In this week's updates 12/16-12/20

Good evening parents and guardians,

This week is going to be busy but it will come and go quick.
I think many of the kiddos are ready for a break. :)

Here is a quick glance at our week.

Language Arts:

• Due to the winter performance and award assembly we will be previewing the next unit in our curriculum. We will cover it in whole when we get back from winter break.
• Here is some quick information on Unit 3-Week 3
• Story: George Washington Visits
• Content Knowledge: How People Lived Long Ago
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /d/
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /k/
• Phonics: /d/ Spelled Dd
• Phonics: /k/ Spelled Kk
• Comprehension Skill: Cause and Effect

Math:

• We will continue with our measuring unit
• Students will be able to compare the length of 2 objects with different lengths, and say which is short/long and which is shorter/longer
• Students will be able to compare the length of objects and say which is the shortest or longest

History/Social Studies

• We will be finishing up our Winter Holiday Unit
• Learn more about Christmas and New Years

Christmas Party:

• If you could please get any donated items to be by this Wednesday that would be great. This would give me time to organize the items and make any last minute purchases by Friday.

School Announcements:

• Winter Performance- Dec. 18 @ 9:30
• If your child could wear a RED TOP it would be great, if not it is OK :)
• Last day of school before winter break
• Award assembly (I sent home fliers to those students receiving awards this past Friday, please make sure you checked your child's backpack)
• Tk/K Assembly at 8:00 in Maines Hall
• Students are allowed to wear their PAJAMAS this day, uniform will not be required
• There will be NO AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM on this day, please be sure to pick up your child at our new Friday dismal time 12:00

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great rest of the evening, 

Miss. Maciel

Tomorrow..

Good evening parents and guardians,

I wanted to notify everyone that I will not be in tomorrow. I will have a substitute teacher for the day. I have already met her (she is a REACH parent) and she has many years of experience subbing, including Kindergarten. I have to admit I am a bit nervous to leave my kiddos, but I know they will do great and are left in great caring hands. If you could please talk to them a little bit more about their behavior tomorrow I would greatly appreciate it.
I will be out for some observations, but will be back to work on Tuesday.

Also, a quick reminder about the donations for Friday's party if I could get them in by Wednesday that would be great.

Thank you everyone for all that you do and for being my partners in your child's education.
As always if there are any questions please feel free to email me.

Thank you and have a great rest of the day,
Miss. Maciel

Winter Performance

Next week's performance is scheduled for Dec. 18 from 9:30-11:00 am.
Dr. Rentie gave the OK for students to wear special Holiday Performance clothing, in other words uniforms will not be required this day.

If you have any further questions about next week's performance please feel free to email me or call the office.

Thank you,
Miss. Maciel

Week of 12/9-12/13

Good evening parents and guardians,

I hope you all had a great Monday to start this week off. Here is some information about this week's happenings as well as upcoming school events.

Language Arts:

• Unit 3-Week 2- "Little Quack" Day 2
• Objectives:
• Content Knowledge: How We Change as We Grow
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /r/
• Phonics: /r/ Spelled Rr
• Comprehension Skill: Plot 
• FRIDAY ASSESSMENT: Sequencing (Order of events)
• Last week's assessment did not go too well. The students were read a story and then shown two pictures. The students were to color the objects that were the same and cross out the items that were different. Many students i noticed has a hard time following directions, hence did not do so well on the test (even thought we practiced quite a bit and always did great). I created my own exam today and gave it to the kids. I have not graded them yet, but I will be dropping the lower score.

Math:

• Students this week will be going over pattern (based on shapes, colors and orientations) and will be tested tomorrow. For the rest of this week and next, students will begin to learn about measuring. They will learn about measuring length and height of items using different objects (connecting cubes, paper clips, etc.)

Social Studies:

• We are continuing to work on on Winter Unit-December Celebrations. Last week we learned about Hanukkah, this week we will be learning about Kwanzaa.

Christmas Party-12/20 10:30 am-12:00 pm

• Please feel free to bring any donated items by next Wednesday (this way i have some time to organize the items and purchase any items that might still be needed). Any fresh items (milk, fruit, etc.) please bring the actual day of the party. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HELP, I really appreciate it. I'm super excited, this will be my first Christmas Party as a full time teacher.

Important School Dates:

• 12/10 Tk/k Tech info meeting 530-630 pm
• 12/11 Coffee with director- Family Wednesday (Tk/K lunch from 11:00-11:45)- FIRST FULL FRIDAY
• 12/13 First minimum day Friday
• 12/18 Winter Performances
• 12/20 Award Assemblies (Tk/K 8:00)
• 12/21-1/5 Winter Break

As always, if there is anything I may help you with, please feel free to email me. I would be more than happy to help or answer any questions you may have.

Have a great rest of the day and week, 

Miss. Maciel

Scholastic books- warehouse sale

Good morning parents and guardians,

I just found out today is the last day for the sale at Patriot High School in Jurupa Valley. Today's sale hours are 9 am - 3 pm.  They will have lots of books for all the different reading levels. This would be a great time to stock up on books.

Have a great weekend everyone,
Miss. Maciel

Week of 12/2-12/6

Good evening parents and guardians, 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with all your loved ones.

Here is my update on what is going on in my classroom as well as some other information for the month of December.

