Chuck, the Elf

Here is a look at Chuck, the elf. 

Mid-Year Primary MAP Testing

During the week of December 12-16, the kindergarten kiddos will be taking their mid-year Primary MAP tests. There are 4 parts to this test and we will take 1 part Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  The times we take the test varies each day...some we take in the morning and others we take in the afternoon. 
The purpose of this round of testing is to help us monitor the kids' learning growth since the beginning of the year.  We will be using the information gathered to help guide instruction and see that your child is making appropriate learning gains.
Some things you can do to help your child "prepare":

• Get a good night's sleep!  
• Eat breakfast!
• Remind them to take their time, listen and do their best!

Givin' a Shout Out...or a few!!

Happy November Birthday to Amanda!!

Congratulations to Nolan, our November Student of the Month!

Happy Birthday wishes to Hallie, Aidan and Jacob!  All three kiddos celebrate their birthdays in December!

New Framed Artists!

Amanda, Sawyer and Laura show off their works of art!!

Stuffin' a Trailer...Cool Stuff!

Thank you to all of the parents and families that helped us "Stuff a Trailer"!  The kindergarten crew had a great time helping and left knowing we helped...what a nice feeling!

November Food Drive - Northpoint Style

This year, we plan to "Stuff a Trailer" with non-perishable food items, donated by the Northpoint Family.  Please send in any donations to our classroom and thank you in advance for your help!

Stuff-A-Trailer

Northpoint's Stars in Service would like to invite you to help us

STUFF-A-TRAILER

on November 16th! We will be collecting non perishable food items starting on Monday, November 7th and ending on Wednesday, November 16th. Our goal is to stuff a 7' x 16' trailer full of food to be delivered to a neighboring school with families in need!

Red Ribbon Week

This coming week is Red Ribbon Week.  The focus is making healthy choices, eating right, bike safety, using sunscreen, only taking medicine with adult supervision, and saying no to alcohol, drugs and smoking.

Here are some fun ways to participate this week at school:

Monday – Wear red to school today.

Tuesday – Wear a hat to school today.

Wednesday – Bring an apple to eat at lunch today.

Thursday – Wear red for our all-school assembly at 1PM

New Framed Artists!

Take a look at our new "framed" artists, Cameron, Emma and Frederick! 

Upcoming Events at Northpoint

"Heads Up" for some upcoming events!

• October 17th through October 21 - Bus Safety Week
• October 18th - Skate Night at USA Skating Rink from 6-8 pm
• October 21st - Healthworks Assembly at 12:00 for grades K-2
• October 24th - Mrs. Hapke's Art Smart (1-2)
• October 24th through October 27th - RED RIBBON WEEK (More info to come!)
• October 25th and 26th - Parent Teacher Conferences
• October 26th - Picture Retake Day
• October 26th - Dance Celebration
• October 27th - Red Ribbon Assembly
• October 28th and October 31 - NO SCHOOL

Blue Ribbon Kindergarten Blog

Using the link on the right hand side of this blog, hop over to Northpoint's Kindergarten Blog for information regarding the "All About Me and My Family" project as well as SUPER HERO DAY (October 12).

Kindergarten "Grading"

To ensure the best quality of our kindergartener's work at school, I will be using the following to help our kids show their personal best work at all times.  Here are some things to be on the look out for:

• Special markings on papers - As the kids work through their various activites, I will make marks on their papers to show the degree of  'personal best' is being used. 
• A "star" on a paper means the work looks like your child's personal best with a bit of  'extra effort' was put into it.  We are striving for stars!
• A "plus sign" on a paper means the work is just right...not extraordinary, not sloppy...it's expected quality of work.
• A "minus sign" on a paper means the quality of work is not where it should be and we need to work on doing our personal best at all times.
• "All Star" Work - Some work may be used as an exemplar for particular activities.  If your child's is used as such, a special note will be attached to it so that YOU know that the work was "All Star" calliber. 
• Stars on  "Star Cards" and Caught Shinings can be given for extra effort shown on work.

The whole point is to show the kids that their effort is IMPORTANT and that we value the time and energy they put into their daily work.   Thanks in advance for any encouragement you give to the cause.

Framed Art Work

Joel, Elena and Dean are our featured artists in the art frames located in the kindergarten hallway. 

Congrats and Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Elena (August), Cameron (September), Joel (October), Delaney W. (October), Emma (October) and Mia (October).

Our first Northpoint "Student of the Month" is Hallie.  Congratulations!

