrive slightly before we do. Wait outside the cafeteria. You can walk through the lunch line with your child and eat at the class table or one of the front tables if there is any free space. Please do not bring any outside food as the front desk will confiscate it! click here for the Class Curriculum Brochure.

August 25 End of Week 2: Your children are flourishing! This week I introduced them to the Promethean Board. In Math they are fine tuning their sorting skills and learning how to create shapes using other shapes. Which two shapes make a square? Can rectangles make a square? Students were introduced to the Neos and have begun using them to type simple patterns such as ABABAB, they get longer and more complex as the year goes on. I would like to introduce our new student helper, Tiffany. Tiffany is a senior at Chattahoochee HS in a peer to peer work study program. She spends 45 minutes a day with us and will come all year long. While she is here she helps with the Math groups in addition to helping us do some prep work, organization and researching potential projects for the classroom. Tiffany is exceptional bright and willing to help. She has a great deal of experience with young children and hopes to become a teacher. The children love her.

Has your child told you about the Tragadabas? Ask them who he is. I have been reading some folktales from the read-aloud anthology. In language arts we have been focusing on storytelling and the importance of details. We looked at books withour words and they helped to write the story. We talked about the importance of print in the world and how some things have labels. I will be sending home a request for some examples of print that the children can read such a cereal box labels and sports logos. Our GPS standards helps teachers by supplying essential questions to incorporate into daily lessons. They are simple but very signifigant. Here are a few examples: What sound matches the letter?, How can I write what I say?, What is a word or a sentence? and What is our weekly schedule? We are helping children learn how to become problem solvers.

August 22 Announcement: Our curriculum night has been rescheduled and is now on Thursday August 31 from 6-7:30 in the classroom. The grade level presentation will be on Thursday August 24 at 6-7 PM if you would like to attend both nights.

Welcome to Mrs. Shields and Mrs. Foresman's Kindergarten class. We will have a wonderful group of students.  They will be loving, bright and creative. Parent volunteers will be welcome in the classroom and scheduled by the Academic Room Mom.  (Volunteers must attend the mandatory CVES training session) Story telling and reading visits are encouraged and take place at 1:50 daily. Please contact me via email at: shieldsk@fultonschools.org to schedule a date. 

It will be an exciting year of learning and discovery.  We look forward to meeting parents, students and siblings at Sneak Peek.Parents make wonderful story tellers. Come, share your favorite story, or make one up!

Our curriculum will be based on the Georgia Performance Standards. Children will be introduced to concepts in language arts, math, social studies, health, science, art, music and PE. 

Centers: There are learning stations in the room designated. Each five-day rotation will be based around a weekly theme with work activities in each center. Once work in that center is complete, students are free to explore free centers.   Language Arts also rotates. Parents interested in volunteering to assist the independent group may sign up and the Academic Room Mom will be coordinating this effort of trained volunteers. 

Shoe Laces: By Kindergarten students are expected to be able to tie their shoes.  We will post a shoe tying chart.  Students who cannot tie must ask a student who knows how to assist them.  It is advisable to practice with your child often, at home!  Accomplishing this task is a source of pride for students.

Clothing: CVES has posted guidelines in the Handbook.  A good rule of thumb is to dress your child for the playground.  We will go out everyday for recess so tennis shoes are 100% better than flip flops or platform shoes.

Physical Education: Our students will have PE twice a week.  They will need to wear gym shoes or they will be unable to participate. Please do not wear skirts on PE days. 

Wish List:  Thank you for helping to make our wishes come true with your generous donations.  Please check the list and donate if you are able. 

Special Snack:  Parents interested in sponsoring a Special Snack are asked to sign-up for a specific week.  We will prepare our specials snack on our no specials day and it will be theme based!

Lunch: Students may purchase school lunch or bring lunch. You may meet our class in the cafeteria at  for lunch, but only after the first two weeks of school!

Money: Money for ice cream, book orders, pictures, field trips etc. should always be sent in an envelope labeled with the child's name, teacher name and a brief explanation of what it is for. Please only send in ice cream money one day at a time.  

School Store: Please send a note with your child in an envelope with some change if you would like them to visit the school store.  It is open each morning before the bell rings.  Students can't make any purchases without a note.

Notes/Papers:  99% of all paperwork will go home to you on Thursdays, but incoming papers, and notes come daily during the school week from home.  Each morning the children are asked to unpack their backpacks, place their snack in the cubby and give the teacher or paraprofessional any notes or paperwork from home. This is the child's responsibility and they have frequent reminders.  Despite reminders, children forget.  Please check you child's backpack each night to make sure they delivered any notes or papers.