This week:

• Language Arts
• Story of the week- "Little Panda" Unit 3 Wk 1
• Content Knowledge: How a Baby Panda Changes
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /n/
• Phonics: /n/ Spelled Nn
• Comprehension Skill: Compare and Contrast
• Phonemic awareness: initial /b/
• Phonics: /b/ spelled Bb
• Math
• 3D shapes (cubes, cones, rectangular solids and spheres)
• Student will be tested on these this Thursday
• Begin unit 6 on patterns
• Social Studies/Science
• As a kindergarten team we decided to do a winter unit which covers some of the holidays celebrated in the month of December
• This week we will be covering Hanukkah

More information:

• Today
• I sent home the form with my access code to let you make your profile to view our Language Arts and Science curriculum
• If you have any trouble setting up your account please let me know
• 12/6/13 Report cards sent home
• *Grades for writing numbers 1-20: Students grades for this first trimester were only based on numbers 1-10
• 12/11/13 Coffee with director 8-9 am
• 12/13/13 Early Release day
• Family Friday- Kindergarten Lunch from 10:00-10:30
• 12/18/13 Winter Performance Assembly 8:30-11:00 AM
• 12/20/13 Award Assembly
• Christmas Party (more information to go home soon!)

These next few weeks will go by fast, but I hope to fill them with lots of memories for your kiddos. This is the month I remember the most from my elementary years and I hope to do the same for my students.

As always if there is anything I may be able to help you with please let me know. 

Thank you, 

Miss. Maciel

This week...

Good evening parents and guardians,

This is going to be a fun, busy, short week. Here is a look at my week's plans:

• Language Arts
• Story: Jack and the Beanstalk
• Content Knowledge: Real and Make-Believe Plants
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial Sounds
• Phonics: /i/ Spelled Ii
• Comprehension Skill: Realism and Fantasy
• Handwriting: I and i
• Language Arts TESTING
• This past Friday the students took their weekly comprehension exam on sequencing. The students were read a story and were asked to asked place 3 pictures in order. The students had a bit of a difficult time with this exam. I know my students are able to tell me the beginning, middle and end of a story, they do it all the time. Since the test scores were not as high as I felt they could be, i retested them again today. I used a different story, but still maintaining the same objective: sequencing. These new test score were much better!
• Since we are currently covering the final week of Unit 2, the students will be taking their Unit 2 exam. The exam will cover everything they have learned this unit.
• Sight words 
• have, is, we, my, like, he, for
• Sound /s/, /m/, /t/, /a/, /p/, /k/ and most recently introduced /i/
• Comprehension topics: compare/contrast, setting, main idea, realism/fantasy, sequence.
• Math
• Continue learning about shapes (square, triangle, rectangle, circle)
• identify and describe common geometric objects (e.g., circle, triangle, square, rectangle, cube, sphere, cone
• Social Studies
• We area learning about the first Thanksgiving 
• Why did it happen, who was involved

Lunch Order Forms

• They were sent home today, please be sure to fill them out and return them by the due date.

Parent conferences

• This week we will be holding parent/teacher conferences. The students will not have school this Thursday or Friday. I look forward to talking with each of you. If you need notification about your scheduled time please email me and I will let you know your time.

As always if there are any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great evening, 

Miss. Maciel

Tomorrow...

Hello parents and guardians,

Just wanted to give a quick reminder and some information about tomorrow.

• PLEASE have your child wear their REACH shirts
• We will be decorating our THANKSGIVING DAY donation boxes tomorrow from 12:45-2:00pm
• The Press Enterprise it set to come during this time to take pictures and get more information about what we are doing
• IF ANYONE WOULD/CAN LIKE TO HELP DURING THIS TIME FRAME PLEASE EMAIL ME

THANK YOU for all the donations you were able to make.

As always if you have any questions please feel free to email me.

Miss. Maciel

PS We made Pilgrim hats today!! I took some really cute pictures, if you would like a copy please email me so I can send it to you :)

Thanksgiving Day Donations

Good evening parents and guardian,

I hope every ones week is going well. I just wanted to give  a quick reminder about the Thanksgiving Day Donations. Tomorrow will be the last day to bring in your baking goods.
THANK YOU to all those parents that have donated item  already. Many families will be able to have an even better holiday because of all the donated items.
Also, please remember that next week, on TUESDAY, the Press Enterprise will be coming by to take pictures and get more information about our school while each class decorates the boxes the donated items will be placed in. Please make sure your kids are wearing their REACH shirts this day.

Next week will be quick but hopefully our kiddos enjoy it with all the great things I have planned for them.

As always, If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great rest of the day and see you all really soon for parent conferences,
Miss. Maciel

This week….

Good evening parents and guardian,

Sorry to update my blog so late. Here is a quick list of what we are doing in class this week.

Language Arts

• Story: "A bed for winter"

• Content Knowledge: Animal Homes
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /i/
• Phonics: /i/ Spelled Ii
• Comprehension Skill: Sequence
• Conventions: Adjectives for Opposites
• Handwriting: I and i

Math

• Tomorrow my kiddos will be taking their unit test
• Numbers 1-10 and 10-1 (filling in missing numbers)
• We will begin out new Unit on SHAPES on Thursday 

Science

• We finished up the 4 seasons of the year today (we also did some painting- the kids were super excited and did an awesome job following instructions)
• Thursday and Friday we will be learning about teeth and the importance of brushing them (we will also be doing a little experiment)

***I will be sending parent teacher conference reminders home tomorrow. Please be sure to look for it in your child's items. 

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great evening, 

Miss. Maciel

Giving Back to those in need...