What's New in Our World

We have been busy learning our daily routines, finishing Dibels/Mclass assessments, and getting healthy.  Here are some of the skills we have been focusing on:

• The letters Mm and Aa.  We are working on identifying them, writing (printing) them, listening for their sounds, and using them to make new words.
• Reading "Star Words" (sight words) - I, can, we, the along with color words
• Matching capital letters with lower case letters.
• Patterning
• Recognizing and writing numbers 0-9

We also have been working in our math journals, solving math sentences using drawings and numbers.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Just a heads up - Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held on Tuesday, October 25 and Wednesday, October 26 after school.  Letters with conference times will be sent home as soon as times are set.  Keep these days in mind as we begin the month of October.

"Star Cards"

To help promote a positive classroom environment, we began using "Star Cards" today.  These are very similar to the 'punch cards' Mrs. Schindewolf mentioned at our Parent Information meeting back in August, just with a Hapke twist (stars instead of punches). 

Here's how it works:

• Each child has a card with 15 spaces for stars.
• As the kids are "caught" doing something good (following directions, making good choices, etc), they receive a star on one of the star spaces
• They never really know when I'm going to give them a star, so they are constantly on their toes! ;)
• When a child gets 15 stars on their cards, they get to pick a prize out of the treasure chest and bring their completed "Star Card" home to show you.  
• Once a card is filled, they receive a new one to begin the process again.
• IF a child makes a not-so-good choice, a dot will be added to their cards.  These dots can be changed into stars by showing better and more appropriate behavior.
• This does not replace the "Caught Shining" slips (I'm a HUGE fan of "Caught Shining" slips...This just gives the kids another opportunity to be caught doing the right thing.

If you have any questions/concerns, please let me know!!!

Parent Volunteer Change

We are still working on building daily routines in our classrooms.  This, along with  the amount of testing and assessing we have been doing with the kindergarten kids, we are asking parents who want to help out in the classroom for a favor. 
We would like to postpone starting having classroom parent volunteers help us until November.  By then, we will have a good routine established and our kiddoes will know how things work in our classroom.  We appreciate your patience and understanding!  Thanks!

I will be sending home a volunteer schedule next week to make sure the days you are scheduled still work. 

Collections

We are collecting the following items at school.  Feel free to send in ANY items and we will get them to their correct place!

• BoxTops for Education
• Campbells Soup Labels
• Capri Sun juice bags
• ANY plastic lid...just clean and send them in!

Link to Grade Level Kindergarten Blog

I have attached a link to Northpoint's Kindergarten Blog, which contains general information regarding all kindergarten classes.  Since this blog is classroom specific, I wanted you to have easy access to general information.  You will find the link on the right hand side of the screen under "My Blogs".  Hope this is helpful!

Primary MAP testing

The kindergarten kids will be taking their first round of the Primary MAP test the week of September 19.  Here are some ways to help your child for this assessment:

• Eat a good breakfast after getting a good night's sleep.
• Remind your child to take their time, listen, and do their best.
• There will be questions that are easy, medium and more difficult.  I encourage them to make their "best guess" if they are not sure of the answer...and that's OK!
• Remember that this is a baseline assessment and the first of its kind that the kids will take.  

I'm sure the kids will do their best!  The best thing we can do for the kids is to be positive, encouraging and praise them for their hard work.   Thanks for any encouragement from home!

Library Books

Our library day is on THURSDAYS each week.   You may return library books ANY day.  We have a basket in the classroom where returned library books may be returned.  When your child is finished with a book, feel free to send it to school with them to return. 
Establishing a routine of returning the books (at least weekly) will help in the long run with NOT having a multitude of library books at home.

This week's happenings

Here are some of the highlights from this past week:

• We have been working on letter recognition, color words, and reading the words 'I', 'can', and 'see'.
• We have been counting and doing activities with numbers 1-9.  
• The kids have done a FANTASTIC job adjusting to "centers" and "math jobs".   Both activities foster learning skills in an independent and fun way.  I am SO proud of how they are learning the routine!
• We have been working on learning the names of our classmates, as well as who is who.  One activity we have been doing is the "Name of the Day".  This activity involves a teacher directed "drawing" of the child who has the "Name of the Day", with the kids following along.  Their attention to detail has improved so much!  Each child will be given their drawings in a book.  I think you will enjoy seeing them!

Welcome!

Welcome to our class blog.  Here are some of the things we have been working on!

• We have been working on learning classroom routines.   The kiddoes are doing a good job adjusting to the full day!  
• We began literacy "centers" last week and "math jobs" this week.  The kids seem to really enjoy the hands on ways to learn! 
• Our "Activity Times" are as follows:
• Tuesdays - Computer Lab
• Wednesdays - Music and Movement
• Thursdays - Library
• Fridays - Art