4K Newsletter for April 22-26, 2024

4K Families,

I want to thank all of you for making this year wonderful. With your support and encouragement, the students were able to thrive and do their best to meet their goals and go so much further. Thank you for all that you do!

It is with a great sadness that I am letting you know that I received notification last Tuesday, April 16, 2024, that my contract will not be renewed for next year, and therefore, after 23.5 years with the district, I will no longer have a job teaching here. 

I have been working before school, during lunch, and while the kids are in other classes to organize my many personal items and materials that I have accumulated over the last many years in order to bring them home or find new places for them. I am letting you know this so that it makes more sense why sometimes your child may come home with silly items like doilies, patriotic hats, fire fighter hats, or other random crafts and things that may seem silly. 

Thank you again for all of your support. 

Miss Heather Gilding

4K Newsletter for April 15-19, 2024

 4K Families,

Hi Everyone! This week, we are on Letters Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, and Jj of our sixth time through the alphabet. Right now, 88% of the kids are meeting the end of the year goal for alphabet recognition, and 91% of the kids are meeting the end of the year goal for knowing the letter sounds. I am so proud of them, it is amazing!

We are working in our first kindergarten level book this month. We are thinking all about letter sounds and how they go together to make words.  We really have been enjoying the Graphogame app. It is really good for practicing phonemic awareness.  Some kids even said they have it at home now. 

Each day, the kids are encouraged to write their name and the numbers 1-20. They are really getting good at this. Some of them can even write all the numbers without looking at the example on the board.  Way to go, 4K!

During playtime, they have been choosing to play games together like memory match, they have been doing projects or working on books in the writing center. I have seen some great cooperation and problem solving during this time which is another goal for 4K. 

PM class update: We are switching to a Friday library time. From this week on, we will go to the school library on Friday instead of Wednesday.  Thanks!

Here's to a great rest of the week!

Miss Gilding

 

4K Newsletter for April 2 - 5, 2024

4K Families,

It is April and we are really getting into letters and sounds and practicing being readers! Yesterday during my meetings, I learned about a really good evidenced-based reading game that helps children learn to read.  It is called Graphogame (English) I bought it yesterday and we were playing it on the screen. It is $2.99 from the app store. You can read about it at graphogame.com. The kids were having fun with it, but I'm sure they would get more out of it if they were doing it without having to take turns. 

Next week Monday is the solar eclipse. It is in the afternoon, but I will send the solar eclipse glasses home on Friday for the AM class this week so you will have them Monday for the eclipse. The PM class will also get glasses. If you want your child to participate, please send back the permission note. (PM only needs one) Hopefully it won't be cloudy that day.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I am sending the April homework packet today. If you have the March one at home, please send it back. I love reading all the good ideas and fun things you did when you completed the homework.  I will update the links for the virtual field trips on the webpage tonight so they are clickable. Thanks again for helping complete the parent-school connection!

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for March 18-April 2

4K Families,

We are doing such a great job in 4K in so many areas.  The kids are getting really great at knowing their letters and the sounds. 89% of the total AM and PM kids are exceeding the end of the year expectations right now!  Way to go! We have started learning sight words and talking about how to make three letter words like cat, mom, dad, pig, yes, etc. We call these CVC words. (consonant, vowel, consonant) 

This week we are doing letters Ss, Tt, Uu, and Vv. 4K doesn't have school on Friday because it is a half day, so we only have 4 letters this week. The kids are doing great this month with the letters and have really made leaps and bounds in their learning. 

I am sending home a letter today from the PTO talking about the solar eclipse that is on April 8, 2024. The shadow will be coming near Wisconsin, but will be farther south in Illinois, coming across the country below the southern most tip of Lake Michigan. This will be happening in the PM and therefore the AM class will not be here. They will be giving everyone glasses, so I am sending the note home in case you wanted to donate a dollar to offset the cost of all the glasses. 

I am also sending home the class composite photo from school picture day. This is the class picture that will also be in the year book. I will write their name on the clear sleeve it is in so they don't get mixed up at school. I will save the ones for absent students, of course. 

Thanks for reading the newsletter!  Have a great short week and a nice spring break. 

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for February 26- March 1

 4K Families,

This week we are doing letters Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, and Hh of our fifth time through the alphabet. We are working each day in our letter learner workbook and having fun watching Captain Seasalt and the ABC Pirates travel to all the different alphabet islands and see all the things that begin with the letter of the day. Everybody is doing so well learning the letters. 

In math, we are practicing counting to 100. We have also been comparing sets of two numbers and recognizing which one is larger. The kids are getting really good at understanding "greater than."

On Thursday night, from 5:30-7:00P.M., we are having Woodfield Parent Night. I will be down in the red wing with the kindergarten and first grade teachers doing literacy activities. We will have the supplies to make the kids name bracelets. 😊 

On Friday, it is the first day of March, so the kids will be bringing home the new homework packet that day. Please send the February packet back to school on Friday. It is alway fun to read all the things you did during the month!

Next week will be vision screening for 4K. It is fast and easy. They use a special camera for the little kids which makes it go so smoothly.

Thanks for reading,

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for February 19-23, 2024

 4K Families,

Valentines Day and the 100th day of school were fun in 4K. The kids had a good time sharing and opening Valentines, and we also had fun making the 100 Day Crown which was some good cutting practice as well. 

This week Tuesday, we begin our fifth time through the alphabet. As of today, February 19, we have 27 out of 34 students meeting their end of the year goal for upper case letter recognition. That is amazing! We should be able to easily get to 100% by the end of the year.  Reaching the goal early really helps ensure that the students will get that knowledge into their long term memories so that they won't forget anything during the summer. Way to go, 4K!

During our fifth time through the alphabet, we will be focussing on writing the letters neatly and with the proper strokes. We will also be watching Captain Seasalt and the ABC Pirates for each letter and reading an AlphaTales book for each letter of the alphabet. It will be fun and different. 

In math, we are talking about coins, counting, and continuing to practice recognizing and writing numbers. 

We continue to learn about emotions, feelings, and how to help keep our friends and selves safe at school by being kind and keeping our hands to ourselves. It is a big part of our 4K day. 

Please remember there is no school on Friday, there is a teacher inservice day.

Thanks for reading,

Miss Gilding

4K Newsletter for January 29- February 2, 2024

4K Families,

This has been a busy time in 4K. We finished testing for the literacy test and the report cards last week. I will be sending the literacy test scores along with the February homework in the folders on Thursday. The literacy scores are your copy, no need to send them back. The report cards will be able to be seen online on Thursday. 

February homework is coming home on Thursday, please send the January packet back if you haven't done that already. Here is the link for the virtual field trips so you don't have to type in those long web addresses.  Thanks!

Valentine's Day is coming up soon. We will share valentines on that day. This is a great way to get more name-writing practice. Please just have your child write their own name on the valentines. Please don't write friend names on them.  It takes us a while to pass them out and it goes more smoothly if they can just give any valentine to any friend right down the line. We will be decorating a box that I have made for each child. There are 19 students in the AM and 16 students in the PM. Please make sure they are to school on or before February 14. You only need to make enough for your child's class.  Thanks!

And remember if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a message. 

Miss Gilding