Good evening parents and guardians,

Miss. Maciel here once again with a bit more information.
As I mentioned in my last 2 posts, and as you may have seen in fliers sent home from school, REACH this year with be donating baskets filled with goodies to families in need this Thanksgiving holiday.

Each class has been assigned specific items to bring in. My class has been put in charge of bringing in boxes of baking goods (cake mixes, brownies, pie makings). Not only will this give our kiddos a chance to help others, but they will also be learning about helping those in need all month.
REACH will try its best to provide around 20 baskets to families and we will also have outside help from a big chain super market store. Dr. Rentie asks that's all students wear REACH shirts from Nov. 18-20 not only to show our school pride, but to bring all students together during this time of giving to others and being thankful for what we have.
On November 19 all classes (from 12:45-2:00 pm) will be decorating the boxes that will then be filled with the donated items. This day the Press Enterprise will also be present! We will get a chance to show all of Riverside and the Inland Empire what our school is all about, but most importantly we will be able to show our school "family". We stick together and help those in need. If you would like to help this day please let me know. The baskets of goods will then be distributed after school on Nov 20th.
If you would like to sign up for a basket please stop by the office.

Side Note:
I wanted to share a moment I had in class today. As I was calling up students to get their items from their mailboxes, I stopped and thought to myself…"This is my class. What i have worked for so hard. I am truly blessed to have such a great group of kids." I felt such happiness that I had to hold back tears of joy. Parents and guardians please know that I beyond thankful for everything you do for your children, my class and for myself. I know they are your children, but to me they are my kids :)

As always if you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great evening,
Miss. Maciel

Meals on Wheels and Royals Newsletters

Good evening parents and guardians,

I wanted to ask for some help with regards to a special project REACH will be involved in, Meals on Wheels.  Mrs. Schreck came up with a great idea, especially since this month we are focusing on the core value of SERVICE, and helping those in need. As a school we will be creating place mats for Meals on Wheels. Transitional kindergarten, kindergarten and 3rd grade will be creating Christmas themed place mats. I would love to work on these during our last week of school before Thanksgiving break. I was wondering, if it were possible, IF you could possibly donate Christmas themed stickers and other goodies to decorate/create the mats. Since our kiddos are smaller, I thought it would be fun and easier if they had objects they could just stick on their personalized mats, to make them that much nicer. Once the mats are complete, I will be going to CM School Supplies to laminate them and turning them over to Meal on Wheels to use. Stickers, glitter pens, any sort of crafts items (many of these items found at any 99 cent) would work great, and would be used towards a projects that would give our students a chance to give back to their community. If you are able to donate any items, THANK YOU!!!!


Royals Newsletter

• This month's newsletter when home today. Please be sure to look it over as there are some important announcement.
• Here are some important point in the newsletter that I did not mention in yesterdays blog post.

1. Important dates section (pg 2)
2. Lost and Found
• All unclaimed items will be orated to charity before Thanksgiving break.
3. Singapore Math Night
• November 14, 2013 from 5:30-7:00
4. Recess Reading
• Begins Dec. 2nd. 
5. Minimum Day Change
• Will be changing to FRIDAY'S beginning Dec 13.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to send me an email. I am usually pretty good about responding right away.

Thank you for all that you do for my class and our school. This year I can finally say, I am THANKFUL for my students and their supportive parents.

Have a great rest of the day, 

Miss. Maciel

This week's happenings and other November information

Good evening parents and guardians,

Another month has come and gone, time sure is flying by. I hope your kiddos are learning a lot and eager to learn some more. A big thank you to those parents that have been donating items to the class, or donating their time at school, it is truly appreciated.

Lets begin with this week's happening:

Language Art:

• Story of week: "Bear Snores On"
• Content Knowledge: Bears in Winter
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /k/
• Phonics: /k/ Spelled Cc
• Comprehension Skill: Realism and Fantasy (please speak with your children about this when possible)
• Conventions: Adjectives for Sizes
• Handwriting: C and c
• Listening and Speaking: Listen for Setting
• Sight Words aka High Frequency Words: we, my like (I apologize for not writing them on the front cover of the homework packets this week)

Math:

• Numbers 1-10
• Filling in missing numbers
• Organizing numbers in order

Science:

In order to stretch out our Science and Social Studies Curriculum Units to cover the entire school year, from time to time we will be able to choose any topic we would like for our class. This week we will be learning about the 4 seasons of the year. I thought it would go great with the story we are focusing on this week. Today the kiddos got an introduction to the seasons, so far the students seem really interested which made me really happy. 

Parent Conferences:

     Today I sent home a form with your child regarding parent conferences. Please fill it out and return it to me as soon as possible. I will be scheduling my conferences on a first come first serve basis.

This month's happening:

• 11/8 Family Friday- Tk/k Lunch 11:00-11:45 (BUY your meal tickets for Charlies Subs)
• 11/10 Mission Inn Run- Earn miles for hundred mile club (to register visit missioninnrun.com)
• 11/11 NO SCHOOL - Veterans Day
• 11/13 Coffee with director- 8 am in gym
• 11/15 Awards assembly/makeup picture day/Food drive donations due
• 11/20 PTO Family Fundraiser- Roller City 2001 (more info to come)
• 11/20 "Feed a Family"-food baskets distributed
• 11/21-11/22 NO SCHOOL- Parent conferences
• 11/25-11/29 NO SCHOOL- Thanksgiving break

"Feed a Family" Thanksgiving Food Drive 

-Sorry for the small picture, more information will be going soon as soon as possible but I wanted to let everyone know about this as soon as I could because this is a great thing REACH is doing.

