KF Kindergarten News
Friday, January 8, 2016
Hello KF Families,
Happy New Year! We are excited to be back at work and at play together in KF.
The faculty both enjoyed and learned a great deal from the professional
development presenter, Sarah Ward. Some of you may have attended the “for
parents and family” event on Tuesday. Sarah spoke about executive functioning
skills, planning, organization and time management. She explained that executive
functioning is not about IQ but situational intelligence. She spent time explaining
how to read a room, to get on the timeline, to organize materials and to read people.
She used expressions such as “learning to be a mind mime”, “time robbers” and “to
plan backwards to move forwards.” You can learn more about this topic by going to
Cognitive Connections at www.efpractice.com
The new winter session of Adventures After School begins next week and the
deadline to sign up for classes is on Monday. You were sent information regarding
the class choices right before the December break, and you can find the information
in the Hip Pocket News online.
Next Wednesday, January 13th is a minimum day school day. The entire school
will be dismissed at 12:30 p.m. As usual, you can pick up your child at our
classroom back door at 12:25; otherwise, we will all be out at carpool. Anyone who
is not picked up at carpool will go to the ASC. Please send a lunch from home if your
child is staying at ASC. Good Earth will not be serving lunch on a minimum day.
Starting on Thursday, January 21st, the Kindergarten classes will begin to study their
next world language. KF will begin Spanish and KS will begin Mandarin.
The Kindergarten and First Grade classes are doing the Warm Hands Project this
month. Please send in any gently used or new gloves, mittens, hats or scarves. There
is a collection box in the Lower School hallway as you enter the building. All
donations will go to the Ritter Center. The collection runs from January 8th through
January 19th.
I want to remind you to have your child wear his/her athletic shoes to school each
day. We have P.E. each morning with the exception of Thursday when we have P.E.
after lunch. If your child wears rain boots to school, he/she will need shoes to
change into before our P.E. class. Thanks!
Both Kindergarten classes will have Bear Days on Thursday, January 28th and
Friday, January 29th. Your child should select one stuffed animal bear to bring from
home to school on that Thursday. If anyone does not have a stuffed bear, I have a
back up supply in the classroom. We will listen to bear stories and do some singing,
writing, reading and math activities all about BEARS. The bears will spend the night
in the classroom (Thursday night) and we will try to determine if they came alive
and frolicked in the classroom while we were away.
January is typically a month when we are reconnecting and assessing skills. I will be
at home working on report cards on Friday, January 15th, and I will also be out on
Tuesday, January 26th to help with the Admissions Screening for incoming students.
Mrs. McKechnie will sub for me on both days. The first semester reports will be
available for you to read on the Parent Portal on Friday, February 5th. There is a
possibility that I will have Jury Duty next Wednesday, January 13th. I won’t know
until the night before when I call in for the status. If I should be out, Mrs. McKechnie
will also be in KF on this date.
We have Story Writing on Thursday, January 14th. The topic is “The Dark”. The
following people signed up to take dictation in class: Deborah Mitchell Johnson,
Stacy Nelson, Tiffany Greenfield and Lishan Sung. Please come to class at 9:15 a.m.
Don’t forget that school will be closed on Monday, January 18th for Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day.
The Mark Day School Annual Book Exchange will be held on Friday, January 29th.
This is a perfect opportunity to donate any books that you no longer need. On this
day you will be able to take home books that other families have donated. All the
books are free! Watch for more information in the Hip Pocket.
Check your child’s Friday Folder for the Scholastic Book Orders. If you wish to order
books, please return the order form(s) and your check made out to Scholastic Books
by Friday, January 15th.
That’s all for now…
Ronnie