Conferences: School hours are devoted to children, however you will find teachers available before and after school to discuss issues and answer questions.  The best way to contact me is via email. We have no telephones in our room and are only able to make calls during planning period 12:20-1:05pm, or before and after school hours.  Communication is very important so if you have something to discuss, please email me right away at: shieldsk@fultonschools.org and I will reply promptly with an email and if you prefer, a phone call.  Conferences will be held on or before Columbus Day. A second set of conferences is scheduled in the Spring.  

Daily Snack: Snack time will be after Specials and quiet rest. Snacks must be brought from home. It is also important to provide a snack your child can open independently and that won't spill in the process!  Please do not send candy, drinks, or sweets.  Crackers, pretzels, veggies, apple slices and cheese are preferable. 

Behavior: Good behavior is expected in our classroom. Weekly behavior reports do not allow good behavior to be reinforced frequently. Behavior folders will go home with every student every Thursday. Please sign and return to me the next day. We use a system of green, yellow, double yellow and red clips in the classroom.  Yellow is a warning.  Our behavior system is designed to be corrective and not punitive. Red notes are sent home if the student ends the day on red. A red note will also go home if a child kicks, hits, or displays other aggressive behaviors towards other students or staff.  Behavior problems are best resolved when parents provide reinforce consequences at home. We will work together with you if you have any strategies that work at home to correct specific behaviors.

Thursday Folders:  Each Thursday your child will take home a white folder replete with school work, flyers, school newsletters and other correspondence.  This is a school wide policy.  Please review all notices and student work at this time.  Important notices such as Field Trip forms and Picture Order Forms will be included.  It is best to send completed forms in the next day or as soon as possible.

Transportation Changes: Please notify me (in writing) of any change in the way your child is to go home.  The note will be sent to the office.  Even if a child insists that there is a change, we will stick with the usual transportation, unless we have a signed note. Should a last minute change occur, please call the office and they will notify us. Parents may not come to the classroom to collect students without permission from the front desk. You will be asked to show a photo ID.  If a child misses the bus, the child will wait with the teacher until the child is picked up.

Class Parties: Creek View policy allows for a Holiday party the week before winter break, a Valentines Day party in February and an end-of-year party.  In addition, there will be a school-wide Thanksgiving Feast in the cafeteria, and Field Day in May. The Social Room Parent,  is responsible for coordinating food and supplies for the parties and will need your support.

Mystery Bags: (My version of Show-And Tell) To make this a language experience, We ask children prepare three clues about the contents of the mystery inside their bag. For example: it goes on your head, it keeps you warm in winter, and it stretches. Please refer to the schedule for your child's Mystery Bag day.

Picture Days: Individual pictures will be taken on September 8.  Refer to the Creek View Home page for other important dates!

Monthly Reading Logs: Parents, this is your homework!  Each month the children are asked to read or be read to at home.  They must read 10 books per month. These books can be anything you choose.  It is important that you log the book titles on the student Reading Log and send it in on the date requested.   You will be delighted as you begin to see them recognizing and sounding out the words on their own. You will be getting the forms by the end of September as the Book it program begins in October.  Please help your child to read regularly.  This is part of his/her grade and part of our Kindergarten Strategic plan.    Parent Letter     Main Reading Log     Additional Log Page

Lost Tooth:  There are always a handful of children who have started losing their teeth.  If a child loses a tooth in school, he/she is sent to the Nurse's Office.  She will clean the tooth and put the students name on her board, then supply a special tooth holder.  The children look forward to this experience!

Star Student:  Starting in September, we will begin to recognize a Star Student each week.  This may or may not coincide with a birthday depending on the class.  Students are asked to make a half poster about themselves including family photos.  They also complete an 'about me' form with your help.  Read it over with your child.  Typically a Star student-parent will come in to read to the class and to share their poster sometime during the special week.  The poster remains on display all week.  

We are looking forward to working with you and your child.  Parents who have signed up to volunteer must also sign up for Volunteer Training.  Trained volunteers will be coordinated by our Academic Room Parent to fill positions including:  Center helper, Media helper, and Computer Lab helper.  Guest readers need not be trained volunteers. Involvement in class parties does not require training either!  Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm!

Warm regards,

Kathy Shields, Teacher, shieldsk@fultonschools.org
Kim Foresman, Paraprofessional, foresman@fultonschools.org