My class will be in charge of bringing in boxes of baking goods (cake mixes, brownies, pie makings).

A huge, huge, HUGE thank you in advance for any donated your family may be able to contribute. I/m sure the recipients of the baskets will be beyond thankful and great full as well. Lets work together to make some families Thanksgiving day that much better.

If you have any questions regarding this week's happening or any of the events scheduled to go on this month please feel free to email me or catch me at REACH.

Have a great evening everyone, 

Miss. Maciel

PS. One quick note regarding students in Miss. Lopez's soccer team. On one of her math pages, the one with the apples, it says to fill in the missing numbers. She requested the students simply write the numbers in starting at 1. Thank you :)

Lunch count forms

Good afternoon parents and guardians, 

I hope you are all having a great week so far. Just wanted to give a quick reminder about the lunch count forms that went home a few days ago, please be sure to return them by tomorrow.

Even if your child gets free lunch, you must fill out the form and check off all the boxes (to assure your child's lunch for that day). All school meals are ordered ahead of time, hence the need to turn in these forms by tomorrow so everything is ready for the month of November.

If you have any questions regarding the forms please feel free to contact the office of send me an email and I will do my best to answer it.

Thank you and have a great rest of the day, 

Miss. Maciel

Week of 10/28-11/1

Good evening parents and guardians,

This week is going to be an exciting one! I have lots of things planned for the kiddos to do that still involve all their academic skills, BUT with a Halloween twist.

During morning routine this week we will be discussing pumpkins and learning about adjectives. We started the process today by uses our senses to describe a pumpkin. During language arts and math centers students will be working on a safety book, rolling the dice to color in the numbers on a spider and much more (including making a tens frame pumpkin!).

For Language Arts this week, we will be covering the unit 2, week 3 lesson:

• Story of week: "Animal Babies in Grasslands"

• Content Knowledge: Looking at Animals in the Grasslands
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /p/
• Phonics: /p/ Spelled Pp
• Comprehension Skill: Main Idea
• Conventions: Adjectives for Colors
• Handwriting: P and p

** This week for language arts the students will also be taking their mid unit assessment, which consists of sight words and reading basic CVC words. These two skills the students will be tested on are reviewed daily, but should also be studied at home (this is also usually part of the home work)

This week in Math:

• Students will be tested on numbers 1-10
• We will begin Unit 4
• Working with numbers 1-10
• Recognizing these number is order
• Being able to count from 1-10 and 10-1

Science: 

• Finish up and test on Unit 3- Living and Non-living things

School announcements:

• Fall Carnival will be this Thursday, my class as well as the other Kindergarten classes will attend from 12:00-1:00 pm. I believe the PTO still needs help with many items, if you area able to donate anything, it would be greatly appreciated :)
• Book drive: This will be the last week for the book drive. The winning class will be reviving a Popsicle party! A graph has been set up in the gym to show each class' progress, for now we still don't have a pumpkin (since the graph begins at 25 and continues in 25 book increments)
• Family Friday: Why wait in line to get lunch on this day, when you can purchase a meal ticket ahead of time for just $5.00 from Charley's Grilled Subs (they are super yummy if I do say so myself). For $5.00 you will get a sandwich (Philly cheese steak or California Chicken) a drink and oreos. The proceeds from the sales will go to REACH, which can then be used for extracurricular activities, like field trips!! This is awesome, a great meal PLUS the money goes back to your child education and a chance to create more memories.

Before I sign off, I want to give a huge THANK YOU to one of my room parents, Latrese, for helping organize last weeks events during Red Ribbon Week. The kids enjoys everything as did I.

As always, if there is anything I may assist you in or if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great evening, 

Miss. Maciel

PS. Just one more thing, I have the BEST students and parents a first year teacher could ask for. 

This year so far has been amazing and definitely memorable, THANK YOU all from the bottom of my heart :)

The book fair is here….the book fair is here!!!…and a few updates

Good morning parents and guardians,

The book fair is finally here! I'm sure all of our kiddos are going to love it, especially if this is their first time seeing/attending one. Before I get into more details I want to say, THANK YOU for all the support from the PTO and all the parents who has helped in many ways.

Our Fair will be open every day this week from 7am-8am before school and from 3:30- 4:30 after school.

Our online book fair will also be available NOW - 11/12/2013 at onlinebookfairs.sholastic.com 

Here is the direct link to the school online book fair:  
http://onlinebookfairs.scholastic.com/default.aspx?f=3299085

All the teachers at REACH will also be creating their wish list.
I have chosen some books for my wish list that I feel my class would enjoy. If you are able to donate any of these books, THANK YOU in advance from my class and of course myself.
Here is the link to my wish list:
http://onlinebookfairs.scholastic.com/entrance.aspx?cid=LZek%2foJMOhc%3d&eml=OFE/e/20131027/acq/OFEWishListEmail////////

UPDATES:

• This Friday two important notes went home:

Please feel free to get in contact with me if you have any further questions.

• NOVEMBER 8, 2013 will be our next Family Friday and this time the school will be selling tickets for Charley's Grilled Subs. Tickets go on sale tomorrow!

As always, if you have any questions for me please feel free to email me or catch me at school.

Have a great Sunday everyone! 

I will be back tomorrow for my weekly update,

Miss. Maciel

In this week's happenings (10/21-10/25)

Gooood evening parents/guardian!


