The Kinder News
September 21, 2015
(Reminder: This newsletter is also posted weekly on http://mobrienkindergarten.weebly.com/)
THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!—A big “Thank you!” goes out to Kate & her family for the fun book, Steve, Raised by
Wolves, in honor of her 6th birthday. You are so kind! 
CHECK IT OUT!! – Please visit our general Kindergarten website at www.rsskindergarten.weebly.com/ for loads of
information about our Kindergarten program. While there, click on ‘Teacher pages” for a direct link to my site for a direct link
to access the Kinder News weekly newsletter, book order info and more.
BACK-TO-SCHOOL photo proofs are in your child’s white envelope today. If interested, contact the photographer
directly to place an order. PICTURE RE-TAKE DAY is Sept. 30th- proof sheet MUST be returned to have another taken.
Library visit— We all checked out our first library book from RSS school library last week. We’ll go again this Thursday,
so please have your child return that book in order to checkout another. The books can always be returned to class
early- I’ll hold onto them until each library day comes.
RAZ-KIDS Reading program info sheet was included in your Back-to-School Night packet. Please read over the information
and get your child started on his/ her reading journey right away. Sad fact - ONLY 1/3 of our class has already begun
this MANDATORY home reading program. I have access to everyone’s account and can check activity, so please don’t
delay. As I mentioned at BTS Night, I will be contacting you if the RAZ-Kids reading or reading rocket logs are not kept current.
The kids should be visiting RAZ-KIDS at least 3x/ week for at least 10 minutes per visit + a separate 10-books read reading log
must be turned in weekly. You can include only a couple of books (Level A and higher) read on RAZ-KIDS no more than twice
on the reading log brought back to school. RAZ-Kids and the reading rocket log entries are two separate parts of the weekly
homework. Everyone has started on the same, very basic, reading level (level aa) and will move up according to their ability
and increased exposure with use. Please note — your child must listen to & read ALL books in each level in order to move onto
the next level. AND beginning with level A, comprehension questions must also be answered along with listening & reading.
The username is obrien210 and password is your child’s first name. To sign in on a PC, please go to www.raz-kids.com/login,
and on an iPad it is http://www.raz-kids.com/main/ViewPage/name/tc-mobile/. Happy reading!
RAINBOW WORDS have already begun coming back for testing—fantastic! I will test the kids and switch
out the color words as soon as I can, but this may not be every day since it’s difficult to keep 22 kids
working independently while I sit with one for assessment. Don’t worry though, I will turn them over ASAP. 
Join the PTA—For those who do not know, PTA is involved in many of the activities that go on at Richmond. They are
kind enough to fund buses for our fieldtrips, arrange special school-wide assemblies and more. Please consider joining
the PTA. Let’s shoot for 100% participation from our class.
BoxTops for Education—is a wonderful, free program that allows school families to collect special BoxTops from
participating General Mills products and return them to school for contributions from the General Mills company. The
BoxTops from each classroom will be collected regularly on the letter-sized “collection sheets” coming home soon.
Our annual RSS Fall Festival is Friday, October 9th from 4-8 PM. Kindergarten & First Grade families are being asked to
contribute to Sweet Walk this year. PTA would like you to supply a “family-size” portion of baked goods (either homemade or
store bought) for prizes for this very popular game at this event. Brownies, cookies, cake, cupcakes – these are all greatly
appreciated. You can drop your item off in the Science Lab on the morning of October 9th starting at 8:30am. Thanks so much
for your support of our largest school fundraiser. 
SKECHERS FRIENDSHIP WALK— The Sketchers Pier-to-Pier Friendship Walk is Sunday, 10/25. It’s an annual 5k walk
on the beach to support both children with special needs and education. Last year El Segundo had 562 walkers, earning a total of
$80,000 to the Ed! Foundation. Join us and make a difference in our community! Please visit the following for more info…
http://www.skechersfriendshipwalk.com/site/PageServer.
CONCEPT CORNER:

Language Arts/ Phonics: We’re learning the /Cc/ & /Ii/ sounds this week with the help of Zoophonics animals, Catina
Cat & Inny Inchworm. We’ll focus on feelings, the alphabet and apples this week and we’ll learn about how they change
from seed to fruit along with how an apple tree changes with the seasons. Our color of the week is GREEN and the kids
will continue working on their Crazy Color Creatures (with Jean Green—ask them to sing you the songs!) books and
make some more emergent reader booklets. We’ll be looking at another favorite book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What
Do You See? as well as learning more about the letters, how to write them and how they sound. The kids have been
doing lots of “tracking” of print in class- following each word with their “reading finger” in their small emergent
readers. During our early bird/later gator sessions, the kids will soon work in small groups at Literacy Centers on
various activities to help their phonics, writing and math skills.

Math: Last week we learned about various 2-D shapes with curves and without, about lines and corners (points) and
how to categorize shapes by different values. The kids enjoyed solving CGI-based math prompt questions and showing
in their journals the different ways to solve a word problem. We also practiced writing numbers 1-5 to promote 1:1
counting and encourage muscle memory of how to write them on paper. This week we’ll continue with counting skills,
number printing on paper & whiteboards, patterning and some work with 3-D shapes too. The kids will learn the
positional words above, below, next to, beside, in front of , behind as well as that the flat part of a shape is called a face.

Science: We’ll begin discussing the seasons and the changes that each one typically has. The kids will learn that there is
a definite, predictable pattern to the seasons and how the pattern can be observed in an apple tree.
** DON’T FORGET!! **--- Remember to have your child return the white mail envelope each week. As you’ll see, there
will be a lot of paperwork coming home on Mondays. Please take the time to check and empty out the envelope
each time. If an important notice must be sent, I will not hold it until the following Monday—so please have your
child check his/her backpack for you each day. Thank you for your help.
Enjoy the new season, Maria O’Brien