Phew, what a busy/exciting day!! Quite a few things happened on this Monday that kept me busy, busy, BUT all for my school. I began my day re-organizing my room (luckily I have my little brother who attends Poly and doesn't mind waking up earlier on Monday's to help me). After this I had breakfast duty, a time I feel is pretty relaxing and a great way to begin the children's day (helping them get breakfast and just saying Good morning). Than my teaching day begin, the first day of Red Ribbon week. Today, as you may have noticed, was wear a red shirt day. After the school day ended, I had the pleasure of attending my first REACH ELAC meeting. I was excited to help out with the meeting and get the school year started in a great way. After this I came home, rested for a bit, then headed off to Target to get my PJ's for tomorrow and part of my Halloween costume for next week (I have a feeling my kiddos are going to love it!!! I will be attempting to dress up as one of their favorite book characters).
Here I am now, in my room, listening to music, updating my blog as promised to give you information on this new week and any school news. :)

Lets get started:

Language Arts

• Story- "Nature Spy"
• Content Knowledge: Looking at Nature
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /s/
• Phonics: /s/ Spelled Ss
• Comprehension Skill: Setting
• Conventions: Proper Nouns
• Handwriting: S and s
• Sight words: Have, Is

Math:

• Numbers 1-10
• Using a number line

Science:

• Began Chapter 3- Living and nonliving things
• I sent home the introduction letter today in the student' homework folder

School events:

• RED RIBBON WEEK
• tomorrow- wear pajamas
• Wed- 10/23- Silly socks
• Thurs- 10/24- Wear a hat
• Fri- Wear glasses

10/21-10/25 Red Ribbon Week - "A Healthy Me is Drug Free"

 

• Monday 10/21 - Red Run Day - Wear Red Shirts - Turn in Posters
• Tuesday 10/22 - "Turn the lights out on Drugs" - Wear Pajamas - Student Assembly by Riverside Police Department in Mainness Hall TK/K @ 8:30a, 1st Grade 9a, 2nd/3rd Grade 9:30a
• Wednesday 10/23 - "Sock it to Drugs" - Wear Silly Socks - 100 Mile Club
• Thursday 10/24 - "Hats off to me, I'm Drug Free" - Wear a Hat
• Friday 10/25 - "My future is bright, no Drugs in sight" -  Wear Sunglasses - Monthly Student Awards Assembly TK/K @ 8a, 1st Grade @ 8:45a, 2nd/3rd Grade 9:20a - Poster Contest Winners announced

• Book Fair
• 10/28-11/1
• the PTO still needs parent volunteers if you are interested or are able to help in any way

10/28 - 11/1 Scholastic Book Fair

 

• Set up for the Book Fair will occur Monday morning and the Fair will be open for 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour at dismissal M-F with Break down happening Friday at 2p
• 10/31 - Students are allowed to arrive to school dressed-up as a character from their favorite book and bring that book with them to share with the class.
• 10/31 - Fall Book Carnival TK/K @ 12noon, 1st Grade at 1pm and 2nd/3rd Grade at 2p.  The booths for the Carnival are being created based on books.

School events: (cont.)

• Breakfast/lunch
• I was notified today by Ms. Judy that many parents have yet to fill in the October breakfast/lunch forms, please do so ASAP :)
• IF your child receives free lunch, you MUST still fill out the form, to assure the correct amount of food is ordered daily
• if you have any questions please feel to email me or stop by the office
• 100 mile club
• Our class will continue to acquire miles during PE from 1:15-1:30
• Also, PTO is still holding their after school runs every Wednesday
• I have seen many parents get invoked, this is awesome! THANK YOU!

I think this is it for now :) If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me, 

Have great rest of the week everyone!

Miss. Maciel

PS. Don't forget to wear your PJs tomorrow :)

100 mile club and book drive and Fall Carnival

Hello parents and guardians,

100 mile club:
As you may know, our students have been trying to earn miles for 100 mile club. Our class tries to get some laps around the school for PE on Mondays and Thursday from 1:15-1:30. On this day the TK class and my class walk around the school, but we only get about 1 lap done in this time frame with so many kiddos and only 2 teachers. IF you are able to help out during this time so our kids can get in more miles during PE on Mondays and Thursdays from 1:15-1:30 please let me know. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT AND VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!

Book drive:
We had 2 students donate books today, our book donated total is up to 5. I would love to get some more donations so our class has a good chance at the Popsicle party.

FALL CARNIVAL:
The fall carnival will be OCT. 31. Kindergartners will be at the fair from 12:00- 1:00 pm. My class as well as the other kindergarten teachers will need volunteers this day, especially in helping the students get from station to station. IF you are interested in helping out this day or IF you are able to donate any snacks or drinks for the kids to enjoy please let me know as soon as you can.
This event and many others are the best when parents get involved, PLUS students (especially kindergartners) LOVE having their parents around at school.


THANK YOU in advance for anything you may be able to do to help our with any of the events at school.

As always if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me,
Miss. Maciel

Week 10/14-10/18

Good evening parents and guardians,

We had our first official pictures taken today!! I think I was more nervous for this than the first day of school. Just like many of my students I am experiencing many firsts and I couldn't be more happy and blessed to be sharing these moments with your children.

Here is  some information about what is happening this week in my classroom as well as any upcoming events at REACH.


Language Arts:

• We began our 2nd unit today, time is flying by super quick.
• This week we will be learning about Flowers.
• Unit 2, Week 1- "Looking at flowers"
• Content Knowledge: Looking at Flowers
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /a/
• Phonics: /a/ Spelled Aa
• Comprehension Skill: Compare and Contrast
• Conventions: Nouns for More Than One
• Handwriting: A and a
• Listening and Speaking: Listen for Sequence
• NEW HIGH FREQUENCY WORDS (Sight words): Have, Is

Math :

• We began unit 3
• This week we will be learning about the numbers 6-8

History:

• We began unit 3
• This week we will be learning about jobs people do in the community.

Upcoming school events:

• Oct 17, 2013- Great California Shakeout at 10am
• Oct 21-25, 2013- Red Ribbon Week
• October 21st – October 25th “A Healthy Me is Drug-Free!”
   Monday - Red Run Day – Wear red shirts. Turn in posters!
  Tuesday – " Turn the lights out on drugs" - Wear Pajamas  
  Wednesday – “Sock it to drugs!” - Wear silly socks.
  Thursday – “Hats off to me, I’m drug-free!” - Wear a hat. 
  Friday – Awards Assembly – Poster contest winners announced!  “My future is bright no drugs in sight!” - Wear sunglasses.
• Oct 25, 2013-Award Assembly 8:00 am
• Oct 28-Nov 1- Book Fair
• Oct 31, 2014- Fall Carnival 

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please email me and I will get to you as soon as I can.

Have great rest of the day, 

Miss. Maciel

Picture Day!

Good morning parents and guardians,

Just wanted to give you a quick reminder about picture day tomorrow.
Please be sure your child is wearing their uniform and are looking their best.
All Kindergarten classes will be taking their pictures first thing in the morning (please see the handouts sent home this past Friday)



If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great rest of the day,
Miss. Maciel

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!

Hi Parents and Guardians,

Just wanted to give out a few more reminders I forgot to mention earlier this week.

This FRIDAY, 10/11/13 is Family Friday. You can come eat with your child, but please me sure to sign up (to save your spot) on the PTO cart so there is enough space for everyone. For those of you that bough meal tickets, Hotdog on a stick with be there to bring you your food.

BOOK DRIVE- As you may have seen on the newsletter,  our school is having a book drive! The winning class will get a Popsicle party. Our class has yet to bring any books, please help us by donating any gently used books.  THANK YOU in advance if you are able to contribute and possibly help us win the Popsicle party.

ROOM PARENT- I am still looking for a volunteer to be my room parent :) They would be the main parent to help organize any classroom events with myself and also/possibly help pass out any PTO information to the whole class. If you are interested please let me know :)

THANK YOU parents soooooo much for all your help, donations and support. This is making my first official year of teaching great! I am beyond grateful to each and everyone of you and of course your child for being part in my dream that has finally come true.

If you ever have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me or approach me at school.

Have a great rest of the day and week,
Miss. Maciel

Week 10/7-10/11

Good evening REACH parents,

Miss. Maciel here to update you on our plans for this week and any important upcoming events.

Language Arts:

• Story of week, "Dig Dig Digging"
• Content Knowledge: People and Machines Working Together
• Phonemic Awareness: Initial /t/
• Phonics: /t/ spelled Tt
• Comprehension Skill: Classify and Categorize
• Writing: Plan a Story
• Handwriting: T and t
• THIS WEEK: UNIT 1 EXAM
• Letter recognition (A-Z)
• Sight words (I, AM, THE, Little, To, A)
• Rhyming words
• Recognizing character and setting

Math:

• Numbers 1-10
• Graphing and organizing data

Science:

• Students took the Chapter 2 test today, so far the tests are looking great!!

History:

• We begin Social Studies unit 2 tomorrow (Focus is symbols)
• We will be learning about symbols that represent the U.S and California
• If all goes well the students will take the Unit 2 exam on Friday

School events: (please see newsletter sent home last week for more information or stop by the office)

• 10/9- Coffee with Director
• 10/11- Family Friday- Lunch Tk/K 11:00 am
• 10/14 Picture day
• 10/17 Great California shakeout (10:00 am)
• 10/21-10/25 Red Ribbon week
• 1/25 Awards -Tk/K 8:00 am
• 10/28-11/4 Scholastic book fair
• 10/31- Fall carnival

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to email me.

Thank you, 

Miss. Maciel

P.s I would love to get some feedback with regards to the smiley faces I send home at the end of the day. Is this working better than the weekly Star report? Also, please make sure your child is not losing their smiling faces, so they may be able to go to the treasure chest for a prize. If you can or would like to donate any small items for the treasure chest please feel free to do so, maybe this will also encourage students to do even better.

This week 9/30-10/4

Good evening parents and guardians,

Miss. Maciel here to inform you of this week's happenings.

Language Arts:

• Story of the week: "Smash! Crash!"
• High frequency words (Sight words): a, to
• Phonics: /m/ spelled Mm
• Phonemic awareness: initial and final /m/
• Text-based comprehension: Character
• Amazing words: signals, proper, perfect, dud, pirates and fabulous

Writing:

• Letter Mm
• Captions

Math:

• Understanding graphing
• Numbers 1-3

Science- I sent home the introduction letter for Chapter 2, which we began today. This chapter focuses on solving problems. Please feel free to do the recommended experiments- one this week and one next week.

Behavior:

   - Today I decided to begin something new in class that still uses the clip chart system I explained on back to school night but I made a few changes for the best. First off, students will no longer receive a weekly start report. Many parents wanted daily feedback, so instead if your child is on Blue or Green; they will receive a happy face at the end of the day. I told the students they are responsible for the happy faces and once they collected 5 they could then go to the treasure chest for a prize. This not only make the kiddos more responsible for their stuff but give parents quick feed back about how their day was. Another change I made will be sending home notes to parents if their child is on orange or red (each note in the respective color). I explained to the students that their parents must sign the note and it then must be returned to me the next day. If you would like more information please feel free to email me.

OCTOBER 2, 2013

   - It is really important that all children are present and on time this upcoming Wednesday. Not only will our school look better with all our children present, but our funding depends on it. Parents please be sure to be on time and ready for the Pledge at 7:40 am.

IMPORTANT FORMS-

 - Parents and guardians please be sure to check your child's backpack/ folder daily. The office and myself have sent home important papers that need to be returned, not all students have done so.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me and I will try my best to get back at you right away.

Thank you and enjoy the rest of this Monday, 

Miss. Maciel

PS. Thank you for all the donations our classroom has received. Our class truly appreciates it. :)

Leveled group rotations and donation request

Hello parents,

We are half way through another school week.
Just wanted to give you 2 quick updates. :)

I sent home a form today notifying you of child's level and where they will be rotating to for Language Arts, writing and Math.

Miss. Lopez will be leading the Advance group (above benchmark).
Mrs. Schissler will be leading the Benchmark group (at benchmark).
I will be leading the Strategic group (below benchmark).

If at any point in the school year your child needs to be moved again, we will be notifying you.

On another note, parents I need your help!
Students are beginning to do more writing and are using the erasers and pencils more often. I have a few left that I purchased, but I was wondering if I could possibly get some donations for the "big" pencils and erasers. Anything would be greatly appreciated by myself and the students.

As always THANK YOU for all your help and support.
Please feel free to email me with any questions or concerns.

Thank you,
Miss. Maciel

This week 9/23-9/27

Good evening parents,

I hope you all had a great start to this first week of Fall.
As promised I will try to update my blog to let you know what we will be learning in class.

Language Arts:

• Story of the week- ""Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip with Kindergarten" 
• Letters of focus this week: Uu-Zz
• Location vocabulary: Library, post office, fire station, bakery
• Comprehension skill: Classify and categorize
• Review: Initial sounds
• Sight words: The, Little

Math- Begin Unit 2:

• Numbers 1-5
• Creating different shapes using tiles

Science- Continue Science chapter 1:

• Intro to science
• How do you share what you learn?
• What do you use to observe?
• How do you stay safe?

Kindergarten level rotations began today. If you would like to know what group your child will be in please feel free to email me or ask.

General school announcements:

• Family FUNdraiser @ El Torito, 9/25 from 12:00-10:00 pm
• First award assembly of the school year, 9/27/13
• Tk/k 8:00-8:45 (we will also be performing!)
• 1st: 8:45-9:30
• 2nd/3rd: 9:30-10:15 
• OCTOBER 2nd, Dr. Rentie would like for all students to be present this day. On this day California looks at every school's attendance. It is important all students are present and on time! This will only help REACH.

As always if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me.

Have a great evening, 

Miss. Maciel

This week we.. (9/16-9/20)

Hello parents,

This week's homework was sent home today. I only had a few students that did not complete last weeks, this was a great start.
As mentioned at Back2School night, I will be providing a brief over view of this weeks topics.

Math:

• Today- Students took the first Unit assessment and the results were GREAT!! 18 of 23 students received a perfect score of 12.
• Tuesday through Friday- Students will be working on tens frames. Students will be exposed to them a few different ways including making 10 bean sticks and 10 bead bracelets.

Language Arts (Reading Street letter sent home in homework packet)

• Focus on letters Oo-Ss (writing and beginning sounds)
• Introduce sequencing (First, then/second and last)
• Review syllables
• Sight words: 
• This week: The, Little
• Last week: I, Am

Science (Introduction letter sent home in homework packet)

• Began first science chapter that will last 2 weeks
• Introduction to science
• How to observe (using the 5 senses)

Leadership

• Respecting other
• Students will review different ways to respect others

Upcoming school events:

• 9/25 Family FUNdraising Event @ El Torito (12pm-10pm)
• 1st student assembly

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to email me and I will try my best to get back to you as soon as I can.

Have a great rest of the day, 

Miss. Maciel

Back 2 school night

Hello parents,

Back to school night will be this Thursday. The event starts at 6:00 pm with a presentation by Dr.Rentie. Please be sure to be on time and this will be an adult only event.

I look forward to seeing all of you once again and giving you more information about our classroom.


As always if you have any questions please feel free to email me.

Thank you,
Miss. Maciel


PS... I am still missing a few packets from some students (student information-sent home the first day). If you haven't done so already please send them to me when you get a chance. :)

One week down....

many more to go. I have to say I have a great group of kids! This made my first week run pretty smoothly. We have learned many things this first week and it would be great if you could practice with your child any item they tell you about.

Here are some of the ROUTINES we started so far in class (it would be awesome if you  could discuss these with you child and the importance of following them in class):
-Lining up is a 4S line (Straight. silent, still and smiling)
-Raising your hand to speak
-Wait your turn to be called on, no shouting
-Classroom hand number signs (1=restroom, 2=water, 3=pencil, 4=tissue, 5=question)
-Morning unpacking routine
            -Place your lunch in the lunch bin
            -Place any papers sent from your parents in the tray on the back table
            -Place your backpack in bin
-Recess (PLEASE use the restroom and drink water, no rough playing, run on the grass, and line up quickly with your class after recess is over)
***As a school we are trying our best to encourage students to use the restroom and drink water before school, during morning recess, lunch and afternoon recess**

As you may have noticed, students began bringing home work they did throughout the day. Some parents have told me they have been reviewing this with their child at home, THIS IS GREAT! Thank you for reviewing with them, this will only help them.

HOMEWORK will be sent out for the first time this upcoming week. Each student will be given their own homework folder and will be expected to complete their homework packet by Friday (when homework will be collected).

SCHOLASTIC Book club- the first catalog was sent home this past week. The deadline to place orders will be September 11, 2013. You may also place orders online, please find the button on the right hand side of my blog to place any orders. This also helps our class earn points towards books I may be able to purchase for our class.

KINDERGARTEN SCHEDULE- The Pledge of Allegiance begins promptly at 7:40 am, students should be in the MPR and lined up by this time. Students are released daily at 3:10 pm with the exception of Wednesdays at 12:00.

I think this is it for now. If I can think of anything else I will be sure to post about it right away.
As always, if you have any questions please feel free to email me and I will be sure to get back to you as soon as I can.

Have a great Sunday with your loved ones.
See you tomorrow,

Miss. Maciel

P.s....I would love to give a huge THANK YOU to all those parents that have donated items to our classroom and to those parents that came to help me prior to school started. I could not have done this without you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU...THANK YOU!

Night before... First day of school

Hi everyone,
The first day of school is only a few hours away!
Here are some quick reminders:
    -classes begin at 7:40 am
    -drop off/ pick up will always be in the MPR (gym)
    -please label all of your child's personal belongings

Finally here is a poem for you to read tonight before the kiddos go to sleep (if they haven't done so already)...





Sleep well my future students and parents,
Miss.Maciel
               

It's almost here....

The first day of school is right around the corner. I have been busy setting up my classroom and prepping for my first week. I got to meet many of you this past Monday, let me just say... THANK YOU! Thank you for having taken the time to stop by and say Hi. Having met most of my kiddos and their parents really made me happy and more at ease, because I know I will get to meet/work with a great group of kids and parents.

As a reminder the first day of school is next Tuesday the 3rd of September. If you are able to donate any of the items listed below (in an earlier post this month) for my class please feel free to drop them off this day or whenever you get a chance. Any items would be greatly appreciated especially by the kiddos since they will be using them throughout the year.

Many parents offered to volunteer in the classroom once school begins, please remember you must be fingerprinted and cleared prior to helping out at school. If you need more information please contact me or the school office.

I look forward to an AMAZING, EDUCATIONAL, FUN school year.

As always if there are any questions or concerns please contact me via email and I will try my best to get back to you right away.

Have a great rest of the day.
See you all soon,

Miss. Maciel

Tomorrow is the day!!!

Good morning! Happy Sunday everyone. Open house/meet the teacher is almost here!
I am beyond excited to finally meet my future kiddos and their families.

Event information:

August 26, 2013 from 2:00-5:30 p.m- Come meet teachers, mingle, purchase uniforms and pick-up classroom assignments.

If you have purchased any items from my donation school supply list, please feel free to bring it tomorrow to drop them off and THANK YOU once again for any item(s) you donated. 

I am lucky to be at a school with such awesome parents and community members. 

See you guys soon,

Miss. Maciel 

Open house and parent portal

Hi everyone, just wanted to add on a bit more information to the post I made earlier today.

Open house/ Meet the teacher will be on August 26, 2013 from 2:00-5:30pm.
On this day you will be able to drop off any donated items to the classroom teachers, purchase uniforms and get your classroom assignment. There is a slight chance the event will be held in the gym and not the classrooms due to construction, BUT this should be a fun an exciting day no matter the location. As the day approaches I am getting more happy to meet all my future kindergartners and their parents.

Parent portal is a link on the school's website where parents can get important information and news about any up coming events. Please check it from time to time as this button was created for you to stay connected with REACH.
         http://reachleadershipacademy.org/parents/

I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at open house on Aug. 26 and once again at the
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, September 3, 2013!


Have a great evening,
Miss. Maciel

School supply list/donations

Hello! Hope every ones week is starting out well.
I had a great time supporting my school and Dr.Rentie at the school board meeting last night. I feel so proud to be part of a school that has so much support from our parents and PTO.
After Dr.Rentie's presentation we had a chance to talk a little bit about the new things going on as the school year approaches.
As I get more information about up-coming events I will be sure to post it up here.

For now, my wonderful Kinder team and myself have come up with a list of supplies we would like for our class, if you are able to donate. These items will be used for all students as we use a community approach. Some items we will need throughout the year, please feel free to donate at any time.
Some of the items we will need for our kiddos are:

Crayons

Kleenex

Large pencils (You can find these at CM Supply, Lakeshore, or Staples)

Clorox wipes

Dry erase markers

Individual white boards (can be found at Office Max for $1) 

Large erasers (please no pencil top erasers)

Construction paper
Scissors

Glue sticks

Elmer's glue

Ziploc bags- gallon size and quart size

Baby wipes

Band-aids

Reams of copy paper
Plastic sheet protectors

Once again a big THANK YOU in advance for any items you may be able to donate to our classrooms. 

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at my REACH Email.

Have a great rest of the day,

Miss. Maciel

Slowly but surely...

Slowly but surely my blog is coming together... yaaaaay! I am looking forward to updating it as much as possible to help you get an idea of what is going on in the classroom and in the school. I am looking forward to getting into my classroom to set it up and soon after that meet my students and their parents on August 26, 2013.
Please check back soon for any more updates or important information.


Have a great rest of the day,
Miss. Maciel